May 17th, 2002 (12:00am) - FAIRFIELD, IOWA - MAY 16, 2002 - There are no big name sponsors and the most prize money anybody can go home with is barely $100. But still, they come!!
Starting at noon on Thursday, May 30, 2002, an expected crowd of more than 100 people, mostly male, and usually between the ages of 22-55, will gather at the famous Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, NH, to compete for the coveted titled of "world’s best" classic video gamer on nearly 150 different legendary video games manufactured between 1975-1986, namely the period now known as the "Golden Age" of video games.
And there seems to be something for everyone, whether you want to leisurely test your skills on any classic on the floor, or put yourself in the frying pan of competition, facing off against the nation’s top players in a seven-game high score contest. Needless to say, you’ll have the thrill of playing the original Donkey Kong, Jr., Crystal Castles or Berzerk you knew and loved 20 years ago.
Yes, five contests await the competitors: the first one is a high-score contest on 150 different games manufactured before 1986; the second is a secret high-score contest featuring a different game each of the four contest days that is not unidentified until the beginning of each day and the other is a "world championship" on seven different games. Both will be conducted simultaneously and both will award the winners a listing in the forthcoming edition of Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.
The contests are:
1. The Funspot-Twin Galaxies International Classic Video & Pinball Tournament, now in its 4th year. This event is famous for attracting the top players, including names like Rick Fothergill (Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man), Billy Mitchell (Player of the Century), Pat Laffaye (Frogger), Darren Harris (Ms. Pac-Man), Abdner Ashman (Jr. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Robotron), Rob Barrett (Tutankham), David Nelson (Wheels, Sprint 2), Fred Pastore (Carnival), Mark Waterfield (Wonderboy), Dwayne Richard (Dig Dug, Tutankham), Robert Mruczek (Star Wars), Donald Hayes (Tron, Centipede), Greg Erway (Tapper, Rootbeer Tapper, MACH 3), Cameron Feltner (Wheels), Brian Laskiewicz (Ms. Pac-Man), Mark Longridge (Joust, Wizard of Wor), Chris Ayra (Tempest, Ms. Pac-Man) and many more.
This contest has seen world records on Star Wars, Wheels, Super Pac-Man, Carnival, Tutankham, Food Fight; Wizard of Wor; Scramble, Sprint 2, Tapper and Wonderboy. Plus extraordinary performances have been seen on five-man Robotron (890,640 by Abner Ashman) and a 6-1/2 hour stint on Tron by Donald Hayes that reaped 4,580,031 points. Hayes also scored 1.7 million points on Zaxxon during last year’s event, the highest Zaxxon score seen in about 18 years.
Since this event is a high-score event, players are welcome to come and go as they please and arrive whenever is comfortable. They have four full days to achieve their best high score on any of the 150 contest games.
2. The Classic Video Game World Championship, now in its second year, is fast becoming recognized as the classic gaming hobby’s official "World Championship." And, this year, thanks to Funspot’s generous donation of cash, the first place winner will take home a $100 cash prize. Each player achieves their best high-score on all of seven pre-selected games, including: Arkanoid, Berzerk, Carnival, Crystal Castles, Donkey Kong Jr., Elevator and Tempest. While playing under Twin Galaxies’ Tournament settings, the contestants will be ranked in standings based on their best score for each game, with the top score achieved during the contest on each title made equivalent to 100% and all lesser scores compared proportionally.
Last year’s winner was Canadian Dwayne Richard whose final ranking was 64.36%, followed closely by New Hampshire’s Donald Hayes who finished with 63.43%. David Nelson, also of New Hampshire, was just behind Hayes at 57.24% when the final tally was computed.
3. Secret Tournaments: On each of the four days of the event Funspot will be conducting a secret game high score contest. Each morning Gary Vincent will pull out the game for the day and put it in an area where the players can see it. The reason for this is the complaints about people being able to practice ahead of time and making it unfair for others who cannot be here prior to the tournament. Only I know the identity of these machines. The prize will be $25 each day.
4. Also, a Warlords Championships and two Atari 2600 events will be conducted by Ken Sweet during the four day fete.
5. The Monochrome Challenge, featuring seven games produced between the 1970s and 1981 with black and white monochrome screens. using foresight, Gary Vincent keeps the identity of these games secret so that local players dont gain an unfair advantage by practicing before the out-ot-town players arrive.
These contests attract competitors who are mainly concerned with "high scores," just like most denizens of the arcade world were 20 years ago when the "golden age of video game arcades" was in full swing. "The Funspot-Twin Galaxies Classic was created to bring back the 80s," explains Gary Vincent, Funspot Operations Manager. "We will have referees all over our vast game room logging high scores achieved on as many as 150 different game titles that were produced before 1986. And, the results will go into the forthcoming Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game& Pinball Book of World Records, which is the industry’s official record book."
The four day schedule is: Thursday: Noon-midnight. Friday & Saturday 10am to midnight and Sunday 10am-5pm. The Welcome Dinner: On Wednesday night, May 29th, there will be a welcome dinner for registered players who have signed up before Friday May 24th for this dinner.The event will be catered by Hart’s Turkey Farm. The cost of the dinner is $20. Applications can be found at www.funspotnh.com The cost of the dinner is in addition to the cost of the tournament. The social hour is from 6-7pm and dinner will be served at 7pm.
The idea for the Funspot-Twin Galaxies Classic was co-created by Gary Vincent and Ken Sweet, a local video game player who was functioning as a representative for Twin Galaxies in 1999. Because Funspot is famous for owning the world’s largest collection of publicly operated classic video games, Ken realized that this would be the obvious site for the classic gaming hobby’s premiere contest. "We convinced the editors of the Book of Records that this was the perfect place to create an official high-score championship for classic gaming," says Sweet, who is now a video game journalist in New Hampshire. When Twin Galaxies was invited to participate, their vision become the premiere classics contest in the world, drawing participants from the Middle East, Europe and Canada.
