The Jetpacker

Where was the last place you saw a Space Invader?

No, we’re not talking about weather balloons that get confused with flying saucers.  And we’re definitely not talking about people who claim aliens abducted them and impregnated them with reptilian creatures.

We’re talking about the tile mosaics of characters from 8-bit video games from the late ’70s and early ’80s — games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man.

These colorful pieces of artwork (some call it graffiti) started popping up in Paris 10 years ago and since then 35 additional cities have been “invaded.”

They’re made by a street artist known as Invader.  He creates them in cities across the world, then documents the invasion with maps of invaded cities.

You can find Space invaders in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Tokyo, Prague, Melbourne, Vienna, Bangkok, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and even Kathmandu.

Some cities harbor hundreds of Space Invaders.  Many are in high-traffic, touristy areas, usually located above eye-level, near addresses and street signs.

We found a few in Paris and London, but that’s nothing compared to these guys.  They’ve photo-documented and geo-tagged hundreds of Space Invaders in Paris, enabling you to conduct your own hunt for Space Invaders.

If you want to learn more about the man behind the Space Invasion, check out his website here.