End of month high scores - 31 May 2013

My top 5 scores since comeback:

1.  1,005,030   26 May 2013
2.  991,350   5 May 2013
3.  684,970   7 April 2013
4.  621,400   25 May 2013
5.  617,430   27 April 2013

Fastest Act clearance - 12 seconds
Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 25 seconds

Top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores:

1.   1,217,650  Paul Hornitzky  10 July 2012
2.   1,110,370  Rodney Day  13 August 1983
3.   809,990  Kevin Leisner  25 February 1983
4.   723,950  Frank Lupia  20 September 2008
5.   694,030  Paul Elia  31 March 1983

I recently stumbled upon an interview with the man himself - Rodney Day - conducted by the (Australian) ABC television program, Good Game, in 2009.

The Good Game website for episodes shown in 2009 is here - http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/episodes/date_2009.htm Just click on the 19 October 2009 episode and scroll through to the relevant segment, "Australia's Best Gamers - Rodney Day".

While it only runs for a few minutes, Rodney tells the story of his obsession with Pengo all those years ago and how he came to set his 1983 world record in Canberra. He was probably the same age I was when I first came across the game in that year, although he started playing when it came out in 1982. Seems like a very decent guy - with a story that is eerily familiar.

If you're out there Rod, feel free to drop by the Powerhouse museum some weekend ...

Pengo explained

For some reason, it occurred to me that at least some of the readers of this blog might not have a good grasp of the game of Pengo.

And presumably there are more than just a handful of you (316 page hits actually, as of a few minutes ago - I’m waiting anxiously for the moment when I’ll have to decide whether or not to accept an extremely lucrative offer from an airline, or a car company, or maybe even a maker of old men’s health products, to advertise on this thing).

Sure, you’ve probably picked up a few things along the way in reading these various entries, but I realised I haven’t actually explained the basics.

Having thought about it, I really can’t go past the Wikipedia entry for Pengo. When I grow up, I want to be able to write just like those guys.

Anyway, a slightly edited version of their explanation - fully endorsed by the author of this blog! - follows. I hope it makes sense:

Pengo is an arcade game developed by Coreland and published by Sega in 1982. The player controls Pengo, a red penguin that resides in the Antarctic. The game takes place in an overhead maze made of ice blocks, where Pengo fights the patrolling, blob-like Sno-Bees. The objective of the game is for Pengo to survive a series of rounds by eliminating all Sno-Bees, while amassing bonuses by bringing together the three diamonds dispersed in the maze.

The player uses a joystick and a single button as controls. Pressing the button while pushing the joystick will cause Pengo to push forward the ice block he is facing, which will slide until it hits a wall or another ice block, crushing any intervening Sno-Bees. Crushing more than one Sno-Bee at once will increase the number of points awarded. There are a total of sixteen levels, which repeat in order starting on the seventeenth round.

As the player crushes those on patrol, new Sno-Bees hatch from eggs located within ice blocks. At the start of each level, blocks that contain these eggs are briefly identified by flashing the color of that level's Sno-Bees. Eggs can be eliminated by crushing the ice blocks that contain them. If Pengo pushes a side wall the water "vibrates", any adjacent Sno-Bees will be briefly stunned, and are eliminated (for 100 points) if Pengo walks over them in this state. Eliminating all Sno-Bees in a round will progress the player to the next.

Diamond blocks are unbreakable; when connected in a horizontal or vertical line the player earns bonus points: 10,000 points if aligned without being against a wall or if only one diamond block is touching a wall, 5,000 points if all three are against the wall. Alignment will also temporarily stun all Sno-Bees.

After 60 seconds elapse in a round without a death, the game enters into sudden death mode; the music tempo and movement of the Sno-Bees accelerates. If a single Sno-Bee remains in the round, a jingle plays and the Sno-Bee accelerates in an attempt to reach a corner where it safely fades away.

The game will always start with the same maze on power up. Once the game has gone through the attract mode, the maze will change.

The point award for crushing Sno-Bees depends on the number crushed in one push of an ice block:

• 400 for 1 Sno-Bee
• 1,600 for 2 Sno-Bees
• 3,200 for 3 Sno-Bees
• 6,400 for 4 Sno-Bees

Walking over a stunned Sno-Bee awards 100 points.

 

10,000 points are awarded for aligning the three diamond blocks together if at least one is not touching a wall, but only 5,000 if all are against the walls.

 

Crushing an ice block will award 30 points, or 500 points if it contains a Sno-Bee egg.

 

A bonus is awarded upon round completion, depending on time elapsed:
 

• 5,000 points for under 20 seconds
• 2,000 points for between 20–29 seconds
• 1,000 points for between 30–39 seconds
• 500 points for between 40–49 seconds
• 10 points for between 50–59 seconds
• 0 points for 60 seconds or more

By default, Pengo begins with three lives and a bonus life is awarded at 30,000 points; these numbers can be changed (anywhere from 2 to 5 lives, and the bonus life can be awarded at 50,000 instead) through DIP switch settings.

