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!
Friday, 4 March 2016
A big February
Just counting down the days now until I take on the Pengo machine at Chicago’s Galloping Ghost arcade. And, hopefully, I can do so with some good form under the belt. In that regard, February saw some quite heavy scoring, culminating in a new 2nd best all-time score of 1,888,030 among a total now of 59 million point games.
The month started very well with a 1,491,770 achieved on 7 February 2016. It was my (then) new 5th highest score. I had a solid opening few Acts but overall it was nothing spectacular. After losing two men in one frame, the last man battled for well over 600,000 points. I was just hoping to get another 140,000 or so to get the million so the additional score was a big bonus. I eventually died on Act 3 after a simple error at the end of a long period of mistake-free play.
Three days later, in an otherwise forgettable 826,000 game, I completed an Act 7 in a record-equalling 11 seconds. In the game itself, I had too many early losses to expect the last man to convert it into a million point game, albeit he did try valiantly.
Then, on 12 February, I scored a sold 1,115,000, where I died on Act 9 after a long session with the final two men. It was another case of a poor start followed by exceptional performances from the one or two remaining Pengos to take it past the milestone.
A week later, on 19 February, came the new second best score - 1,888,030. I ended up dying on Act 13 after a tremendous start, especially when compared with the past few weeks. I lost my third man just before passing the million point mark and the absence of silly errors gave me a feeling that this was going to be a very special game. I started recording just after I passed the million, where I’d completed Act 16 again. At the time, I was 3 men down and the score was on 1,058,460.
I survived the next 16 Acts without loss with the score on 1,229,020 (170,560 in the previous 16 Acts). After the next 16 Acts, I’d lost my fourth player, but had racked up a score of 1,409,220 (180,200 in the previous 16 Acts). By the time I’d completed the next 16 Acts, I was down to one player, with the score on 1,598,600 (189,380). And my palms were getting decidedly sweaty deep into the third hour of play.
The next 16 Acts went clear and I was left with a score of 1,749,560 (150,960) - and a feeling of great expectation as the two million point summit came into view. But that was the last time I was to see Act 16. I died on Act 13 the next time around with the score just shy of 1.9 million. Just think. If I’d cleared Act 13 and those next three Acts, I would definitely have had a clear shot at the 2 million. Nonetheless, it was a very good game. I was especially pleased at myself for minimising silly errors and maintaining a consistently high scoring average. I think I was simply outsmarted on most, if not all, of my deaths - so fair play machine!
And then on 21 February the heavy scoring continued with 1,527,780. It was another solid start with another outstanding contribution from the final two men. I never expected to end up with such a huge score, but I’ll certainly take it.
Things have been somewhat lean in the time since then, with less opportunity to play. But I expect to get some quality game time in over the next couple weeks before I fly out to try my luck in the windy city.
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. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
5. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
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 - 59
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 26
The month started very well with a 1,491,770 achieved on 7 February 2016. It was my (then) new 5th highest score. I had a solid opening few Acts but overall it was nothing spectacular. After losing two men in one frame, the last man battled for well over 600,000 points. I was just hoping to get another 140,000 or so to get the million so the additional score was a big bonus. I eventually died on Act 3 after a simple error at the end of a long period of mistake-free play.
Three days later, in an otherwise forgettable 826,000 game, I completed an Act 7 in a record-equalling 11 seconds. In the game itself, I had too many early losses to expect the last man to convert it into a million point game, albeit he did try valiantly.
Then, on 12 February, I scored a sold 1,115,000, where I died on Act 9 after a long session with the final two men. It was another case of a poor start followed by exceptional performances from the one or two remaining Pengos to take it past the milestone.
A week later, on 19 February, came the new second best score - 1,888,030. I ended up dying on Act 13 after a tremendous start, especially when compared with the past few weeks. I lost my third man just before passing the million point mark and the absence of silly errors gave me a feeling that this was going to be a very special game. I started recording just after I passed the million, where I’d completed Act 16 again. At the time, I was 3 men down and the score was on 1,058,460.
I survived the next 16 Acts without loss with the score on 1,229,020 (170,560 in the previous 16 Acts). After the next 16 Acts, I’d lost my fourth player, but had racked up a score of 1,409,220 (180,200 in the previous 16 Acts). By the time I’d completed the next 16 Acts, I was down to one player, with the score on 1,598,600 (189,380). And my palms were getting decidedly sweaty deep into the third hour of play.
The next 16 Acts went clear and I was left with a score of 1,749,560 (150,960) - and a feeling of great expectation as the two million point summit came into view. But that was the last time I was to see Act 16. I died on Act 13 the next time around with the score just shy of 1.9 million. Just think. If I’d cleared Act 13 and those next three Acts, I would definitely have had a clear shot at the 2 million. Nonetheless, it was a very good game. I was especially pleased at myself for minimising silly errors and maintaining a consistently high scoring average. I think I was simply outsmarted on most, if not all, of my deaths - so fair play machine!
And then on 21 February the heavy scoring continued with 1,527,780. It was another solid start with another outstanding contribution from the final two men. I never expected to end up with such a huge score, but I’ll certainly take it.
Things have been somewhat lean in the time since then, with less opportunity to play. But I expect to get some quality game time in over the next couple weeks before I fly out to try my luck in the windy city.
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. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
5. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
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 - 59
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 26
Friday, 5 February 2016
PengoQuest USA tour dates
I mentioned a few posts back that I planned to travel to the US in the new year. The trip was originally designed so I could run the New York half marathon (around Manhattan) on 20 March - as part of a long term plan to one day qualify to run Boston.
While in America, I'd also been thinking of wandering around the north-east and maybe elsewhere for a short time to see what I could see before heading home. But since discovering the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago, I can now announce exclusively that I'll be in Chicago from 26 to 28 March 2016 to attempt to etch my name into the record books - or at least onto the Galloping Ghost high score website.
The Galloping Ghost website gives a good, albeit somewhat breathless, description of the place:
The GALLOPING GHOST ARCADE provides a video gaming experience like no other! We are the LARGEST video arcade in the USA, and currently have over 440+ games to play and have more games up and running all the time! Unlike most arcades, we do not use quarters or tokens. All of our games are set to FREE PLAY! We charge a $15 door fee and then you can come in and play ALL the games for as long as you want! We are open until 2AM daily (EVERYDAY including all holidays)! We offer Weekly, Monthly, Yearly & Lifetime Memberships as well! We are also one of the most reputable arcades for tracking high scores and world records. We currently have over 180+ World Records set here!
Given it takes me around 1 to 2 hours to play an average Pengo game, I’d probably prefer the old fashioned, coin-in-the-slot, way of playing, but it’s a small price to pay if I do manage to reproduce my Sydney form on the big stage. And of course, if you're in the vicinity at that time, feel free to drop by and say G'day!
When I previously wrote about the Galloping Ghost, the Pengo high score was listed on their site at 132,790, set on 3 April 2015 by a gentleman named James White. Lo and behold, I’ve just checked again and it seems the champ has been back, posting a new high score of 160,100 on 29 November 2015. Good job James!
All up, I’ll be in New York from 17 to 24 March before heading up to Boston for a day, and then on the train to Chicago. After that, another two days on the train to San Francisco for a couple of days, before the loooooong flight back home to Sydney, via New York and Abu Dhabi.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be stepping up my searches for any arcades in New York and San Francisco. So, again, if you know of any currently operating that carry the great game, I’d love to hear about them!
While in America, I'd also been thinking of wandering around the north-east and maybe elsewhere for a short time to see what I could see before heading home. But since discovering the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago, I can now announce exclusively that I'll be in Chicago from 26 to 28 March 2016 to attempt to etch my name into the record books - or at least onto the Galloping Ghost high score website.
