Chipping away

Managing to fit in just one game of Pengo in over two weeks - which is what I did yesterday - has been a little disappointing, although I suppose you take it when you can get it.

The moment I finished the opening Act in yesterday’s game in a new record time (for me) of 11 seconds, I could feel immediately I was onto something. Perhaps the two week break had freshened me up. Whatever it was, I ended up with a very respectable final score of 806,980.

What’s more, as I sensed going along, it turned out to be quite an aggressive scoring game. My average Act score of about 10,090 points sustained over 80 Acts for this game compares very favourably with an average Act score of slightly under 9,250 points in my highest scoring game of 1,017, 250, which lasted for 110 Acts. An average of over 10,000 points per Act for that length of game is no mean feat (even if I say so myself!), and requires the diamond blocks to be lined up (to get the 10,000 point bonus) in just about three out of every four Acts.

The individual set scores this time around were 171,700 for the first 16 Acts, 136,960 for the second, 176,700 for the third, 173,690 for the fourth and 147,930 for the incomplete fifth set.

This time, the machine ‘clocked’ at 655,350, slightly higher than the high-score on its counter of 655,310, which I'd set previously. So the final score was 655,350 + 151,630.

I lost my Pengos at Act 6 in the third set, Act 16 in the fourth set, and - annoyingly - twice in Act 16 just as I was about to make a start on the sixth set and perhaps get my third seven-figure score in almost as many games.

Overall, it was a strong effort, and with my heavy scoring over the last six weeks whilst having only played a handful of games, I am quietly confident of soon eclipsing Mr Hornitsky’s 1,217,650 world mark (the first anniversary of which is coming up). That is, as soon as (a) I can get a bit more time to focus on it, and (b) I get my hands on a machine that has the regulation six Pengos, not the four I’ve been confined to on the museum’s machine since this quest began a few short months ago.

And on both those fronts, dear reader, I expect to be able to report to you some very good news in the very near future.