 

In a manner similar to Pac-Man, one of six brief intermissions plays on even-numbered rounds after the bonus is awarded. The intermissions feature six penguins performing various routines. In the first the penguins perform a small marching routine. In the second they "shake their booty". In the third each penguin stops and salutes the player. In the fourth the penguins turn to face the player and then exit the screen in a line, reminiscent of the aliens in Space Invaders. In the fifth the source of the game's background music is revealed: Pengo himself, playing piano. In the sixth intermission, Pengo appears from behind the piano to play "peek-a-boo" with the player. These intermissions then repeat in order throughout the remainder of the game.

And if you want to see a game being played, there are a few recordings on youtube. This one only goes for a couple of minutes but is well worth a look for first timers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6OsalAZX_A

 

ONE MILLION!!!

Only just, but I made it. The score - 1,005,030.

It came at the end of a weekend where I played a total of seven games. On the Saturday, I managed just three - with scores of 308,920, 621,400 and 413,000. The last one, which was going quite well, ended a little involuntarily as we (Zackomba, Lolcakes123 and me) were politely ushered out of the museum on closing time.

No risk of that happening today, as I got there in plenty of time to see where today’s installment of this quest would take me. It started with an appalling 144,250, followed by an inauspicious 267,410. The next game was a more promising 439,170, with the one million marathon being the last.

I happened to be jotting down some additional scores and other bits and pieces as I was going along for all of these games. On the one million game, I was 160,100 after the first set of 16 Acts; 285,270 (and one Pengo down - in Act 10) after the second set; 430,500 after the third set; and 559,350 after the fourth set - still with only one Pengo lost.

By the end of the fifth set, I was 714,290, but had lost another two Pengos during it - one as the result of complacency in Act 7 and another during Act 15. The machine also ‘clocked’ at 655,310 - the same high score it had clocked at during my 900K effort a couple of weeks back.

With the final Pengo battling away, I cleared the sixth set with a score of 865,780 (655,310 + 210,470). And then somewhere in Act 13 in the seventh set, when I noticed the accumulating score had just clicked past 345,000, I knew I’d broken the magical seven figures. The loss of the final Pengo during the next Act (14) was almost an anti-climax, and probably pay-back for managing to escape a few very close shaves along the way.

In terms of individual sets during that game, I did feel I was getting more and more defensive as the game wore on and not worrying too much about the 10,000 bonuses. On the basis that a reasonable, or par, score for a set is 160,000, my ‘splits’ for each set were (1) 160,100, (2) 125,170, (3) 145,230, (4) 128,850, (5) 154,940, (6) 151,490, and (7 - up to Act 14) 139,250.

For those of who you are very careful readers of this blog, you will also have noted that the one million score also represented my 10^th score over 500,000 since this comeback - all achieved using just four penguins, not the regulation six (as explained in an earlier post on the rules that need to be complied with before a high score can be officially recognised).

And as icing on the cake, over the course of the weekend, I also equalled my fastest clearance (12 seconds, on an Act 1) and my fastest clearance with a 10,000 bonus (25 seconds on an Act 3, during the million point game).

Onward and upward.

Pengo Overnighter

Happened to spend last Saturday night overnight at the museum.

Ostensibly it was a kid's writing event organised by the museum called “Writer Overnighter". Zackomba, Lolcakes123 and many other 8 to 13 year olds, each with a parent in tow, went along. But of course it also offered the very real prospect of getting in several hours of uninterrupted, after hours, Pengo-ing.

I did manage a few disappointing games (in the region of 200K and 300K) in the late afternoon before it kicked off. The bright spot was equalling my 25 second record for a clearance with the 10,000 bonus, which happened in Act 6.

But when the writing event started, what with checking in, dinner, and a few other activities (all of which were actually quite entertaining), I just couldn’t get away. And when it finally came time for us all to bunk down in the aircraft gallery - looking up at a few reasonably large aeroplanes dating from the 1930’s or 1940’s that were suspended from the ceiling - I quickly fell asleep.

I did fit in a couple more games as we were on our way out early the next morning, but by that time I just needed a shower and the scores were as poor as the afternoon before.

All in all, a very good night - but also an opportunity missed.

Fun fact

A slight diversion from the task at hand, but I thought I should make mention of the following article that appeared recently in one of Sydney’s daily newspapers - albeit the less august of the two.

It offers some comfort to a man who is rapidly closing in on the big 5-0, holds a day job that requires significant use of the mentioned skills, and who could do with improvement in all of them ...

PLAYING video games can prevent and even reverse deteriorating brain functions such as memory, reasoning and visual processing, a study says.

The University of Iowa study of hundreds of people age 50 and older found that those who played a video game were able to improve a range of cognitive skills, and reverse up to seven years of age-related declines.

"We know that we can stop this decline and actually restore cognitive processing speed to people," said Fredric Wolinsky, a University of Iowa professor of public health and lead author of the paper published in the journal PLOS One.