And, now in its fourth year, the Funspot-Twin Galaxies Classic has been supplemented by Twin Galaxies’ Classic Video Game World Championship, a high-score event that requires each player to compete on seven pre-selected games.
"The seven games were selected by ballot at the end of last year’s event," says Walter Day, Chief Scorekeeper at Twin Galaxies and the editor of Twin Galaxies’ book of world records. With fifty games to choose from on the ballot, the voters selected seven: Arkanoid, Berzerk, Carnival, Crystal Castles, Donkey Kong, Jr., Elevator Action and Tempest.
Every contestant must play each game under standardized difficulty settings prescribed by Twin Galaxies Board of Scoreboard Editors and Referees. Robert Mruczek, Twin Galaxies’ Chief Referee, says: "These are the actual difficulty settings that all players must use if they want their scores published in the Book of Records, even if they are achieved in a non-contest location."
Even though these games enjoyed huge popularity in the early 80s, with millions of people trying to attain world record scores, today’s players are proving to be as formidable as competitors of yesteryear. In fact, many great world records from the early 1980s have now been eclipsed by this modern crop of gamers. "Its no fluke," points out scorekeeper Day. "The modern boom in classic game playing is drawing many of the 80s champions back into the fold, who are trying to break their records of 20 years ago. But, even more significantly, newer, younger players, who were too young to compete back during the "golden age," are also breaking world records which have stood for many years."
Zack Hample, for one, is a 24-year-old New Yorker who barely remembers arcades as a kid, but his recent devotion to Arkanoid has led to a world record that older players think may be unbeatable. "He has an amazing amount of skill for someone so young," notes Dwayne Richard, a 34-year-old Canadian superstar who won two video game world championships: 1986 and 2001.
Robert Mruczek, Twin Galaxies’ Chief Referee says: "This modern group is taking record after record away from the golden age players. In the last couple years, to just name a few, new world records have been logged on Wheels, Star Wars, MS. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Wonderboy and Carnival."
Funspot’s Gary Vincent sees the popularity of the contest growing by leaps and bounds. "The first year," he remembers, "had about 45 people in attendance. Last year reached nearly 100. But, there are already signs that we could reach the 200 mark over the course of the weekend."
"The annual Funspot-Twin Galaxies tournament is certainly the best event to attend for the hardcore classic videogame player" states Mike Stulir of Back In Time (http://www.backntime.net). "As a classic gamer myself, and as a member of the gaming media, it never ceases to amaze me how many world records are broken at this tournament every year." For the third time, Mike will be broadcasting news & information from the tournament over the Internet. "I am very pleased to continue my long association with Funspot & Twin Galaxies by bringing the tournament results to the classic gaming community."
Numerous stars of yesteryear are only now learning of the two contests. For instance, Todd Rogers, of Brooksville, Florida, was a sensation back in Chicago in the early 1980s, the subject of many TV newscasts due to his unprecedented skill at playing video games. "I felt isolated in the Chicago area, the home town that I grew up in. Simply because there were no other players in the area who could compete with me on my level. Now, going to the Funspot contests will be like joining a gathering of the tribes, a tribe of superstars. For the first time I will meet other players who will make me work for any victories I achieve on the joystick."
Vincent attributes the popularity of the contest to the fact that people just want to play and play and play. "Most classic gaming events feature speakers, exhibits and flea market-type booth spaces. Though Funspot will eventually introduce similar activities at future shows, the attendees are mainly there to compete -- and play. Its not uncommon for the average player to log as much as 20 full hours of game play over the four days.
Even seasoned contest veterans are amazed by the hours logged by the contestants at this event. Darren Harris of Staten Island, says: "most contests usually limit the number of tries each contestant is allowed during a tournament. At the Funspot contests, however, each player gets in line again and again, striving to break their own personal best and, hopefully, throw up a new world record." Another player, for instance, Cameron Feltner of Siegel, IL, parks himself in front of the Wheels machine - a vintage 1975 title whose popularity has increased immeasurably over the last four years of the contest - and plays until his hands fall off. Well, they don’t literally fall off, but Feltner, like dozens of other players know the only way to win a contest like this is to play as many times as can be managed in the four days.
But, after all is said and done, when does this thing end?
Well, it does end!
At 5:00 PM on Sunday, Chief Scorekeeper Walter Day walks the floor with his team of referees announcing that "no more games can be started." From that moment onward, no one is allowed to start a new game. Then, as the crowd waits, the remaining players whose games were in transit when the 5:00 o’clock deadline came into effect, are allowed to finish their final game.
Then, the final scores are tallied and put in the database on Walter Day’s HP laptop and the computer figures it all out, automatically throwing out the standings for all to see.
"When last year’s final standings appeared, I was shocked," explains Walter Day. "It was the closest contest that Twin Galaxies had conducted in its 20 years."
With less than 1% point separating the two top finishers, Day had to redo the figures three times to make sure there was no mistake. "Then," says Day, "I called each of the top three players over to my table one-at-a-time and had them look at their scores and verify that I did, indeed, have their scores entered correctly. The final ceremony at the end was full of great drama because everyone knew the finalists were so close that it was a toss up as to who was the final winner."
Dwayne Richard won. It was a great finale for the 1st Classic Video Game World Championship.
To reach Funspot, go to www.funspotnh.com. Or call Gary Vincent at (603)366-4377.