The Galloping Ghost website gives a good, albeit somewhat breathless, description of the place:
The GALLOPING GHOST ARCADE provides a video gaming experience like no other! We are the LARGEST video arcade in the USA, and currently have over 440+ games to play and have more games up and running all the time! Unlike most arcades, we do not use quarters or tokens. All of our games are set to FREE PLAY! We charge a $15 door fee and then you can come in and play ALL the games for as long as you want! We are open until 2AM daily (EVERYDAY including all holidays)! We offer Weekly, Monthly, Yearly & Lifetime Memberships as well! We are also one of the most reputable arcades for tracking high scores and world records. We currently have over 180+ World Records set here!
Given it takes me around 1 to 2 hours to play an average Pengo game, I’d probably prefer the old fashioned, coin-in-the-slot, way of playing, but it’s a small price to pay if I do manage to reproduce my Sydney form on the big stage. And of course, if you're in the vicinity at that time, feel free to drop by and say G'day!
When I previously wrote about the Galloping Ghost, the Pengo high score was listed on their site at 132,790, set on 3 April 2015 by a gentleman named James White. Lo and behold, I’ve just checked again and it seems the champ has been back, posting a new high score of 160,100 on 29 November 2015. Good job James!
All up, I’ll be in New York from 17 to 24 March before heading up to Boston for a day, and then on the train to Chicago. After that, another two days on the train to San Francisco for a couple of days, before the loooooong flight back home to Sydney, via New York and Abu Dhabi.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be stepping up my searches for any arcades in New York and San Francisco. So, again, if you know of any currently operating that carry the great game, I’d love to hear about them!
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Happy 2016!!
And it’s great to be back with you all again after a short time away.
It’s been a reasonably busy couple of months with study and travel and such since the previous post (including a second crossing of the Milford Track in New Zealand - love that place!). But, of course, not too busy to squeeze in the odd Pengo game now and then. So it’s about time I brought you up to date.
Last time we spoke, my million point games total sat at 45. Today, it’s at 54, with another nine big ones posted. Actually, most of them weren’t all that ‘big’ with a couple only just making it into seven figure territory. But I did manage a new fifth highest score with a 1,490,700 on 17 November.
Overall, I’m not too disappointed with progress. I found that each time I got back to playing after any of my reasonably frequent absences, it invariably took two and sometimes three games before I hit my stride. And given I only ever play a maximum of two games in any one session, it’s not surprising there were fewer huge scores than I would have liked.
This is how things panned out.
The first of the nine million point games came on 14 November - 1,320,670, which was the first million pointer after a 3 week break. The second was three days later when I almost broke the 1.5 million barrier for the fifth time. Instead, I had to settle for 1,490,700. It was a very solid game featuring a long run by the third Pengo, although the next two fell quickly and the last man clung on until he was killed off with only a couple of sno-bees left on Act 16. It could so easily have been another 100,000 if I’d gotten through that.
On 24 November, I scored 1,165,350. It was another very solid game, especially after a somewhat scratchy start. Unfortunately, I had to leave the game early because of a film I’d booked to see at the cinema next door (“99 Homes” - an excellent, if somewhat maudlin, affair) and was already running late, so I bailed with two Pengos still remaining. What might have been …
On 11 December, I managed a 1,184,550 and three days later, a 1,201,260 - my fiftieth million point game. They were two good games after another two week break.
On 30 December, it was 1,235,140, which included a record-equalling 11-second clearance on one of the Acts (can’t remember which one), and on 4 January, it was 1,164,320. Nine days later, I just managed to scrape past the one million mark (1,002,300) after a very long battle by the last Pengo standing. And finally, on 18 January, after a great start but several deaths toward the end, it was another very tense effort to make it to 1,028,330.
So with all that, and after checking the even newer and improved-er Twin Galaxies website, the various records and statistics are as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
3. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
4. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
5. 1,490,700 - 17 November 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 - 54
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 23
The top 5 official 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
It’s been a reasonably busy couple of months with study and travel and such since the previous post (including a second crossing of the Milford Track in New Zealand - love that place!). But, of course, not too busy to squeeze in the odd Pengo game now and then. So it’s about time I brought you up to date.
Last time we spoke, my million point games total sat at 45. Today, it’s at 54, with another nine big ones posted. Actually, most of them weren’t all that ‘big’ with a couple only just making it into seven figure territory. But I did manage a new fifth highest score with a 1,490,700 on 17 November.
Overall, I’m not too disappointed with progress. I found that each time I got back to playing after any of my reasonably frequent absences, it invariably took two and sometimes three games before I hit my stride. And given I only ever play a maximum of two games in any one session, it’s not surprising there were fewer huge scores than I would have liked.
This is how things panned out.
The first of the nine million point games came on 14 November - 1,320,670, which was the first million pointer after a 3 week break. The second was three days later when I almost broke the 1.5 million barrier for the fifth time. Instead, I had to settle for 1,490,700. It was a very solid game featuring a long run by the third Pengo, although the next two fell quickly and the last man clung on until he was killed off with only a couple of sno-bees left on Act 16. It could so easily have been another 100,000 if I’d gotten through that.
On 24 November, I scored 1,165,350. It was another very solid game, especially after a somewhat scratchy start. Unfortunately, I had to leave the game early because of a film I’d booked to see at the cinema next door (“99 Homes” - an excellent, if somewhat maudlin, affair) and was already running late, so I bailed with two Pengos still remaining. What might have been …
On 11 December, I managed a 1,184,550 and three days later, a 1,201,260 - my fiftieth million point game. They were two good games after another two week break.
On 30 December, it was 1,235,140, which included a record-equalling 11-second clearance on one of the Acts (can’t remember which one), and on 4 January, it was 1,164,320. Nine days later, I just managed to scrape past the one million mark (1,002,300) after a very long battle by the last Pengo standing. And finally, on 18 January, after a great start but several deaths toward the end, it was another very tense effort to make it to 1,028,330.
So with all that, and after checking the even newer and improved-er Twin Galaxies website, the various records and statistics are as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
3. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
4. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
5. 1,490,700 - 17 November 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 - 54
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 23
The top 5 official 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
Friday, 16 October 2015
Nine more millions
While there hasn’t been as much activity as I would have liked on this blog over the past several weeks, I’ve more than made up for it with some very heavy scoring since we last spoke. Between then and last night, I’ve managed to reel off another nine million point games, ranging in magnitude from 1,018,390 to 1,442,300. I haven’t calculated it, but I think my strike rate over recent months is getting perilously close to one million point game for every two games played.
Along the way, I also managed a couple of little oddities and special moments. To recap …
On 3 September, I scored 1,205,730, but the clear highlight was a new high score for the first 16 Acts. I ended up with 228,840, achieving all but one of the 10,000 point bonuses. This beat my previous best of 221,880. The rest of the game fell away somewhat by comparison.
The next million came on 8 September with a 1,282,240 score. After several early deaths, the last two Pengos lasted a very long time, getting me over the million point mark for the 38th time, and well beyond.
A week later, on 15 September, I managed my second back-to-back million point games. The scores weren’t anything to write home about - 1,018,390 and 1,163,310 respectively - but they were both very solid efforts. If anything, and given I really was “in the zone”, they should have been a little higher.
On 19 September, million point game 41 came along, with a score of 1,086,980. Again, the last man survived for an inordinately long time and I can tell you the palms were sweating prodigiously the longer I worked through the 900,000’s.
On 28 September came another fairly straightforward million, with 1,035,920. Not much at all to say about that one really, other than to express my deepest gratitude that I again managed not to die in the 900,000’s.
There were some more last man heroics on 4 October, when million point game number 43 - a very respectable 1,415,150 - came about. Incredibly, the final Pengo scored well over 800,000 on his own. I don’t know exactly how many he scored, not bothering to record it after I was resigned to a non-descript finish at five men down. But what a champion!
Another very solid score on 10 October, with 1,442,300. It was a strong start and very evenly paced throughout. I’ll take it.
And yesterday came probably the most frustrating million, if there is such a thing. I’d booked in to see a film at the Dendy cinema next door (“The Martian” - great film, very entertaining), and allowed myself a couple of hours beforehand to get a game in. As it turned out, I’d reached a million by the time the session was due to start and 1,107,150 well into the pre-movie show.
