Public Pengos?

For my 25th entry on this quest, I thought I should - with your help! - make some sort of attempt to document the location of publicly available Pengo machines around the world.

I have no other motive than helping me plan future day trips or holidays, but it might also be of interest to fellow Pengo worshippers who suddenly find themselves in need of a game whilst in an unfamiliar location.

To start the ball rolling …

Powerhouse Museum - Ultimo, Sydney, New South Wales (last spotted - May 2014)

Evidently, there are plans afoot to relocate this museum to western Sydney, which is some distance from its present location close to the CBD. But even so, I can’t imagine a circumstance where they’d take their arcade machines away from public availability - or not keep them free to play.

Last time I was there, they had 4 multi-game table top machines on the entrance level, just across from the old steam train exhibit. I only ever played one of them seriously (the one with my maximum high score of 650,000+ locked in) - each of the others seemed to have irritating mechanical issues.

Milkbar Café - Newtown, New South Wales (last spotted - today)

A great location on King Street, directly next to the Dendy Cinema. Their food - and green tea - is excellent and reasonably priced while the service is very friendly. They have just the one table top multi-game machine costing $1 a game. The top score recorded on it is the maximum possible before the counter starts again - 655,350.

River Inn Resort - Thredbo, New South Wales (last spotted - August 2014)

This place is located in the heart of the ski resort of Thredbo, about 500 kilometres south of Sydney. It had two table top multi-game machines when I was there in August 2014. I was assisting with Zackomba's school ski trip and managed to sneak away from the slopes for a short time to post a high score of precisely 300,000 (or was it 400,000? - can’t remember). Either way, it’s there for posterity on the machine that was working properly. The other one seemed to have a joystick problem when I visited. Again, it was $1 per game.

Funspot - Laconia, New Hampshire, USA

The arcade video game mecca! I almost made it there after finishing my visit to Boston in October 2013 but, try as I might, I couldn’t find a public transport option. And my trepidation about driving on the wrong side of the road scuttled any thoughts of hiring a car. But it’s on the bucket list, so I’ll get there somehow.

If you know of any ‘public Pengos’ anywhere else in Australia, or the world for that matter, please add a comment. And be sure to make a note of the high score recorded on the machine!

In terms of scoring, I managed a solid 1,365,400 during the week. It was my 15th score over 1 million and overall third best, although it should probably have been a bit higher. I still had three men left as I passed 1 million, but it was getting a bit late in the day and my endurance wasn’t all that it could have been.

Top 5 scores:
1. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
2. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
3. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
4. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
5. 1,269,950 - 13 January 2015

• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 24 seconds
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 15

The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores remain as follows:
1. 1,217,650 - Paul Hornitzky, 9 September 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