The optimism you may have detected in my last post on the back of a very strong 1.6 million point game in mid-September turns out to have been badly misplaced, with that score remaining as the only real highlight over the last 3-4 months of Pengo play.
Between then and now, there have been a paltry three million-point games with many more games not even reaching the 500,000 mark.
All up, this has probably been the leanest scoring period since I started documenting this quest all those years ago. I’m not sure what’s happened. Maybe it’s just a let-down after securing the world record back in April. Maybe I’ve just lost my touch. Who knows?
But there was some wheat among the chaff so let’s just concentrate on that for now. Otherwise I’ll probably just get depressed.
At the end of September, I managed to clock up two million point games. The first, on the 26th, was a solid effort with the final death on Act 15 at a score of 1,175,800. I had three Pengos left just before the one million mark with one dying as it was clicking over. It was a great start and it probably deserved a better final score. The second was on 29th September with a not especially memorable 1,118,490. I managed to scrape past the million point barrier but it was a very average game.
And on 11th October, I finished with a score of 1,207,020 following a heroic effort by the last Pengo to get the game into seven figures.
As it happened, that turned out to have been my 73rd, and last, million point game. And my 22nd million point game of the year.
Along the way, there were a couple of games that got into high 900,000-point territory (including one on 9th October, where I equalled my record for the fastest 10,000 point Act, with a 23 second completion on Act 6) but I don’t really want to think about those too much.
So there we have it. Not a pretty picture, but I suppose it’s the sort of scoring drought that all us elite arcade video game players will experience from time to time.
And that’s it from this blog for a few months. I’m off to Europe again tomorrow to spend some more time on the Camino in Spain and then a few weeks wandering around England and other parts of the continent. My schedule is reasonably flexible, so any information from Pengo-questers out there about the location of any Pengo machine in that part of the world will be gratefully received. But failing that, I’m anticipating a Pengo-free three months. Which might not be such a bad thing really.
In the meantime, I wish you all a happy Christmas, a wonderful and meaningful New Year, and Buen Camino!
See you in 2017.
Monday 7 November 2016
Wednesday 21 September 2016
Some reasonable progress
A slow start to the past month of semi-regular Pengo play accelerated nicely over the past week or so with four million point games in eleven days. Up until then, I just couldn’t seem to get back into the rhythm of it at all, with a frustratingly long succession of games ending in the 500K-700K region. It was uncanny that, no matter how good a start I might have got, I just kept on dying without passing those sort of scores.
Before my extended Camino break, I was in a purple patch, scoring a million points on just about every second game I played. But on my return, the million-pointers were proving very hard to come by. I’m not sure what it was. My timing still seemed to work OK and my overall game management was sound. But for some reason, I just didn’t get the breaks I used to get. Or I’d lose two or sometimes three men at once when I should have only just lost the one.
But maybe things have turned around over the past couple of weeks, with one of the million point games being my new 6th highest all-time score.
To recap.
Since my last post, I’ve managed to clock up another six million point games, to take my total of million-pointers now to 70 (since records began back in May 2013).
The first was on 24 August with a 1,174,860. The highlight of this particular game was a new record clearance of 10 seconds. It came on an Act 2 and beat my previous fastest clearance of 11 seconds which hadn’t been bettered for a very long time.
The second million came on 1 September with a 1,241,540. And then after something of a drought, came a score of 1,166,710 on 11 September. Five days after that, it was 1,063,780.
And then in quick succession came an exceptional 1,616,010 on 19 September (where the final two pengos combined to score over a million points to convert an otherwise lacklustre game into an almost heroic one) and a tradesman-like 1,322,340 on 21 September.
I’m not going to have a whole lot more time over the next several months to build on these scores with various scheduled absences out of Sydney, including a trip back to the Camino and elsewhere in Europe for much of the (Australian) summer. So I’m hopeful of keeping on striking while the iron is hot in the short time left before then.