So I had to bail.
Problem was - I still had three men left. And I’d just finished level 6. The way I was playing, a score well over 1.5 million was in the offing. But I suppose that’s the life of a cinephile arcade gamer. You’ve just got to take the rough with the smooth sometimes.
So that leaves the various records as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
3. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
4. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
5. 1,488,480 - 6 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 - 45
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 20
The top 5 official high scores are unchanged, as recorded on the very spiffy new Twin Galaxies site - good job to the guys maintaining it:
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
Along the way, I also managed a couple of little oddities and special moments. To recap …
On 3 September, I scored 1,205,730, but the clear highlight was a new high score for the first 16 Acts. I ended up with 228,840, achieving all but one of the 10,000 point bonuses. This beat my previous best of 221,880. The rest of the game fell away somewhat by comparison.
The next million came on 8 September with a 1,282,240 score. After several early deaths, the last two Pengos lasted a very long time, getting me over the million point mark for the 38th time, and well beyond.
A week later, on 15 September, I managed my second back-to-back million point games. The scores weren’t anything to write home about - 1,018,390 and 1,163,310 respectively - but they were both very solid efforts. If anything, and given I really was “in the zone”, they should have been a little higher.
On 19 September, million point game 41 came along, with a score of 1,086,980. Again, the last man survived for an inordinately long time and I can tell you the palms were sweating prodigiously the longer I worked through the 900,000’s.
On 28 September came another fairly straightforward million, with 1,035,920. Not much at all to say about that one really, other than to express my deepest gratitude that I again managed not to die in the 900,000’s.
There were some more last man heroics on 4 October, when million point game number 43 - a very respectable 1,415,150 - came about. Incredibly, the final Pengo scored well over 800,000 on his own. I don’t know exactly how many he scored, not bothering to record it after I was resigned to a non-descript finish at five men down. But what a champion!
Another very solid score on 10 October, with 1,442,300. It was a strong start and very evenly paced throughout. I’ll take it.
And yesterday came probably the most frustrating million, if there is such a thing. I’d booked in to see a film at the Dendy cinema next door (“The Martian” - great film, very entertaining), and allowed myself a couple of hours beforehand to get a game in. As it turned out, I’d reached a million by the time the session was due to start and 1,107,150 well into the pre-movie show.
So I had to bail.
Problem was - I still had three men left. And I’d just finished level 6. The way I was playing, a score well over 1.5 million was in the offing. But I suppose that’s the life of a cinephile arcade gamer. You’ve just got to take the rough with the smooth sometimes.
So that leaves the various records as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,905,430 - 17 August 2015
2. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
3. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
4. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
5. 1,488,480 - 6 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 - 45
• Total scores in excess of current official world record (1,217,650) - 20
The top 5 official high scores are unchanged, as recorded on the very spiffy new Twin Galaxies site - good job to the guys maintaining it:
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
Thursday, 20 August 2015
1,905,430!!!
That’s my new high score - and the score to beat - after a marathon 3-and-a-bit hour game on Monday 17 August. It surpassed the 1,884,380 score I achieved back in February, and how close it came to scaling the magical 2 million point mountain!
It was one of those games where the timing was just about faultless throughout while silly errors were kept to a minimum. In the end, I think the lure of the 2 million contributed to a premature ending in the 183rd Act of the game (that is, during Act 7 on the twelfth time through).
In terms of the details, I started keeping track once I’d clocked the machine the first time around (at the usual 655,350 mark) with only a couple of men down. I had a feeling early on it was going to be a promising game when I made it through the first set unscathed with around 210,000 on the board. And by the end of the fourth time through, I was at 716,950 - a strong average of almost 180,000 per set (over 11,200 per Act).
At the end of the fifth set, I was up to 864,040, and by the end of the sixth set, I’d passed the one million point mark (at roughly 1,030,350 - I missed the score at the end of the 16th Act so recorded it at the end of the next Act instead).
After seven sets, the score was 1,214,050 and after eight times through, I’d reached 1,381,610. After nine times through, the score was 1,520,820 and after ten, it was 1,687,400 - and the nerves were jangling.
I finished the eleventh set with the score at 1,838,250 but with just one man left. Sadly, he died after a rookie error in Act 7 on the twelfth time around, with the final score on 1,905,430 (or, more accurately, on 594,730 with the machine clocking twice at 655,350).
So after a very fast start, I managed to maintain the momentum throughout the game, averaging a very healthy 10,800 for each of the 183 Acts.
This 1.9 million point game was my first since racking up after another million point effort on 13 August when I managed a reasonably uneventful 1,247,820.
Onward and upward!
It was one of those games where the timing was just about faultless throughout while silly errors were kept to a minimum. In the end, I think the lure of the 2 million contributed to a premature ending in the 183rd Act of the game (that is, during Act 7 on the twelfth time through).
In terms of the details, I started keeping track once I’d clocked the machine the first time around (at the usual 655,350 mark) with only a couple of men down. I had a feeling early on it was going to be a promising game when I made it through the first set unscathed with around 210,000 on the board. And by the end of the fourth time through, I was at 716,950 - a strong average of almost 180,000 per set (over 11,200 per Act).
At the end of the fifth set, I was up to 864,040, and by the end of the sixth set, I’d passed the one million point mark (at roughly 1,030,350 - I missed the score at the end of the 16th Act so recorded it at the end of the next Act instead).
After seven sets, the score was 1,214,050 and after eight times through, I’d reached 1,381,610. After nine times through, the score was 1,520,820 and after ten, it was 1,687,400 - and the nerves were jangling.
I finished the eleventh set with the score at 1,838,250 but with just one man left. Sadly, he died after a rookie error in Act 7 on the twelfth time around, with the final score on 1,905,430 (or, more accurately, on 594,730 with the machine clocking twice at 655,350).
So after a very fast start, I managed to maintain the momentum throughout the game, averaging a very healthy 10,800 for each of the 183 Acts.
This 1.9 million point game was my first since racking up after another million point effort on 13 August when I managed a reasonably uneventful 1,247,820.
Onward and upward!
Friday, 14 August 2015
Public Pengos - update
A few months back, I started to document the location of publicly available Pengo machines around the place and came up with the following offerings:
• Powerhouse Museum - Ultimo, Sydney, New South Wales (last spotted - May 2014)
• Milkbar Café - Newtown, New South Wales (last spotted - yesterday)
• River Inn Resort - Thredbo, New South Wales (last spotted - August 2014)
• Funspot - Laconia, New Hampshire, USA (seen via website)
As it happens, I’m in the early stages of planning a trip to the USA in March 2016 (primarily to run the New York Half Marathon, around Manhattan) and thought I’d try again to check the state of public transport options to Laconia. I’ve mentioned previously that the absence of any realistic alternatives to driving there put the kybosh on a proposed visit late in 2013 when I was in nearby Boston for a time.
Anyway, as part of that planning, I came across a place called the “Galloping Ghost Arcade” located in a western suburb of Chicago and evidently adjacent to the local Congress Park train station. With over 440 machines, the Galloping Ghost bills itself as the largest video game venue in the United States. And - lo and behold - one of their games is Pengo! Their very informative website even lists the high score for each of their games. For Pengo, that score is 132,790 (yes, 132,790) which was set on 3 April 2015 by a gentleman named James White. Mr White, who must be a local, features a few times on that part of the site. So a few days visit to the Galloping Ghost is now in the diary.
I’ve been to Chicago only once before (in 2006, to run the Chicago marathon) and have very fond memories of the place - despite the unusually chilly October weather that year. So it will be good to get back there again for a few days on the way home from the Big Apple.
I haven’t finally booked anything yet, so if you have an arcade over there you think I should know about, would love to hear about it!
