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| It's
Wednesday afternoon, the day before the event, and I made a side
trip to New Jersey to see Richie Knucklez. Here he stands in
front of his arcade
business, with daughters Destiny (left) and
Faith.
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Since
I picked up Aart van Vliet from the Philly airport, he's with me
on our side trip to Richie's. I made
a 'V' here to signify his last initial... OK, maybe it was
as a joke !!
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This
is a view of the front of Richie's business (officially titled Richie
Knucklez' Arcade Games), showing his business info, and hours.
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Inside,
I (Mark Alpiger, left)
and Richie strike a pose.
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Now
it's Aart's turn to
pose with Mr. Knucklez.
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Here's
a look at all the terrific classic games down one side of the
arcade.
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| Richie
even has a few pinball machines mixed in with the vids.
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Two
racing titles sit side-by-side.
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The
central area of the arcade
sports a mix of new and old titles, including everyone's favorite
- Missile Command.
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Here's
a look down the
other side wall of the location.
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The
rest of the view down
the side is shown here.
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Another
look at the central
area shows two Atari titles -
Food Fight, and 720°.
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| Laser
Ghost is a rare 80's title.
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Aart
poses with a favorite title
of one of his friends - Phoenix.
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OK
- now we've shifted over to Challenge Arcade, where World Record
Weekend (WRW) will begin tomorrow. Here, local player Frank
Lupia takes on Pac-Man Plus.
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Local
player Ryan Moss (right)
plays Mortal Kombat, while
a friend of his looks on.
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Now we'll take a look
at some of the row of games set up for various WRW players.
L-R, we have Joust 2, BurgerTime, and Mr. Do!.
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Next
up are two side-by-side Frogger units. They've been
put
here for a 'Frog-Off' competition, where Don Hayes will play
'against' Pat Laffaye.
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| Here's
the end of WRW game row. L-R, there's Pole Position,
Tempest, and 1943.
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Midway
on the row of event games are (l-r) Pengo, and two Ms.
Pac-Man machines.
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Tucked
into the mix is
a Donkey Kong machine.
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All
of the Challenge Arcade employees are shown in this shot;
l-r, we
have Susan LeVan,
JoAnne LeVan, Joe LeVan,
and Chuck Whitby.
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Aart
decides to 'bow' before two editions of his favorite title.
He also makes note of the
place he holds on them, with his 953K mark being
the highest public score.
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It's
now Thursday, day 1 of
WRW, and Dave Nelson (center)
has arrived. He gets to work
on adjusting contest machine
settings to TG standards.
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Donald
Hayes (left) decides to
play a little Ms. Pac, while 'the master', Aart, looks on.
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Dave
is still working with the
games, while Bryan Wagner assists.
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Chris
Mansfield plays a fave
of his - Donkey Kong.
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Joe (left) and Chuck
step
in, to give Dave a hand.
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Now
we're talkin' ! Bryan begins
his historic BurgerTime marathon.
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Dave
takes time to observe Aart's huge skills on Ms. Pac-Man.
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Entrant
Brendan Meley plays on
his event title: Donkey Kong.
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Frank
looks over the player rules, while Chuck chills for a bit.
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Now
that the event's in swing, a group gathers to chat and take a
break from gaming / game setup.
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| Well,
back to setup; Dave adjusts Q*bert's Qubes here. Note the
writing on the side; Kelly Tharp played this game (when it was a Q*bert)
for 44.5 hours in February 2006, and wrote details about the game
on the side afterward.
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Ryan
tries out his event title -
1943 - The Battle of Midway.
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Don
plays a game of his
event title - Frogger.
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| Donald
is having the game of his life - over 550K here, and three lives
left !
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Looks
like I spoke too soon; right after my previous photo (no, I didn't
cause the problem !!!), and during
this one, the game 'decided' to
start killing off the remaining frogs, even tho they weren't
touching anything.
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Here's
a neat non-flash
shot of Chris playing DK.
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Another
no-flash shot shows
Bryan continuing his marathon.
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It
looks like Bryan is on screen 26.
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Aart
plays Ms. Pac.
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| Aart
is over 600K and counting.
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Ryan
continues to try for 2M+.
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One
last no-flash pic reveals Don
on the early stages of Joust.
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As
evening arrives, the players alternate between break
time, and play time.
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Dave
is on call at all times, looking
on and documenting all the entrants.
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Rick
Carter tries one of his
favorite titles - Punch Out!!.
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For
a break, these entrants play
titles that they aren't contesting.
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Bryan
is kept company by
Susan, as it's clear that he will
be playing late into the night.
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Friday
morning has arrived, and Bryan is still plugging away. He's
reached all the way to the fourties,
in board count, which is a record.
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Pat
Laffaye (left) poses with Aart, who looks dapper in his cool
'Pac' ghost shirt.
