Starcade was produced by the JM Production Company to air on WTBS and later syndication by Turner Program Services (TPS).

The player who buzzed in and answered correctly chose one of five free-standing arcade games in the studio and was given 40 seconds (later 60, then 50) to amass as high a score as possible.

If the player did so, he/she won the day's grand prize, which consisted of either an arcade game, a home entertainment robot, a jukebox, or even a vacation (in certain "invitational" episodes).

The original pilot for Starcade was hosted by Olympic gold-medalist hockey player Mike Eruzione, taped at the studios of KRON-TV in San Francisco and featured an almost entirely different format.

The players had 30 seconds to achieve as high a score as possible, and the top scorer on each game advanced to play Berzerk against the other two.

The game used for this match was the then-new Donkey Kong, and the celebrity was Larry Wilcox, known for portraying police officer Jon Baker on the NBC crime-drama CHiPs.

[3] The pilot was picked up by Ted Turner in 1982, and the show began its life on WTBS in December, still taping at Bridge Studios with Mark Richards as host.

He would frequently offer advice and hints to contestants, and he was once featured in a "Starcade Hotline" segment playing and beating the notoriously difficult game Sinistar.

Factory announced it had acquired the rights to Starcade from Caruso and Arthur, and intends to work with JM Productions to reboot the series, along with additional projects.

[5] On November 15, 2022, during an Xplay reunion at Kinda Funny Games, Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil revealed that he had plans to reboot Starcade at G4.