• Powerhouse Museum - Ultimo, Sydney, New South Wales (last spotted - May 2014)
• Milkbar Café - Newtown, New South Wales (last spotted - yesterday)
• River Inn Resort - Thredbo, New South Wales (last spotted - August 2014)
• Funspot - Laconia, New Hampshire, USA (seen via website)
As it happens, I’m in the early stages of planning a trip to the USA in March 2016 (primarily to run the New York Half Marathon, around Manhattan) and thought I’d try again to check the state of public transport options to Laconia. I’ve mentioned previously that the absence of any realistic alternatives to driving there put the kybosh on a proposed visit late in 2013 when I was in nearby Boston for a time.
Anyway, as part of that planning, I came across a place called the “Galloping Ghost Arcade” located in a western suburb of Chicago and evidently adjacent to the local Congress Park train station. With over 440 machines, the Galloping Ghost bills itself as the largest video game venue in the United States. And - lo and behold - one of their games is Pengo! Their very informative website even lists the high score for each of their games. For Pengo, that score is 132,790 (yes, 132,790) which was set on 3 April 2015 by a gentleman named James White. Mr White, who must be a local, features a few times on that part of the site. So a few days visit to the Galloping Ghost is now in the diary.
I’ve been to Chicago only once before (in 2006, to run the Chicago marathon) and have very fond memories of the place - despite the unusually chilly October weather that year. So it will be good to get back there again for a few days on the way home from the Big Apple.
I haven’t finally booked anything yet, so if you have an arcade over there you think I should know about, would love to hear about it!
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Three weeks in the life
I thought I’d share with you a summary of a random period in my Pengo life (that is, the last three weeks) to give you a sense of how much I actually play this game and for what sort of result.
As it transpired, this was a reasonably productive period with another three one million point games, including a new second highest score of 1,785,850.
By way of background, just about all my games, including the ones documented below, are played when I’m either on the way to somewhere else, or on the way home. And usually I only play one game at a time, while having a pot of green tea and maybe some sweet potato fries, chicken and mushroom pasta, or some other item on the Milkbar café’s delicious menu. At the rate I play (roughly 600,000 points per hour), my visits usually last around an hour to 90 minutes - give or take.
On rare occasions, I need to cut a game short because a film I’ve booked in to see at the adjoining Dendy cinema is about to start, or because I’ve bumped up against the café’s 10:00pm closing time. But generally, I just play the games out. While I’ve felt like it from time to time, I’ve never actually quit a game because I’ve been going badly. Whatever the circumstance, I always remind myself of past occasions when the last one or two Pengos have racked up many hundreds of thousands of points to bring some modicum of respect to what might otherwise have been a quite mediocre score.
This snapshot covers the period from 23 July (the first game after my last post where I’d just achieved my 30th million point game) to today (12 August). I’ve rounded the scores which were less than one million.
23 July - Off to a flying start on the next 30 million point games with a score of 1,144,340
24 July - 840,000
27 July - 682,000
29 July - 1,785,850. A new second best score, achieved in just over three hours. It was one of those games that felt very smooth the whole way through, despite losing the first two Pengos in the first set. The third Pengo died just after the score had passed one million and as time went by, especially with the fourth Pengo scoring 500,000 on his own, I started getting visions of my first two million point game. But then the last two Pengos fell relatively cheaply and I was left hanging, a mere 200,000 points short.
During the game, I clocked the machine twice at 655,350 and finished with 475,150 on the score line. I also worked out that my last man died in Act 14 on the tenth time through, meaning that I’d completed a total of 157 Acts, dying in the 158th. It was also quite a high-scoring game in terms of points per Act. Usually, an average of 10,000 points per Act for a high scoring game is good going. But for this game, it averaged well over 11,000 points for the duration. I actually made a note of the scores for the final three sets, being 188,070 for the 8th, 167,000 for the 9th, and 146,500 for the incomplete 10th. All-up, it was a very impressive game and worthy of a new high score - if it had gotten to that point.
31 July - 598,000. A very poor start but a reasonable recovery.
6 August - 513,000
7 August - 336,000 and 813,000
9 August - 471,000 and 406,000
10 August - 1,234,120. Very happy with this effort after a series of outs.
12 August - 307,000 and 477,000. Both very disappointing efforts.
Overall, I managed to play on 10 of the 21 days, playing a total of 13 games, with three one million point games. That’s a strike rate of roughly one million point game every four to five games, which sounds about right.
All of which means there’s a couple of changes to the following summaries:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
3. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
4. 1,488,480 - 6 July 2015
5. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 33
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 15
Top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores:
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 it transpired, this was a reasonably productive period with another three one million point games, including a new second highest score of 1,785,850.
By way of background, just about all my games, including the ones documented below, are played when I’m either on the way to somewhere else, or on the way home. And usually I only play one game at a time, while having a pot of green tea and maybe some sweet potato fries, chicken and mushroom pasta, or some other item on the Milkbar café’s delicious menu. At the rate I play (roughly 600,000 points per hour), my visits usually last around an hour to 90 minutes - give or take.
On rare occasions, I need to cut a game short because a film I’ve booked in to see at the adjoining Dendy cinema is about to start, or because I’ve bumped up against the café’s 10:00pm closing time. But generally, I just play the games out. While I’ve felt like it from time to time, I’ve never actually quit a game because I’ve been going badly. Whatever the circumstance, I always remind myself of past occasions when the last one or two Pengos have racked up many hundreds of thousands of points to bring some modicum of respect to what might otherwise have been a quite mediocre score.
This snapshot covers the period from 23 July (the first game after my last post where I’d just achieved my 30th million point game) to today (12 August). I’ve rounded the scores which were less than one million.
23 July - Off to a flying start on the next 30 million point games with a score of 1,144,340
24 July - 840,000
27 July - 682,000
29 July - 1,785,850. A new second best score, achieved in just over three hours. It was one of those games that felt very smooth the whole way through, despite losing the first two Pengos in the first set. The third Pengo died just after the score had passed one million and as time went by, especially with the fourth Pengo scoring 500,000 on his own, I started getting visions of my first two million point game. But then the last two Pengos fell relatively cheaply and I was left hanging, a mere 200,000 points short.
During the game, I clocked the machine twice at 655,350 and finished with 475,150 on the score line. I also worked out that my last man died in Act 14 on the tenth time through, meaning that I’d completed a total of 157 Acts, dying in the 158th. It was also quite a high-scoring game in terms of points per Act. Usually, an average of 10,000 points per Act for a high scoring game is good going. But for this game, it averaged well over 11,000 points for the duration. I actually made a note of the scores for the final three sets, being 188,070 for the 8th, 167,000 for the 9th, and 146,500 for the incomplete 10th. All-up, it was a very impressive game and worthy of a new high score - if it had gotten to that point.
31 July - 598,000. A very poor start but a reasonable recovery.
6 August - 513,000
7 August - 336,000 and 813,000
9 August - 471,000 and 406,000
10 August - 1,234,120. Very happy with this effort after a series of outs.
12 August - 307,000 and 477,000. Both very disappointing efforts.
Overall, I managed to play on 10 of the 21 days, playing a total of 13 games, with three one million point games. That’s a strike rate of roughly one million point game every four to five games, which sounds about right.
All of which means there’s a couple of changes to the following summaries:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,785,850 - 29 July 2015
3. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
4. 1,488,480 - 6 July 2015
5. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
Other records/milestones:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 33
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 15
Top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores:
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
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
The 30th million
Well, it’s been some time coming, but I’ve now racked up my 30th million point game. It came earlier this afternoon (21 July) when I posted 1,386,650, my new sixth best score.
It was a quite an unusual effort in that I managed to lose my first Pengo in the very first Act of the game. I lost another two in a disaster in Act 16 at around the 650,000 mark, but the fifth man battled on exceptionally well, taking the score through to 1.1 million before the last man was lost in an Act 7 when I was suckered into a disappointing death.
Along the way, I cleared one of the Act 16’s in just 19 seconds - the first time I can remember getting the 5,000 point time bonus for an Act 16. I also cleared an early Act 1 in 11 seconds, which tied an existing record. And to cap it off, I managed to finish an Act 7 with the 10,000 bonus in 23 seconds - again equaling an existing record.