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Here
we can see Bryan's setup, complete with comfy stool, camera
to record turnovers, and 'Privacy Please' door tags he's using to dissuade
onlookers from being pests.
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Finally - the media
is here !! A camera person from WFMZ
tv is shooting for the news.
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Bryan
has just decided to stop playing, at about the 11.5M mark.
He's played for about 22 hours,
and reached board 45.
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Fellow
gamers gather around Bryan.
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Meanwhile,
Pat's hard at
work on Frogger.
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Back
to Bryan - here, he strikes
a wr holder pose by his conquest.
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This
shot shows the high-score
table, and reveals his wr score - 11,512,500 points.
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While
I was at lunch, Don managed
a super 1,064,250 point new wr score on Joust (5-man TGTS).
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| Aart's
at Ms. Pac again.
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The
score is 367K and rising.
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Chris
developed an affinity for the game Mad Planets while at
WRW.
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| Pat
has another go at Frogger.
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Many
entrants are playing now. At left, Tina Palombo sits by
boyfriend Brendan to show her support.
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Joe
talks with Chuck, no
doubt about WRW matters.
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Tina
watches as
Brendan goes at 'Kong'.
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Here
I (Mark) am, celebrating my #1 status (according to Twin Galaxies)
on The Glob. I broke my own TG wr on my very first
try... nice, especially since it means I win $100 !
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The
scoreboard on Glob shows
off my 83,895 TG wr score.
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| While
Dave helps him adjust settings on yet another entrant game, Chuck
hams it up for the camera.
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Since
I knew Aart would be at the Ms. Pac machine for hours, I
bought him a Chick-fil-A shake,
to tide him over during his effort.
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Entrant
Rick Vinas goes for a high mark on Pac-Man, tho his best is
quite some distance from the wr.
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It's
mid-Friday evening, and former Jackass star Brandon DiCamillo has
arrived to conquer Mortal Kombat. He handily did so,
scoring well
above the TG wr on his first try.
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Steve
McBlane (left) has arrived, and watches Rick Carter play a game
that's a fave of both - Mad Planets.
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Don's
made another good effort on Joust, and the scoreboard
reveals his three terrific games of 1M+ points.
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| Joe
(white hat) and players watch Rick (hidden) play Pac-Man.
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Saturday
morning is here, and a number of contest entrants play various
titles while Chris (a
non-entrant) tries to top
his best DK score.
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Aart
is trying out an idea I thot of for him; namely, simultaneous play
on two Ms. Pac-Man machines, via using the 'sit spot' on
one while playing the other.
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| Pat
has at Frogger yet again.
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Ryan
is still tryin' (I couldn't resist !) on 1943, while other
players line
up down WRW title row.
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Rick
plays another game of Mad Planets. He slowly improved
his scores the entire weekend.
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Abdner
Ashman has now arrived,
and picks up his complementary
copy of the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2008
book.
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Jimmy
has also made it in, and tries
a practice game before beginning
on his Mr. Do! marathon.
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Dave
observes Jimmy's play techniques. He later commented
that
Jimmy "makes the enemies look stupid". Now, that's
some high praise, from a cag expert.
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Looks
like Don and Pat are taking
a break from Frogger to play
some doubles on Joust.
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Abdner
and Bryan check out Aart's dual-play, while Rick (left) continues
his scoring quest on Mad Planets.
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Here's
a great angled shot showing
all the players, and observers,
along WRW title row.
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| Joe
points to the big-screen, which shows an event scoring summary
that I (Mark Alpiger) developed and did data entry for during WRW.
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Jimmy
has just begun his wr quest, while Chris and Bryan (l-r) play
games on fave titles. They both played these often during
the event.
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Aart
somehow miscalculated, and
lost one of his two Ms. Pac games,
so
Abdner steps in, and takes over. Even so, I let my vid-cam roll
on...
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While
Anthony Pietrak (of QuarterArcade.com)
helps troubleshoot a Pac-Man Plus
board problem, the players
(and Joe) gather 'round.
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Pat
and Steve chat while
taking a break from gaming.
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Here's
a close-up of
Anthony, at work on PMP.
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view of the front of the arcade reveals both players, and
observers.
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Let
the 'Frog-Off' begin ! Don and Pat start the first official
dual-
competition for Frogger dominance.
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This shot of Jimmy
shows his
cross-handed technique on the controls. He did
this as he's
right-handed, and the controls
were set up for a 'lefty'.
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Chuck
tries to push up his
score on Q*bert's Qubes.
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Richard
Marsh got here earlier,
and gives Gyruss a go. He has
the TGTS
wr score on the game.
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It
looks like the Pac-Man Plus game is finally working for
Rick. He's set up his cam, and is ready to go.
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| Now
that PMP is working, Anthony gives Mad Planets a go, as
business partner 'James' looks on.
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It's
just an hour in, but Jimmy
looks like he's on 'automatic'.