The updated summary statistics are as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,888,030 - 19 February 2016
3. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
4. 1,810,780 - 8 April 2016
5. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 10 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 228,840
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 70
• Total scores in excess of current official Twin Galaxies world record (1,217,650) - 32
The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores are unchanged:
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
As is the official Aurcade high score list:
1. 455,340 - PengoQuest, 27 March 2016
2. 432,780 - Robert Macauley, 28 March 2014
3. 160,100 - James White, 29 November 2015
4. 120,250 - David Nelson, 29 May 2009
5. 119,010 - John Payson, 19 April 2014
Before my extended Camino break, I was in a purple patch, scoring a million points on just about every second game I played. But on my return, the million-pointers were proving very hard to come by. I’m not sure what it was. My timing still seemed to work OK and my overall game management was sound. But for some reason, I just didn’t get the breaks I used to get. Or I’d lose two or sometimes three men at once when I should have only just lost the one.
But maybe things have turned around over the past couple of weeks, with one of the million point games being my new 6th highest all-time score.
To recap.
Since my last post, I’ve managed to clock up another six million point games, to take my total of million-pointers now to 70 (since records began back in May 2013).
The first was on 24 August with a 1,174,860. The highlight of this particular game was a new record clearance of 10 seconds. It came on an Act 2 and beat my previous fastest clearance of 11 seconds which hadn’t been bettered for a very long time.
The second million came on 1 September with a 1,241,540. And then after something of a drought, came a score of 1,166,710 on 11 September. Five days after that, it was 1,063,780.
And then in quick succession came an exceptional 1,616,010 on 19 September (where the final two pengos combined to score over a million points to convert an otherwise lacklustre game into an almost heroic one) and a tradesman-like 1,322,340 on 21 September.
I’m not going to have a whole lot more time over the next several months to build on these scores with various scheduled absences out of Sydney, including a trip back to the Camino and elsewhere in Europe for much of the (Australian) summer. So I’m hopeful of keeping on striking while the iron is hot in the short time left before then.
The updated summary statistics are as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,888,030 - 19 February 2016
3. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
4. 1,810,780 - 8 April 2016
5. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 10 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 228,840
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 70
• Total scores in excess of current official Twin Galaxies world record (1,217,650) - 32
The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores are unchanged:
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
As is the official Aurcade high score list:
1. 455,340 - PengoQuest, 27 March 2016
2. 432,780 - Robert Macauley, 28 March 2014
3. 160,100 - James White, 29 November 2015
4. 120,250 - David Nelson, 29 May 2009
5. 119,010 - John Payson, 19 April 2014
Friday 19 August 2016
Back to it
Apologies for the posting gap. It’s been a busy few months out in the real world. That, and a broken Pengo machine at the Milkbar Café, conspired to severely limit my Pengo play. But I’ve now completed my Masters program, walked 800 kilometres across Spain on the Camino Frances, and the Pengo machine is fixed.
So all is right with the world!
Since I’ve been back in the country, I’ve only played a handful of games. And yesterday I managed to top the million point mark for the first time since 11 April, which is probably about the time that the machine broke. It was actually a problem with the coin mechanism not accepting coins, not with the game itself.
The million point game score - my 64th since May 2013 - was 1,319,520. It was a steady game with a very big effort from the third Pengo but not much of a contribution from the final two. The final death on Act 12 was a bit disappointing, but all-in-all, a positive outcome.
Not much has changed in the all-important Aurcade high score rankings where I’m still king of the world! It’s a strange and anxious feeling clicking onto that site once in a while waiting for the high scores to appear to see if I’m still there. And a small pang of relief when it does.
So all is right with the world!
Since I’ve been back in the country, I’ve only played a handful of games. And yesterday I managed to top the million point mark for the first time since 11 April, which is probably about the time that the machine broke. It was actually a problem with the coin mechanism not accepting coins, not with the game itself.
The million point game score - my 64th since May 2013 - was 1,319,520. It was a steady game with a very big effort from the third Pengo but not much of a contribution from the final two. The final death on Act 12 was a bit disappointing, but all-in-all, a positive outcome.
Not much has changed in the all-important Aurcade high score rankings where I’m still king of the world! It’s a strange and anxious feeling clicking onto that site once in a while waiting for the high scores to appear to see if I’m still there. And a small pang of relief when it does.
Thursday 21 April 2016
Counting sno-bees
One thing I’ve occasionally wondered about this game is exactly how many sno-bees there are.