In the period leading up to this game, I’d scored 1,270,480 on 22 June in a fairly straightforward, solid game followed a couple of weeks later with a very strong 1,488,480, my new third highest score. That came on 6 July after a four day break and took just over two and a half hours.
Looking back to my first million point game on this quest just over two years ago, it’s clear we’ve come a long way. Back then, I reported it with the somewhat breathless title of “ONE MILLION!!!”, and said:
Only just, but I made it. The score - 1,005,030.
…
I happened to be jotting down some additional scores and other bits and pieces as I was going along … 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 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.
I haven’t been as diligent as I probably should have been in maintaining these sorts of statistics during games, but it’s probably just the result of not carrying around a pen and piece of paper any more. The note-taking facility on my phone doesn’t really feel the same. And I won’t mention the number of games over that period where I’ve crashed out in the 900,000’s, or even in the 990,000’s, but each of them still hurts.
So, for those who might have lost track along the way, and as a special treat for the rest of you, following is the full list of my million+ scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,488,480 - 6 July 2015
4. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
5. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
6. 1,386,650 - 21 July 2015
7. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
8. 1,358,180 - 12 June 2015
9. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
10. 1,270,480 - 22 June 2015
11. 1,269,950 - 13 January 2015
12. 1,248,570 - 9 February 2015
13. 1,237,950 - 15 July 2014
14. 1,194,580 - 28 May 2015
15. 1,193,270 - 31 December 2014
16. 1,191,920 - 17 February 2015
17. 1,164,090 - 22 October 2014
18. 1,157,930 - 7 June 2015
19. 1,148,940 - 23 February 2015
20. 1,131,740 - 15 May 2015
21. 1,079,010 - 21 April 2015
22. 1,077,940 - 12 August 2014
23. 1,075,130 - 11 January 2015
24. 1,068,090 - 21 April 2015
25. 1,059,670 - 19 December 2014
26. 1,017,250 - 8 June 2013
27. 1,016,940 - 15 August 2014
28. 1,012,700 - 20 March 2015
29. 1,005,030 - 26 May 2013
30. 1,002,130 - 19 October 2014
And for good measure, my other records and milestones are as follows:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 30
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 13
And, of course, 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
Here’s to the next 30!
It was a quite an unusual effort in that I managed to lose my first Pengo in the very first Act of the game. I lost another two in a disaster in Act 16 at around the 650,000 mark, but the fifth man battled on exceptionally well, taking the score through to 1.1 million before the last man was lost in an Act 7 when I was suckered into a disappointing death.
Along the way, I cleared one of the Act 16’s in just 19 seconds - the first time I can remember getting the 5,000 point time bonus for an Act 16. I also cleared an early Act 1 in 11 seconds, which tied an existing record. And to cap it off, I managed to finish an Act 7 with the 10,000 bonus in 23 seconds - again equaling an existing record.
In the period leading up to this game, I’d scored 1,270,480 on 22 June in a fairly straightforward, solid game followed a couple of weeks later with a very strong 1,488,480, my new third highest score. That came on 6 July after a four day break and took just over two and a half hours.
Looking back to my first million point game on this quest just over two years ago, it’s clear we’ve come a long way. Back then, I reported it with the somewhat breathless title of “ONE MILLION!!!”, and said:
Only just, but I made it. The score - 1,005,030.
…
I happened to be jotting down some additional scores and other bits and pieces as I was going along … 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 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.
I haven’t been as diligent as I probably should have been in maintaining these sorts of statistics during games, but it’s probably just the result of not carrying around a pen and piece of paper any more. The note-taking facility on my phone doesn’t really feel the same. And I won’t mention the number of games over that period where I’ve crashed out in the 900,000’s, or even in the 990,000’s, but each of them still hurts.
So, for those who might have lost track along the way, and as a special treat for the rest of you, following is the full list of my million+ scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,488,480 - 6 July 2015
4. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
5. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
6. 1,386,650 - 21 July 2015
7. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
8. 1,358,180 - 12 June 2015
9. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
10. 1,270,480 - 22 June 2015
11. 1,269,950 - 13 January 2015
12. 1,248,570 - 9 February 2015
13. 1,237,950 - 15 July 2014
14. 1,194,580 - 28 May 2015
15. 1,193,270 - 31 December 2014
16. 1,191,920 - 17 February 2015
17. 1,164,090 - 22 October 2014
18. 1,157,930 - 7 June 2015
19. 1,148,940 - 23 February 2015
20. 1,131,740 - 15 May 2015
21. 1,079,010 - 21 April 2015
22. 1,077,940 - 12 August 2014
23. 1,075,130 - 11 January 2015
24. 1,068,090 - 21 April 2015
25. 1,059,670 - 19 December 2014
26. 1,017,250 - 8 June 2013
27. 1,016,940 - 15 August 2014
28. 1,012,700 - 20 March 2015
29. 1,005,030 - 26 May 2013
30. 1,002,130 - 19 October 2014
And for good measure, my other records and milestones are as follows:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 30
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 13
And, of course, 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
Here’s to the next 30!
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Scoring update
A brief note to update the state of play in Pengo-land.
I’ve only been moderately active since my last post but have managed to rack up another couple of million point games.
The first was on 7 June, with a solid 1,157,930. It wasn’t anything particularly spectacular - just a good, honest, million-pointer. The second - a very handy 1,358,180 - came five days later in much more rewarding circumstances. As I was going through, I was contemplating another fairly average 700-800,000 point game, and then a disappointing 900K score when I was left with only one man in the early 900’s. But the little fella threw caution to the wind and went on a rampage, marching through a couple more sets until being eaten just 7,000 points short of a top five score.
Another highlight was on 17 June when I equalled my all-time fastest Act clearance record of 11 seconds. It happened in Act 6 the second time around, in a game where I ended up with a frustrating 921,000. I actually think I prefer dying at 300K or 400K than in the 900,000’s, knowing how close I am to the magic million mark. But such is Pengo-life.
Overall, my top five scores remain unchanged:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
5. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 27
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 10
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
On that, I’ve noticed that the Twin Galaxies website, which has improved exponentially since I first started this quest, now has a simple search function for each name in the high scores list for each game. For the Pengo top five list, it reveals that the champ, Paul Hornitzky, currently holds the official world best scores in an astonishing 19 games other than Pengo and is the second best in yet another game. While I don’t think I’ve heard of any of those various games, his credentials as a truly top class gamer cannot be denied. What a man!
The other all-rounder on our list is Frank Lupia who has been moonlighting on another game I’ve never heard of, called “Quick & Crash”. Frank holds the second best score on that game, which I’m sure is lots of fun.
Good job gents!
I’ve only been moderately active since my last post but have managed to rack up another couple of million point games.
The first was on 7 June, with a solid 1,157,930. It wasn’t anything particularly spectacular - just a good, honest, million-pointer. The second - a very handy 1,358,180 - came five days later in much more rewarding circumstances. As I was going through, I was contemplating another fairly average 700-800,000 point game, and then a disappointing 900K score when I was left with only one man in the early 900’s. But the little fella threw caution to the wind and went on a rampage, marching through a couple more sets until being eaten just 7,000 points short of a top five score.
Another highlight was on 17 June when I equalled my all-time fastest Act clearance record of 11 seconds. It happened in Act 6 the second time around, in a game where I ended up with a frustrating 921,000. I actually think I prefer dying at 300K or 400K than in the 900,000’s, knowing how close I am to the magic million mark. But such is Pengo-life.
Overall, my top five scores remain unchanged:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
5. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 27
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 10
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
On that, I’ve noticed that the Twin Galaxies website, which has improved exponentially since I first started this quest, now has a simple search function for each name in the high scores list for each game. For the Pengo top five list, it reveals that the champ, Paul Hornitzky, currently holds the official world best scores in an astonishing 19 games other than Pengo and is the second best in yet another game. While I don’t think I’ve heard of any of those various games, his credentials as a truly top class gamer cannot be denied. What a man!