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Fred Pierson decided
to come out and observe the players at WRW, plus play a few games
himself.
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Don
is literally beaming, after a
tour-de-force performance on TGTS Joust.
He blew away his previous
wr with an incredible 1,219,000.
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It's
about 3 1/2 hours into Jimmy's marathon, and he's right at his
5.5M TG wr score, and climbing.
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Back
to Joust; this shot shows
Don's incredible wr score.
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| Abdner
gives the regular cab Ms. Pac a try, after playing the cabaret
earlier.
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Pat
and Don have a second
'Frog-Off', after the earlier one
didn't last long for either.
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Kasey
Kehler poses while seated on one of her favorite arcade games - Hot
Flash, which is air hockey.
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| Rick
and Steve are back at their mutual fave title - Mad Planets.
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Things
are really hopping, as Jimmy's marathon, and the Frog-Off, are
happening simultaneously.
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Pat's Frogger
game has ended
after about 2.5 hours, but
Don is still hopping...
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Jimmy's
game is still going
too, after over 5 hours.
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Don's
going strong after over 3
hours, and has 4 frogs left at 555K.
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The
score is at a great 557,160, but Don's facing a bad transition
screen.
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| Soon
after the last shot, it's game over, with a final mark of
557,890. Like his game two days ago, Don made a score in the
550's. His best ever mark is a 589,350 point game.
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This
no-flash shot gives an idea
of the 'atmosphere' of the arcade.
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WRW
title row is abuzz with players.
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| Another
view of WRW title row.
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Rick's
back on MP.
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Time
for a shot with 'my boys'. All my faithful forums members were
wearing their CAGDC shirts, so I had us all pose
together.
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| Everyone
gathers around Jimmy to look on at his total mastery of Mr.
Do!. He's now over 8 hours in.
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Sunday
morning is here, and Jimmy
is thinking of winding things up,
since he's at the 30M mark.
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Another
angle of the new wr holder.
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Here's
a screenshot. The score
is 30,043,350, and the scene
number is an amazing 1599 !
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Taken
right after the previous shot, here's a close-up of the score.
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Here's
the scene count,
from the same screen.
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| The
summary screen for scene 1600.
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Scene
1601 is the same as screen
1, but I'm unsure about the difficulty.
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Jimmy
has parked his character,
and officially is stopping here.
The score is 30,075,000,
and he's on scene 1602.
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| A
close-up of the score.
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A
close-up of the scene number.
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Jimmy
enters his initials.
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After
his marathon (about 18 hours),
I took Jimmy to a breakfast
bar. He returned, and just over an hour after he quit the
marathon, he was
playing a game of Donkey Kong.
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Dave,
ever the dynamo, helps a
gamer set up for a wr attempt on Need for Speed Underground.
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Rick's
back at Pac-Man
Plus, for another try.
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a look at Ryan Moss' terrific score on 1943 -
2,271,940. That's good for second-place at
TG.
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Ryan
proudly points out his score.
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Speaking
of scores, now it's my
turn ! On my second serious
game, I made a very good
142,847 score on The Glob.
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Here's
another look at the score,
with the level indicator showing how far I went on the game (level
11).
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Time
for yours truly (Mark Alpiger) to pose with the game. I'm
pointing
at the score, but it's washed out
from the flash. Drat !
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WRW entrants have wound up their gaming attempts,
and most kill
time
by playing other contest games.
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Speaking
of killing time, some
gamers chat, instead of playing.
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As
Chuck looks on, Art Webb (center), of gamecasa.net,
chats with Dave.
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As the afternoon
winds down, Rick Carter gives Mad Planets one last try.
And, what a try it was...
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Rick
ultimately makes a personal record that's good for 3rd place
on TG's
listing for the game.
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Here's
another view of
the score - 335,637 points.
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Rick
poses beside the game.
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Donald
has to have a try at the
game he holds dual-records on - Millipede. He has
both the marathon, and TGTS, records. The game was set to
TGTS for WRW.
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It's
after 4 PM, WRW has ended, and the awards ceremony begins. I
start things off with an idea of mine: 'reward' TG refs for
their volunteer duty. The gamers collected funds
and bought
Dave Nelson a gift card.
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A
bonus prize that Joe passed out
to Jimmy Linderman, and Dwayne
Richard (not shown), was some incredible signed (by the designer)
side art for the game Space Ace.
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| Jimmy
poses with all his loot; the Space Ace side art, plus cold
hard cash.
He won $100 for getting the wr on Mr. Do!, and was also
awarded the WRW $750 'Grand Prize' via player vote, for the best
overall performance at the event.
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Here's
a screenshot of Dwayne Richard's world record score on Donkey
Kong 3. He barely beat
the old
mark, and did it barely
in
time, before the 4 PM deadline.
His score was 2,583,000 points.
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