And if you have too, wonder no more!
During a recent game, I asked my playing partners (who were actually just watching to kill time before a film) to do a count. That is, to count the unhatched sno-bees at the start of each Act as they are all momentarily lined up at the top of the screen getting ready to hatch.
After a couple of times through the full 16 Acts just to confirm their calculations (which they performed most diligently, knowing I'd be writing about it here), I can report that the numbers are as follows:
Act 1 - 6
Act 2 - 6
Act 3 - 8
Act 4 - 8
Act 5 - 8
Act 6 - 8
Act 7 - 8
Act 8 - 10
Act 9 - 10
Act 10 - 10
Act 11 - 10
Act 12 - 12
Act 13 - 12
Act 14 - 12
Act 15 - 12
Act 16 - 12
Total - 152
Which works out to around 1,000 sno-bees needing to be dispatched during a typical million-point game. It's the sort of carnage that doesn't sound out of place with the number of enemies obliterated in an average Call of Duty or Mortal Kombat game (neither of which I've ever played, so maybe it is).
So now you know precisely what you're up against, don't get too daunted by them all. Just take them out one at a time (and sometimes two or three) and the scores will pile up.
And if you have too, wonder no more!
During a recent game, I asked my playing partners (who were actually just watching to kill time before a film) to do a count. That is, to count the unhatched sno-bees at the start of each Act as they are all momentarily lined up at the top of the screen getting ready to hatch.
After a couple of times through the full 16 Acts just to confirm their calculations (which they performed most diligently, knowing I'd be writing about it here), I can report that the numbers are as follows:
Act 1 - 6
Act 2 - 6
Act 3 - 8
Act 4 - 8
Act 5 - 8
Act 6 - 8
Act 7 - 8
Act 8 - 10
Act 9 - 10
Act 10 - 10
Act 11 - 10
Act 12 - 12
Act 13 - 12
Act 14 - 12
Act 15 - 12
Act 16 - 12
Total - 152
Which works out to around 1,000 sno-bees needing to be dispatched during a typical million-point game. It's the sort of carnage that doesn't sound out of place with the number of enemies obliterated in an average Call of Duty or Mortal Kombat game (neither of which I've ever played, so maybe it is).
So now you know precisely what you're up against, don't get too daunted by them all. Just take them out one at a time (and sometimes two or three) and the scores will pile up.
Saturday 16 April 2016
Back home
It seems some of the glow from the Galloping Ghost visit has survived the 30+ hour flight back to Sydney with a rousing return to play at Newtown’s Milk Bar café.
In the five games played since I’ve been back, I’ve managed to accumulate another three million point games, with the fourth falling just 35,000 points short. The fifth had to be ended at just over 700,000 when a film we’d booked in to see was about to start in the cinema next door. As is often the case when 'film-time' beats me, I was doing quite well, having lost only three Pengos with another million pointer firmly in sight.
And all that was in addition to the 1,155,670 I scored on Friday 4 March, a couple of weeks before I left for the USA. I died at Act 15 on that one after a huge run by the 5th man and a solid stint from the last one to make it past the magic million. It followed some easy deaths earlier in the game in each of Acts 1 and 3.
My first game back was on 6 April 2016, where I had a solid start and some good middle game play but with steady losses to the point where the last Pengo managed to hold it together to get over the line and keep going to reach a very acceptable 1,281,370.
The second game two days later was an absolute boomer - 1,810,780. It was one of those games when everything went right. The timing was near on perfect and I just seemed to be moving that fraction of a second faster. I lost my first man at around 460,000 and the second just before 1 million. I lost the next two a couple of hundred thousand points later fairly close together, and the last two on the same Act when the café was about to close for the evening. I probably rushed it a bit knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to make the 2 million mark, but I was also starting to get very tired. Overall, it was a very easy effort and a pleasing outcome.
The third million point game was on 11 April - a solid 1,180,810. It featured another great start but a lousy middle section followed by a reasonable finish with the last Pengo putting on a good 250,000+ to get over the million.