The other all-rounder on our list is Frank Lupia who has been moonlighting on another game I’ve never heard of, called “Quick & Crash”. Frank holds the second best score on that game, which I’m sure is lots of fun.
Good job gents!
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
Frank speaks
After the transcribed interview with former world champ Aussie Rod Day a couple of posts back, I thought I’d treat you all to another interview I’ve come across with another of Pengo’s heavy-hitters - Mr Frank Lupia.
Frank’s high score of 723,950, officially now the world’s fourth best (and the third best at the time), was achieved on 20 September 2008. Almost exactly two years before that, on 24 September 2006, he was interviewed by someone from the Classic Arcade Gaming website at a video gaming event somewhere on the United States east coast. They describe it thus:
This interview is with the ultimate winner of the East Coast Arcade Championships event - Frank Lupia. He talks about Pengo, his favorite title, plus his preference for the classics. Also, he gives a great demonstration of how to play Pengo. At the time of the interview, Frank was in 3rd place, but managed to raise that to first by the end of the event.
And here’s the transcript …
Interviewer - We’re here at Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, with Frank Lupia, a local player who comes here very, very often. Is that correct Frank?
Frank Lupia - [Nods]
Int - Ah, Frank has a lot of fame on a number of games but I guess the top game for Frank is - and it’s right in the arcade there - ah, Pengo! Now that game was featured not only this weekend in the East Coast Arcade Championships, which is the long weekend of September 21st through 24, 2006, but it was also featured in my contest - Classic Arcade Gaming Dot Com Tournament - in March of 2006. Frank has, ah, led in that contest and in this contest. Ah, do you remember what your current score is in this current contest Frank?
FL - I beat 719,000 and change
Int - Now, what is your all-time score, approximately, on the game?
FL - Unofficially, 892,000
Int - What about unofficially?
FL - Unofficially, it was 892, yeah.
Int - Oh, I thought you were alluding that you had more unofficially. I got ya.
FL - No, no, 892 is my best.
Int - But, hey, both of those scores I believe are in second or third which shows the level that Frank’s at on the game which is just, ah, spectacular. He can play and play for over an hour - correct me if I’m wrong?
FL - In a good enough game, yeah.
Int - Awesome, awesome. Now, ah, I just told Frank that he’s ranked third in this contest but the top three is separated by less than 2% out of 100% which is a very tight grouping. Ahm, what do you think you’re gonna do and work on in this contest to try to get first place Frank?
FL - Well I guess best thing to do is shooter games [inaudible] I’m more in terms of, ah, better at the classics so I’m going to have to improve upon the shooter game.
Int - So the modern shooter games are giving you more trouble because you don’t practice as much and you, ah, perhaps have more trouble with modern games? Is that true? Don’t let me put words in your mouth.
FL- Right, right. Well I was always more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, right.
FL - Newer games are, modern are great, but I was always more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, well, you probably like a lot of people appreciate the good gameplay and the less violence. Is that true?
FL - Yeah, exactly
Int - So modern, modern ones tend to have a little more violence and maybe a little less substance? But let’s be honest, there’s groups that both sets of games appeal to, ah, differently, so that’s how it is.
FL - Right
Int - You get different personalities with different games.
FL - Oh sure. Modern games are great. Modern games are great. Great graphics. Good gameplay. But again, I’m just more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, exactly. Speaking of which, can I film you for a few seconds playing your favourite - Pengo - over here?
FL - Sure, let’s go.
Int - OK, lead the way.
FL - The only thing with Pengo is, a lot of people think, a lot of people think with the classics there’s a set pattern. Pengo, really, there’s no set pattern to it. There’s a few things you can do the same way. Otherwise, really you’re on your own and it takes a lot of practice to get good.
Int - And that takes skill, which is excellent.
FL - Right. This is why this is one of the better classics. This, along with Mr Do, has always been one of the more, more challenging, and I will say, frustrating, games.
Int - Right, but frustrating in a fun way, right?
FL - You got that right. You got that right.
Int - OK. Let’s see you play, my friend.
FL - The key is to try and get the diamond blocks together to get a lot of points.
Int - Right. And remember if you push those three diamond blocks together, you get 5,000 and of course on the way you hopefully are able to pick up points by crushing the sno-bees which are those green things on the screen right now.
FL - Right.
Int - Awesome.
FL - Getting the diamond blocks together gives me 10,000 points.
Int - Oh, is it 10,000? Oh, I thought it was 5. Wow!
FL - Yeah, it’s 5,000 if the blocks are attached to the wall.
Int - Oh. 10 if they’re off the wall, I understand. Awesome. You just taught me a trick. [FL finishes Act 1, after getting the 10,000 bonus] Awesome. Well, thanks for the lesson, Frank.
FL - Sure
Int - And ah, keep, ah, keep doing your best in the contest.
As a footnote, from flicking through the web, it seems that the Challenge Arcade closed down sometime in 2010. Pity.
If you want to watch the interview, some of the audio of Frank speaking is not great and the interviewer does a bit too much of the talking, but it’s good to put a face to a name and actually see the guy in action. The link is here - http://www.classicarcadegaming.com/media/ECAC_-_Frank_Lupia_interview.htm
As for my own scoring, there’s been a couple of recent developments of note.
First, another two 1-million point games to add to the list. The first was on 15 May, with a reasonably solid 1,131,740, and the second on 28 May with a useful 1,194,580. That becomes my 10th best score and my 25th million+ score since embarking on this journey.
Second, the 28 May game also saw me equalling my record for the fastest clearance while achieving the 10,000 bonus. It came during Act 1 (the third or fourth time around, can’t remember), with a sizzling 23 seconds. It actually felt a little faster than that and I don’t know how I could have done it any more efficiently, so maybe 23 seconds is the fastest time actually possible. We’ll see.
And before I go, a shameless plug for my new blog - BQ Quest - which you’re welcome to check out if you need a break from destroying all those sno-bees and ice-blocks. As well as being a moderately successful Pengo player, and the compiler of a reasonable collection of ‘do-not-disturb’ signs, I also enjoy the challenge of distance running. So I’ve set myself a goal of trying to qualify to run the Boston marathon. This is known in the trade as getting a ‘BQ’ - a Boston Qualifier. A BQ is the holy grail for those like me who, despite our best intentions, were invariably hopeless at athletic pursuits in our younger days but who’ve decided to give running a crack as we’ve aged. It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult and will take a few years, so I thought it’s a perfect subject for a blog. The public accountability associated with this Pengo quest of mine seemed to work (albeit I still need to make my performances official one day), so let’s see how it goes over there.
Just google ‘BQ Quest’ and ‘blogspot’ if you’re interested.
Frank’s high score of 723,950, officially now the world’s fourth best (and the third best at the time), was achieved on 20 September 2008. Almost exactly two years before that, on 24 September 2006, he was interviewed by someone from the Classic Arcade Gaming website at a video gaming event somewhere on the United States east coast. They describe it thus:
This interview is with the ultimate winner of the East Coast Arcade Championships event - Frank Lupia. He talks about Pengo, his favorite title, plus his preference for the classics. Also, he gives a great demonstration of how to play Pengo. At the time of the interview, Frank was in 3rd place, but managed to raise that to first by the end of the event.
And here’s the transcript …
Interviewer - We’re here at Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, with Frank Lupia, a local player who comes here very, very often. Is that correct Frank?
Frank Lupia - [Nods]
Int - Ah, Frank has a lot of fame on a number of games but I guess the top game for Frank is - and it’s right in the arcade there - ah, Pengo! Now that game was featured not only this weekend in the East Coast Arcade Championships, which is the long weekend of September 21st through 24, 2006, but it was also featured in my contest - Classic Arcade Gaming Dot Com Tournament - in March of 2006. Frank has, ah, led in that contest and in this contest. Ah, do you remember what your current score is in this current contest Frank?
FL - I beat 719,000 and change
Int - Now, what is your all-time score, approximately, on the game?
