Little-known video game Elon Musk created and sold aged 12 for surprising amount

Not many people know that, before Elon Musk became the world’s richest man, he created and sold a video game when he was just 12 years old.

Long before he became the tech mogul that he is today, Musk was once the brains behind a video game known as Blastar, where players could travel through space as a spacecraft, avoiding hydrogen bombs and alien freighters.

The game was invented in 1983 and, a year later, the source code was published in PC and Office Technology magazine. In return, Musk was awarded $500.

The game resurfaced just over 10 years ago when a reporter from Bloomberg, Ashlee Vance, wrote about the video game.

In turn, this caught the attention of software engineer Tomas Lloret who revived the code and turned it once again into a playable game.

Now, a recent tweet has sparked fresh interest in Blastar, with one user taking to X, formerly Twitter, to write: “When Elon Musk was just 12 years old, he taught himself computer programming and created a video game called Blastar.

“He sold the full game (source code included) to a South African computer magazine for $500. At 12.

“Most kids that age were playing games. Elon was already building and selling them. This was the very first money he ever made from code — a small but clear sign of the relentless builder he would become.”

This prompted others to take to social media themselves to share their own reactions, with one user writing: “It is impressive to see that level of focus at such a young age. Most kids are just trying to pass their classes, but he was already figuring out how to build and sell software. That early drive explains a lot about the massive projects he takes on today.”

Another said: “So cool so inventive!!”

A third person commented: “Some play to pass the time. Others use it to build the future. The difference begins much earlier than it seems.”

And a fourth added: “Taught himself to code, built a game, sold it for $500 at 12 years old. Most kids were playing games. @elonmusk was already selling them. Nothing about what he's built since should surprise anyone who knew that detail first.”

Of course, Musk has since gone on to become a global tech mogul with his ventures in the likes of Tesla, xAI, and SpaceX, and also became the world’s first - albeit brief - trillionaire.