With all this, my scoring record now stands as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,888,030 - 19 February 2016
3. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
4. 1,810,780 - 8 April 2016
5. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 228,840
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 63
• Total scores in excess of current official Twin Galaxies world record (1,217,650) - 28
The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores are unchanged:
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
But, of course, there’s been a shake-up at the top of the official Aurcade high score list:
1. 455,340 - PengoQuest, 27 March 2016
2. 432,780 - Robert Macauley, 28 March 2014
3. 160,100 - James White, 29 November 2015
4. 120,250 - David Nelson, 29 May 2009
5. 119,010 - John Payson, 19 April 2014
This might look a little different if my other Galloping Ghost high scores of 385,620, 348,080, 314,590, 261,130, 256,850, 232,540, 227,180 and 186,370 were added in, but the full Aurcade list seems only to include one score from each player - which I suppose I can understand.
When I get a moment, I’ll try and work out the difference between the two rankings and report back in a future post.
In the five games played since I’ve been back, I’ve managed to accumulate another three million point games, with the fourth falling just 35,000 points short. The fifth had to be ended at just over 700,000 when a film we’d booked in to see was about to start in the cinema next door. As is often the case when 'film-time' beats me, I was doing quite well, having lost only three Pengos with another million pointer firmly in sight.
And all that was in addition to the 1,155,670 I scored on Friday 4 March, a couple of weeks before I left for the USA. I died at Act 15 on that one after a huge run by the 5th man and a solid stint from the last one to make it past the magic million. It followed some easy deaths earlier in the game in each of Acts 1 and 3.
My first game back was on 6 April 2016, where I had a solid start and some good middle game play but with steady losses to the point where the last Pengo managed to hold it together to get over the line and keep going to reach a very acceptable 1,281,370.
The second game two days later was an absolute boomer - 1,810,780. It was one of those games when everything went right. The timing was near on perfect and I just seemed to be moving that fraction of a second faster. I lost my first man at around 460,000 and the second just before 1 million. I lost the next two a couple of hundred thousand points later fairly close together, and the last two on the same Act when the café was about to close for the evening. I probably rushed it a bit knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to make the 2 million mark, but I was also starting to get very tired. Overall, it was a very easy effort and a pleasing outcome.
The third million point game was on 11 April - a solid 1,180,810. It featured another great start but a lousy middle section followed by a reasonable finish with the last Pengo putting on a good 250,000+ to get over the million.
With all this, my scoring record now stands as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,888,030 - 19 February 2016
3. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
4. 1,810,780 - 8 April 2016
5. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 228,840
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 63
• Total scores in excess of current official Twin Galaxies world record (1,217,650) - 28
The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores are unchanged:
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
But, of course, there’s been a shake-up at the top of the official Aurcade high score list:
1. 455,340 - PengoQuest, 27 March 2016
2. 432,780 - Robert Macauley, 28 March 2014
3. 160,100 - James White, 29 November 2015
4. 120,250 - David Nelson, 29 May 2009
5. 119,010 - John Payson, 19 April 2014
This might look a little different if my other Galloping Ghost high scores of 385,620, 348,080, 314,590, 261,130, 256,850, 232,540, 227,180 and 186,370 were added in, but the full Aurcade list seems only to include one score from each player - which I suppose I can understand.
When I get a moment, I’ll try and work out the difference between the two rankings and report back in a future post.
Wednesday 13 April 2016
USA tour wrap (2)
I need to take a moment to acknowledge the hospitality of the good folk at the Galloping Ghost arcade. It’s a great set-up they have there and the staff are obviously passionate about what they do.
When I first walked in and said I’d be taking a shot at their Pengo record, they offered a camera phone on a tripod and set it up next to the machine to record my games. After I’d been playing a while, they also offered me a free bottle of water and - even more generously - a free packet of Starbursts chews when my original pack had run out. And at the end of the day, the very hospitable John Hruza, who was finishing his shift there, offered to drive me all the way back to Brookfield train station so I could get back to Chicago (the arcade’s nearest station - Congress Park - doesn’t operate on weekends). It was very much appreciated.