FL - Unofficially, 892,000
Int - What about unofficially?
FL - Unofficially, it was 892, yeah.
Int - Oh, I thought you were alluding that you had more unofficially. I got ya.
FL - No, no, 892 is my best.
Int - But, hey, both of those scores I believe are in second or third which shows the level that Frank’s at on the game which is just, ah, spectacular. He can play and play for over an hour - correct me if I’m wrong?
FL - In a good enough game, yeah.
Int - Awesome, awesome. Now, ah, I just told Frank that he’s ranked third in this contest but the top three is separated by less than 2% out of 100% which is a very tight grouping. Ahm, what do you think you’re gonna do and work on in this contest to try to get first place Frank?
FL - Well I guess best thing to do is shooter games [inaudible] I’m more in terms of, ah, better at the classics so I’m going to have to improve upon the shooter game.
Int - So the modern shooter games are giving you more trouble because you don’t practice as much and you, ah, perhaps have more trouble with modern games? Is that true? Don’t let me put words in your mouth.
FL- Right, right. Well I was always more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, right.
FL - Newer games are, modern are great, but I was always more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, well, you probably like a lot of people appreciate the good gameplay and the less violence. Is that true?
FL - Yeah, exactly
Int - So modern, modern ones tend to have a little more violence and maybe a little less substance? But let’s be honest, there’s groups that both sets of games appeal to, ah, differently, so that’s how it is.
FL - Right
Int - You get different personalities with different games.
FL - Oh sure. Modern games are great. Modern games are great. Great graphics. Good gameplay. But again, I’m just more a fan of the classics.
Int - Right, exactly. Speaking of which, can I film you for a few seconds playing your favourite - Pengo - over here?
FL - Sure, let’s go.
Int - OK, lead the way.
FL - The only thing with Pengo is, a lot of people think, a lot of people think with the classics there’s a set pattern. Pengo, really, there’s no set pattern to it. There’s a few things you can do the same way. Otherwise, really you’re on your own and it takes a lot of practice to get good.
Int - And that takes skill, which is excellent.
FL - Right. This is why this is one of the better classics. This, along with Mr Do, has always been one of the more, more challenging, and I will say, frustrating, games.
Int - Right, but frustrating in a fun way, right?
FL - You got that right. You got that right.
Int - OK. Let’s see you play, my friend.
FL - The key is to try and get the diamond blocks together to get a lot of points.
Int - Right. And remember if you push those three diamond blocks together, you get 5,000 and of course on the way you hopefully are able to pick up points by crushing the sno-bees which are those green things on the screen right now.
FL - Right.
Int - Awesome.
FL - Getting the diamond blocks together gives me 10,000 points.
Int - Oh, is it 10,000? Oh, I thought it was 5. Wow!
FL - Yeah, it’s 5,000 if the blocks are attached to the wall.
Int - Oh. 10 if they’re off the wall, I understand. Awesome. You just taught me a trick. [FL finishes Act 1, after getting the 10,000 bonus] Awesome. Well, thanks for the lesson, Frank.
FL - Sure
Int - And ah, keep, ah, keep doing your best in the contest.
As a footnote, from flicking through the web, it seems that the Challenge Arcade closed down sometime in 2010. Pity.
If you want to watch the interview, some of the audio of Frank speaking is not great and the interviewer does a bit too much of the talking, but it’s good to put a face to a name and actually see the guy in action. The link is here - http://www.classicarcadegaming.com/media/ECAC_-_Frank_Lupia_interview.htm
As for my own scoring, there’s been a couple of recent developments of note.
First, another two 1-million point games to add to the list. The first was on 15 May, with a reasonably solid 1,131,740, and the second on 28 May with a useful 1,194,580. That becomes my 10th best score and my 25th million+ score since embarking on this journey.
Second, the 28 May game also saw me equalling my record for the fastest clearance while achieving the 10,000 bonus. It came during Act 1 (the third or fourth time around, can’t remember), with a sizzling 23 seconds. It actually felt a little faster than that and I don’t know how I could have done it any more efficiently, so maybe 23 seconds is the fastest time actually possible. We’ll see.
And before I go, a shameless plug for my new blog - BQ Quest - which you’re welcome to check out if you need a break from destroying all those sno-bees and ice-blocks. As well as being a moderately successful Pengo player, and the compiler of a reasonable collection of ‘do-not-disturb’ signs, I also enjoy the challenge of distance running. So I’ve set myself a goal of trying to qualify to run the Boston marathon. This is known in the trade as getting a ‘BQ’ - a Boston Qualifier. A BQ is the holy grail for those like me who, despite our best intentions, were invariably hopeless at athletic pursuits in our younger days but who’ve decided to give running a crack as we’ve aged. It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult and will take a few years, so I thought it’s a perfect subject for a blog. The public accountability associated with this Pengo quest of mine seemed to work (albeit I still need to make my performances official one day), so let’s see how it goes over there.
Just google ‘BQ Quest’ and ‘blogspot’ if you’re interested.
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Your comments
Some of the keener-eyed readers of this blog will have noticed that back in January 2014, when it was in something of a hiatus, a few comments were posted from some of you under a couple of my posts. This included a comment from none other than Mr Paul Elia, holder of the 5th highest Pengo score ever officially achieved (with 694,030).
I have to confess I didn’t actually see the comments when they came in, so my profoundest apologies if you felt slighted by me not acknowledging them, especially where you asked a question! I will try and be more attentive - and recognise that this is not just all about me …
So, in a fairly lame attempt to make amends, and to bring you all up to date, the comments (in time/date order) were as follows, with my responses now added:
Sandman x - 13 January 2014 at 11:29
Any updates since this time? I love Pengo and recently have been able to play it via a 96 in 1 kit on Pac Man hardware. I absolutely suck at it but it's a game I'd like to get much better at.
PengoQuest: Yeah, sorry about the radio silence on the blog for a while there Sandman (or Mr/Ms/Mrs x?), but we’re well and truly back in business. Hopefully we haven’t lost you. I agree, it’s an engrossing game, and I hope your practice is going well. Would love to hear all about it one day.
Anonymous - 17 January 2014 at 12:59
You still on this quest? I'm on a similar mission myself. Surpassed 260,000 for the first time just recently, so still got a ways to go. It's a great game, it's teaching me about daily practice and the zen of dealing with game collision bugs (*breathe* the BUG IS PART OF THE GAME THE UNIVERSE ISN'T ALWAYS A FAIR PLACE!! *breathe*)
PengoQuest: Certainly am, Anonymous, and good to meet a fellow traveler/missionary. 260,000 is not a bad effort - but I agree, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Can I venture to suggest that at this stage of your development (unless of course you've really zoomed ahead in the time since you first left your comment), you’ve got to be concentrating on survival, especially in the last 4-6 Acts? Forget all about going for the 10,000’s there - it’s just too risky. I also found for those Acts that the key (like many things in life, really) is demonstrating courage! Don’t just stand back and wait for them to come to you. Get on the front foot and try to eat or kill as many as you can as quickly as you can. The longer each Act goes on, and the fewer blocks there are to hide behind, the greater the certainty that you’ll die - especially if there’s two or three of them still galloping around.
As for the other part of your comment, I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but whatever floats your boat!
Anonymous - 17 January 2014 at 13:05
Hey Sandman x I only found this blog today and I've got the same question! On a quiet quest of my own to get at least in the top five :)
PengoQuest: Go for it! Where do you play, if you don’t mind me asking? If it’s in a public place, I need to add it to my list of public Pengo machines (and future holiday destinations!).
Paul Elia - 20 January 2014 at 03:56
Thanks for this post. I am Paul Elia with the #5 score from 1983. I went to Twin Galaxies to look up some old scores of mine but the site is down. It seems that the company and its score keeping service are in new hands.