"So, if we know that, shouldn't we be helping people? It's fairly easy, and older folks can go get the training game and play it."

The study is the latest in a series of research projects examining why people, as they age, lose "executive function" of the brain, which is needed for memory, attention, perception and problem solving.

Another day

Only had a couple of hours to spare on the weekend and it wasn’t the most productive effort.

I did manage to break 500K once, with a score of 543,430 - my fifth highest of the comeback. It was mostly achieved through a gutsy run from my last penguin, who battled away well.

I also managed to lower my fastest Act clearance time - from 14 seconds to 12 seconds. It occurred during Act 2 in my last game, and came as I was seeing how quickly I could squash all those pesky sno-bees.

But, overall, not much to write home about.

So I might as well write to the readers of this blog about it instead. Of whom, according to the stats produced by the Google Blogger facility, there were 247 as of today.

It might be a small audience, but it’s all quality!

The things you see

Playing a game like Pengo that has regular short breaks built in offers some good people-watching opportunities.

It’s always endearing to see the wistful smile and the faraway look in the eyes of people - around my age or younger - who first come across the museum’s four arcade machines.

Always with kids in tow, they (both fathers and mothers) invariably tell them how they played these machines at their local arcade or milk bar when they were kids, and how expert they were in their prime. They then proceed to sit down and show their kids just how it was done - sometimes re-telling stories of the glory days of their mis-spent youth. Actually it’s a bit like the stories I told my kids when I first came across these machines a few weeks back.

The difference is that I’ve not yet seen a repeat player. Unlike me, those people’s lives seem to have well and truly moved on!

A slightly less endearing happening is when passers-by, when they first see me playing, immediately and authoritatively declare to their kids that the game is Pacman. And others who occasionally offer some jocular comment to me - after watching me play for 20-30 seconds - about my obviously mis-spent youth. Yes, very funny, ha ha ha.

My favourite people-watching moment, though, has got to be when younger kids, who’ve probably never seen a classic arcade machine before, come up and start wiping their fingers on the screens of the adjoining machines. From the confused looks on their faces, they can’t for the life of them work out why they can’t get the characters to move like on their iPad games.

It’s happened about three times now - very amusing.

A diamond in the rough

991,350!!

Not a bad outcome, considering the handful of otherwise quite ordinary games over the weekend.

Up until that quite monumental final game, I was thinking the main topic of this post was probably going to be a new best time for completing an Act while getting the 10,000 point bonus. It happened in an otherwise forgettable game during Act 7, where I managed the feat in just 25 seconds - 2 seconds quicker than my previous best which occurred in Act 6 a week or so ago.

It would also have covered my two youngest sons - as comparative novices - both achieving some decent scores, especially Lolcakes123 who broke the 5,000 barrier in one of his first attempts. Zackomba also got close, albeit both had the disadvantage of being player 2 with me, and by the time their turns came around each time, they could hardly remember where they were up to.

The other interesting happening was a glitch in the game I was playing just before the 900K game. My last Pengo was doing quite well and on track to break 500K, when all of a sudden the glitch appeared. It resulted in the game continuously producing groups of 4 sno-bees, which hovered all together in a corner and which I kept squashing and repeatedly getting 6,400 points. Once I worked out it wasn’t going to fix itself, I decided just to clear the screen by eating all the non-diamond blocks. The only remedy was to unplug the machine and plug it in again.

I was half intending to leave it at that and put the weekend’s efforts down to experience. But I had a bit of time before I had to be somewhere else and decided to give it one last go - a bit like the desperate punter at the racetrack who puts it all on the last to try and recover the losses they’ve accumulated during the day.

It didn’t start well, with a death in Act 9 in the first set and another in Act 13 in the second. Both those Acts seem to punch well above their weight in terms of being the setting for the demise of my little penguin battlers. But the third Pengo proceeded to play his little heart out, clearing the third set and then the fourth without too many scares. In the fifth set, we managed to clock the high score at 655,310 - fractionally higher than when I’d done it a few weeks back (654,990).

Later in the fifth set also saw the loss of that brave little soldier, at just on 700K. With one Pengo left, my previous high score beaten, my appointment elsewhere (involving an airport) closing in, and the need for a nature break looming, I started throwing caution to the wind.

The 800K mark seemed to flash by and I’d reached 900K by the end of the sixth set with the fourth and last Pengo still going strong. I had to roughly calculate my score each time by adding 655,310 to the score that was on the clock, which became a bit frustrating.

By the time I was closing in on the magic 1,000,000, I was running later and later for my appointments - both with the airport and the gents. And so it was that in a reasonably benign Act 8 on the seventh time around I ended up almost throwing away the game at 991,350 - as Zackomba had calculated when I was entering my initials in the leaderboard.

At many times through that game, it felt like the old magic returning. It wasn’t by any means a chanceless innings though, with the odd dropped catch and near run-out along the way (for those who appreciate cricketing analogies), but it wasn’t a bad effort either. I’ll certainly take it.