For the uninitiated, the arcade itself is located in the southwestern part of Chicago in the suburb of Brookfield, which is about 25 kilometres from the city centre. Given my aversion to driving in the United States, I had to rely on the Metra train service to get me there and back. I discovered when I arrived in Chicago on Saturday afternoon that it only runs once every couple of hours or so on weekends, so a visit that day didn’t happen.
After my Sunday efforts, I briefly considered the idea of coming back on the Monday. But since I’d already booked in to see the (once) legendary Chicago Bulls go around at the United Centre that evening against the Atlanta Hawks (the Bulls lost), and the arcade not opening until 2:00pm on weekdays, I figured I’d probably only have a couple of hours of gameplay before I needed to leave. Albeit things might have been different if I hadn’t already broken the world record.
One of the many highlights of my time at the Galloping Ghost was a visit from James White, the holder of GG’s original Pengo record - among many others. James came up to me in my second game just as I was passing his 160,000 mark and offered me his sincerest congratulations. And what a gracious chap he is. With absolutely no offence to such a lovely man, he does look like the archetypal arcade gamer - pallid skin, unkempt hair, glasses, black T-shirt, and a physique more likely the product of a diet of pretzels and Budweiser than kale salads and green tea. (Mind you, I quite like kale and drink more than my fair share of green tea but I'm at no risk of being mistaken for Adonis anytime soon). Go well James!
I’ve since learned there’s apparently another arcade in north-west Chicago, in an outer suburb some 63 kilometres from the CBD, called Underground Retrocade, which evidently carries a Pengo game. It’s listed in the following Aurcade list of Pengo venues in the USA:
The Arcade - Brighton, MI
Arkadia Retrocade - Fayetteville , AR
The Atomic Arcade - Holladay, UT
Disney Quest - Lake Buena Vista, FL
Funspot - also includes ACAM - Laconia, NH
Galloping Ghost Arcade - Brookfield, IL
Gearbox Software - Plano, TX
Klassic Arcade - Gobles, MI
Mix Bar & Arcade - Lincoln, NE
Pennsylvania Coin Operated Hall of Fame - Hopewell TWP, PA
Richie Knucklez - Flemington, NJ
Underground Retrocade - West Dundee, IL
After Chicago, I’d booked onto Amtrak’s California Zephyr for a leisurely three day ride to San Francisco where I was particularly interested to check out the Musee Mecanique down at Fisherman’s Wharf. It describes itself as “one of the world's largest (over 200) privately owned collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition”. Apart from a general interest in the place, I thought I might find an original Pengo machine sitting in a corner somewhere.
No luck, but there was certainly a very large number of games, most of which seemed to date from the early to mid-20th century. Albeit the overall impression I was left with was one of shabbiness. The games certainly looked their age. The building was much the worse for wear. And the free entry arrangement suggested the place wasn’t much valued by the few who happened to wander in. I’m not sure how an operation like this continues to keep going, occupying as it does an extremely valuable piece of waterfront real estate with panoramic views of Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. But there it is. Feel free to check it out (and the excellent “In-and-Out” burger joint across the street).
And, finally, as part of my ridiculously long trek home, I faced the prospect of spending multiple transiting hours at New York’s JFK airport awaiting my connecting flight to Sydney (via Abu Dhabi). As I was wandering around to see what I could see, I spotted an upright arcade machine in a distant corner alongside one of those prize grabber devices. As I approached, I had happy visions of filling the next few hours with two or three solid Pengo games. Alas, it quickly became apparent that it was the ubiquitous Galaga. So if you’re ever stuck at JFK’s terminal 4 and you’re into that game, knock yourself out. As for me, I decided I’d deposit my luggage at the airport and take the long subway ride into Manhattan for a final brief, frigid, visit.
When I first walked in and said I’d be taking a shot at their Pengo record, they offered a camera phone on a tripod and set it up next to the machine to record my games. After I’d been playing a while, they also offered me a free bottle of water and - even more generously - a free packet of Starbursts chews when my original pack had run out. And at the end of the day, the very hospitable John Hruza, who was finishing his shift there, offered to drive me all the way back to Brookfield train station so I could get back to Chicago (the arcade’s nearest station - Congress Park - doesn’t operate on weekends). It was very much appreciated.
For the uninitiated, the arcade itself is located in the southwestern part of Chicago in the suburb of Brookfield, which is about 25 kilometres from the city centre. Given my aversion to driving in the United States, I had to rely on the Metra train service to get me there and back. I discovered when I arrived in Chicago on Saturday afternoon that it only runs once every couple of hours or so on weekends, so a visit that day didn’t happen.
After my Sunday efforts, I briefly considered the idea of coming back on the Monday. But since I’d already booked in to see the (once) legendary Chicago Bulls go around at the United Centre that evening against the Atlanta Hawks (the Bulls lost), and the arcade not opening until 2:00pm on weekdays, I figured I’d probably only have a couple of hours of gameplay before I needed to leave. Albeit things might have been different if I hadn’t already broken the world record.
One of the many highlights of my time at the Galloping Ghost was a visit from James White, the holder of GG’s original Pengo record - among many others. James came up to me in my second game just as I was passing his 160,000 mark and offered me his sincerest congratulations. And what a gracious chap he is. With absolutely no offence to such a lovely man, he does look like the archetypal arcade gamer - pallid skin, unkempt hair, glasses, black T-shirt, and a physique more likely the product of a diet of pretzels and Budweiser than kale salads and green tea. (Mind you, I quite like kale and drink more than my fair share of green tea but I'm at no risk of being mistaken for Adonis anytime soon). Go well James!
I’ve since learned there’s apparently another arcade in north-west Chicago, in an outer suburb some 63 kilometres from the CBD, called Underground Retrocade, which evidently carries a Pengo game. It’s listed in the following Aurcade list of Pengo venues in the USA:
The Arcade - Brighton, MI
Arkadia Retrocade - Fayetteville , AR
The Atomic Arcade - Holladay, UT
Disney Quest - Lake Buena Vista, FL
Funspot - also includes ACAM - Laconia, NH
Galloping Ghost Arcade - Brookfield, IL
Gearbox Software - Plano, TX
Klassic Arcade - Gobles, MI
Mix Bar & Arcade - Lincoln, NE
Pennsylvania Coin Operated Hall of Fame - Hopewell TWP, PA
Richie Knucklez - Flemington, NJ
Underground Retrocade - West Dundee, IL
After Chicago, I’d booked onto Amtrak’s California Zephyr for a leisurely three day ride to San Francisco where I was particularly interested to check out the Musee Mecanique down at Fisherman’s Wharf. It describes itself as “one of the world's largest (over 200) privately owned collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition”. Apart from a general interest in the place, I thought I might find an original Pengo machine sitting in a corner somewhere.
No luck, but there was certainly a very large number of games, most of which seemed to date from the early to mid-20th century. Albeit the overall impression I was left with was one of shabbiness. The games certainly looked their age. The building was much the worse for wear. And the free entry arrangement suggested the place wasn’t much valued by the few who happened to wander in. I’m not sure how an operation like this continues to keep going, occupying as it does an extremely valuable piece of waterfront real estate with panoramic views of Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. But there it is. Feel free to check it out (and the excellent “In-and-Out” burger joint across the street).
And, finally, as part of my ridiculously long trek home, I faced the prospect of spending multiple transiting hours at New York’s JFK airport awaiting my connecting flight to Sydney (via Abu Dhabi). As I was wandering around to see what I could see, I spotted an upright arcade machine in a distant corner alongside one of those prize grabber devices. As I approached, I had happy visions of filling the next few hours with two or three solid Pengo games. Alas, it quickly became apparent that it was the ubiquitous Galaga. So if you’re ever stuck at JFK’s terminal 4 and you’re into that game, knock yourself out. As for me, I decided I’d deposit my luggage at the airport and take the long subway ride into Manhattan for a final brief, frigid, visit.
Monday 11 April 2016
USA tour wrap (1) - and a new world record holder!!!
Well, that was fun!
Now that I’m safely back in the country, and fully recovered from a 30+ hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney (via Charlotte, New York and Abu Dhabi), I need to bring you up to date on one of the highlights of my three week USA trip - my visit to the wonderful Galloping Ghost arcade in the suburbs of Chicago on Easter Sunday, 27 March 2016.
There’ll be a little more colour in the next post, but for now, I’ll just run through the details of how it went on the day.
I arrived at the arcade shortly after opening time (around 11:30am) and paid my $US15 fee for the day - after having established that their Pengo machine was in fact working. In the first session of play, my game scores were as follows:
86,990 - dying in Act 12
232,540 - Act 11 (a new Galloping Ghost arcade record - the previous being c.160,000)
227,180 - Act 9
348,080 - Act 12 (another new Galloping Ghost arcade record)
103,230 - Act 13
108,790 - Act 13
After that, I thought I needed a break, so I went across the road to Tony’s Diner for a bite to eat. It turned out to be a multi course feast with mountains of food accompanied by half a dozen bread rolls, a bottomless cup of coffee, and a huge slice of carrot cake with icing which I had to ask them to bag up so I could try and eat it later. Assuming, of course, I’d one day be able to finish digesting the food I’d just consumed. No complaints, though. It was an excellent meal at an even more excellent price.
After I waddled back to the arcade, the games went as follows - pretty much without a break:
130,930 - dying in Act 15
186,370 - Act 7
122,890 - Act 14
115,000 - Act 14
118,440 - Act 14
314,590 - Act 5
256,850 - Act 14
261,130 - Act 12
112,400 - Act 14
385,620 - Act 12 (a third new Galloping Ghost arcade record)
455,340 - Act 9 (a new Aurcade world, and Galloping Ghost arcade, record).
Evidently, the previous Aurcade world record for Pengo was around 425,000 so it was a particular relief to get past that mark while I was in town. Happily, the record-breaking game finished around 8:30pm, which gave me just enough time to catch one of the last trains back to Chicago.
Regular readers of this blog will have noticed some significant discrepancies between these scores and the ones I’ve been clocking up at the Milk Bar café in Newtown, Sydney over the past couple of years. I noticed it, too, in the very first game.
For one, the Galloping Ghost machine only has a maximum of four Pengos, not the six I’m accustomed to playing with. There are also several differences in the detail and timing of the game which really took me some time to adjust to. I probably should have played an extra day or two to really get all the kinks ironed out, but as I’ll explain next time, that didn’t happen.
Apart from the GG machine being a stand-up machine where I usually play the table-top version, some of those differences were quite odd. For example, the GG machine refers to each “Act” as a “Round” - or “Rd” - instead of Act in the bottom left corner of the screen. It also doesn’t play the familiar Popcorn tune as the game is underway. In its place, there is some equally irritating, but lovable, tune which I wasn’t able to identify.
The gap between each Act (or ‘Rd’) is also shortened considerably by not having the frame's pattern traced out as the prelude to each Act. The screen just pops up and away you go. The dancing Pengo sequences are still there after each of the even numbered Acts, but even they seemed shortened. All in all, it made it almost impossible to unscrew the top off my waterbottle, take a sip, and then screw the top back on in between Acts. Stuff like this, or unwrapping a starburst chewy, had to be done over two or three Acts.
I also noticed little things that took a long time to get used to. Like a slightly longer time to get past chewed ice-blocks. You seem to stumble on the remnants of them as you move over them, causing a slight reduction in speed. On the plus side, the sno-bees almost never take evasive action when fired at. Even in the later Acts, if you fired at them from a distance and they were in line, they just stopped dead, waiting to be flattened. On the machines I’m used to, they’re just as likely to go into hyperdrive for a short period to evade being squashed.
There’s also no doubt that the GG machine just felt generally faster than the ones I’m used to playing. It’s hard to explain it, but my Act average was consistently much less than the 10,000 points or so I would normally score. It might have had something to do with my caution at playing on the world stage where each game was being recorded. Or maybe it was the jet lag I was still struggling to recover from. Whatever it was, I just felt I had that fraction of a second less time. Mind you, the more I played on the day, the more I was able to adjust and so maybe a 600,000 or 700,000 score might have been a possibility with another couple of days solid play.
As it was, I’ll settle for the 455,340 - and a place in the Aurcade world record books!
Now that I’m safely back in the country, and fully recovered from a 30+ hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney (via Charlotte, New York and Abu Dhabi), I need to bring you up to date on one of the highlights of my three week USA trip - my visit to the wonderful Galloping Ghost arcade in the suburbs of Chicago on Easter Sunday, 27 March 2016.
There’ll be a little more colour in the next post, but for now, I’ll just run through the details of how it went on the day.
I arrived at the arcade shortly after opening time (around 11:30am) and paid my $US15 fee for the day - after having established that their Pengo machine was in fact working. In the first session of play, my game scores were as follows:
86,990 - dying in Act 12
232,540 - Act 11 (a new Galloping Ghost arcade record - the previous being c.160,000)
227,180 - Act 9
348,080 - Act 12 (another new Galloping Ghost arcade record)
103,230 - Act 13
108,790 - Act 13
After that, I thought I needed a break, so I went across the road to Tony’s Diner for a bite to eat. It turned out to be a multi course feast with mountains of food accompanied by half a dozen bread rolls, a bottomless cup of coffee, and a huge slice of carrot cake with icing which I had to ask them to bag up so I could try and eat it later. Assuming, of course, I’d one day be able to finish digesting the food I’d just consumed. No complaints, though. It was an excellent meal at an even more excellent price.
After I waddled back to the arcade, the games went as follows - pretty much without a break:
130,930 - dying in Act 15
186,370 - Act 7
122,890 - Act 14
115,000 - Act 14
118,440 - Act 14
314,590 - Act 5
256,850 - Act 14
261,130 - Act 12
112,400 - Act 14
385,620 - Act 12 (a third new Galloping Ghost arcade record)
455,340 - Act 9 (a new Aurcade world, and Galloping Ghost arcade, record).
Evidently, the previous Aurcade world record for Pengo was around 425,000 so it was a particular relief to get past that mark while I was in town. Happily, the record-breaking game finished around 8:30pm, which gave me just enough time to catch one of the last trains back to Chicago.
Regular readers of this blog will have noticed some significant discrepancies between these scores and the ones I’ve been clocking up at the Milk Bar café in Newtown, Sydney over the past couple of years. I noticed it, too, in the very first game.
For one, the Galloping Ghost machine only has a maximum of four Pengos, not the six I’m accustomed to playing with. There are also several differences in the detail and timing of the game which really took me some time to adjust to. I probably should have played an extra day or two to really get all the kinks ironed out, but as I’ll explain next time, that didn’t happen.
Apart from the GG machine being a stand-up machine where I usually play the table-top version, some of those differences were quite odd. For example, the GG machine refers to each “Act” as a “Round” - or “Rd” - instead of Act in the bottom left corner of the screen. It also doesn’t play the familiar Popcorn tune as the game is underway. In its place, there is some equally irritating, but lovable, tune which I wasn’t able to identify.
The gap between each Act (or ‘Rd’) is also shortened considerably by not having the frame's pattern traced out as the prelude to each Act. The screen just pops up and away you go. The dancing Pengo sequences are still there after each of the even numbered Acts, but even they seemed shortened. All in all, it made it almost impossible to unscrew the top off my waterbottle, take a sip, and then screw the top back on in between Acts. Stuff like this, or unwrapping a starburst chewy, had to be done over two or three Acts.
I also noticed little things that took a long time to get used to. Like a slightly longer time to get past chewed ice-blocks. You seem to stumble on the remnants of them as you move over them, causing a slight reduction in speed. On the plus side, the sno-bees almost never take evasive action when fired at. Even in the later Acts, if you fired at them from a distance and they were in line, they just stopped dead, waiting to be flattened. On the machines I’m used to, they’re just as likely to go into hyperdrive for a short period to evade being squashed.
There’s also no doubt that the GG machine just felt generally faster than the ones I’m used to playing. It’s hard to explain it, but my Act average was consistently much less than the 10,000 points or so I would normally score. It might have had something to do with my caution at playing on the world stage where each game was being recorded. Or maybe it was the jet lag I was still struggling to recover from. Whatever it was, I just felt I had that fraction of a second less time. Mind you, the more I played on the day, the more I was able to adjust and so maybe a 600,000 or 700,000 score might have been a possibility with another couple of days solid play.
As it was, I’ll settle for the 455,340 - and a place in the Aurcade world record books!
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