PengoQuest: Hey Paul! Welcome aboard, and great to hear from you! Of course, now that you’ve poked your head above the parapet, I’m going to have to ask you all about that fateful day - Thursday 31 March 1983, apparently on a machine at a Putt Putt Golf venue somewhere in the US - when you ascended to the podium of all time Pengo high scores. From what I can make out from some back issues of “Joystik” magazine that are available on-line, the official Pengo high score first appeared in their April 1983 edition, with a gentleman named Mark Robichek of Mountainview, California, credited with scoring 263,860 on 24 October 1982. Which can’t have been too long after the game was actually released - obviously a fast learner! The next edition, in July 1983, had Kevin Leisner of Racine, Wisconsin, listed as the record holder, with a score of 809,990 achieved on 25 February 1983. That score was also noted as the highest in the next couple of editions (in September 1983 and November 1983). Of course, Aussie Rod Day then amassed his score in August 1983 and the rest is history. My point being that in March 1983, when you were doing your stuff, yours was the second highest Pengo score ever achieved (and documented)! A magnificent effort. I’m sure we’d all love for you to share your memories of those couple of hours.
And for those of you interested in Joystik, the link is here - http://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/joystik/joystik.htm Their April 1983 issue carries quite a lengthy report on Pengo, titled “The Arctic Antics of Pengo”. Worth a read, albeit some of the strategy advice they offer is a bit silly.
Scoring Update
While I’m here, I may as well update progress over the last little while. There hasn’t really been too much play to report since the last post, although I did happen to score a very nice 1,421,010 on 8 May after not having much sleep at all the previous evening. It’s now become my 4th highest score, as follows:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
5. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 23
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 9
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
I have to confess I didn’t actually see the comments when they came in, so my profoundest apologies if you felt slighted by me not acknowledging them, especially where you asked a question! I will try and be more attentive - and recognise that this is not just all about me …
So, in a fairly lame attempt to make amends, and to bring you all up to date, the comments (in time/date order) were as follows, with my responses now added:
Sandman x - 13 January 2014 at 11:29
Any updates since this time? I love Pengo and recently have been able to play it via a 96 in 1 kit on Pac Man hardware. I absolutely suck at it but it's a game I'd like to get much better at.
PengoQuest: Yeah, sorry about the radio silence on the blog for a while there Sandman (or Mr/Ms/Mrs x?), but we’re well and truly back in business. Hopefully we haven’t lost you. I agree, it’s an engrossing game, and I hope your practice is going well. Would love to hear all about it one day.
Anonymous - 17 January 2014 at 12:59
You still on this quest? I'm on a similar mission myself. Surpassed 260,000 for the first time just recently, so still got a ways to go. It's a great game, it's teaching me about daily practice and the zen of dealing with game collision bugs (*breathe* the BUG IS PART OF THE GAME THE UNIVERSE ISN'T ALWAYS A FAIR PLACE!! *breathe*)
PengoQuest: Certainly am, Anonymous, and good to meet a fellow traveler/missionary. 260,000 is not a bad effort - but I agree, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Can I venture to suggest that at this stage of your development (unless of course you've really zoomed ahead in the time since you first left your comment), you’ve got to be concentrating on survival, especially in the last 4-6 Acts? Forget all about going for the 10,000’s there - it’s just too risky. I also found for those Acts that the key (like many things in life, really) is demonstrating courage! Don’t just stand back and wait for them to come to you. Get on the front foot and try to eat or kill as many as you can as quickly as you can. The longer each Act goes on, and the fewer blocks there are to hide behind, the greater the certainty that you’ll die - especially if there’s two or three of them still galloping around.
As for the other part of your comment, I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but whatever floats your boat!
Anonymous - 17 January 2014 at 13:05
Hey Sandman x I only found this blog today and I've got the same question! On a quiet quest of my own to get at least in the top five :)
PengoQuest: Go for it! Where do you play, if you don’t mind me asking? If it’s in a public place, I need to add it to my list of public Pengo machines (and future holiday destinations!).
Paul Elia - 20 January 2014 at 03:56
Thanks for this post. I am Paul Elia with the #5 score from 1983. I went to Twin Galaxies to look up some old scores of mine but the site is down. It seems that the company and its score keeping service are in new hands.
PengoQuest: Hey Paul! Welcome aboard, and great to hear from you! Of course, now that you’ve poked your head above the parapet, I’m going to have to ask you all about that fateful day - Thursday 31 March 1983, apparently on a machine at a Putt Putt Golf venue somewhere in the US - when you ascended to the podium of all time Pengo high scores. From what I can make out from some back issues of “Joystik” magazine that are available on-line, the official Pengo high score first appeared in their April 1983 edition, with a gentleman named Mark Robichek of Mountainview, California, credited with scoring 263,860 on 24 October 1982. Which can’t have been too long after the game was actually released - obviously a fast learner! The next edition, in July 1983, had Kevin Leisner of Racine, Wisconsin, listed as the record holder, with a score of 809,990 achieved on 25 February 1983. That score was also noted as the highest in the next couple of editions (in September 1983 and November 1983). Of course, Aussie Rod Day then amassed his score in August 1983 and the rest is history. My point being that in March 1983, when you were doing your stuff, yours was the second highest Pengo score ever achieved (and documented)! A magnificent effort. I’m sure we’d all love for you to share your memories of those couple of hours.
And for those of you interested in Joystik, the link is here - http://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/joystik/joystik.htm Their April 1983 issue carries quite a lengthy report on Pengo, titled “The Arctic Antics of Pengo”. Worth a read, albeit some of the strategy advice they offer is a bit silly.
Scoring Update
While I’m here, I may as well update progress over the last little while. There hasn’t really been too much play to report since the last post, although I did happen to score a very nice 1,421,010 on 8 May after not having much sleep at all the previous evening. It’s now become my 4th highest score, as follows:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,421,010 - 8 May 2015
5. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 23 seconds
• Highest score after first 16 Acts - 221,880
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 23
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 9
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
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Rodney speaks
I thought for this edition of this modest publication, I’d pay homage to a former world champion - the legendary Rodney Day.
Big Rod held the official world Pengo record for just shy of 30 years until his score of 1,110,370 was passed by fellow Australian Paul Hornitzky in 2012.
Back in October 2009, when he was still top dog, the program “Good Game SP”, on Australia's public television broadcaster, filmed a segment on the great man as one of its short profile stories on this country's greatest gamers. The link to the 2 minute 40 second piece is here - http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/stories/s2717947.htm
In case it ever gets taken down, I thought I'd also transcribe it. Just part of the service we like to offer here at PengoQuest. Over to you, Rodney …
G’day, I’m Rodney Day. I’m the world champion Pengo player.
I started playing arcade games in the very late 70’s. Space Invaders just hit the Australian market. It was the biggest thing to hit the market since skateboarding and roller blades. That was when I was hooked. And I started playing Pengo in 1982.
Pengo’s a strategy game. It’s no different to anything else. It’s based on a Pac-man design where you’ve got to work through a maze and kill these little sno-bees running around everywhere and do it within a limited amount of time. That’s obviously where you achieve the highest scores. And that’s the hardest part about it because they do catch up with you after a while.
I was hooked once I first saw it and eventually got to the point that I got drawn so much into it that I ended up playing it all day, and this particular day, it was very much an all-day-into-the-night event, because the maximum score was only about 10-15,000 points per frame so if you can imagine how many frames you’d have to turn to get 1.1 million points. At the end of the day, we had a world record score, which I wasn’t aware of back in 1983.
It was just purely by luck that I found that the score had achieved such a high ranking. My friend had contacted me one day. He said “Have you ever googled your name?” And I said “No, I hadn’t”. So, just with the challenge well I thought I’d google my name and this particular website came up and there was actually a plaque placed on the website for this search for this world champion that no one had known where he’d vanished to. And this person’s name was Rodney Day from Canberra. So I was actually blown away by that because - “Hey, I’m that person”.
After 26 years, 1983 was a long time ago for me and I recall I was 18, 19 years of age and to hold that world record for so long it is, I suppose, a testament to the achievement because the game is still played today and in the Guinness world record books, the third highest ranked score actually occurred recently - I think it was only 2008 - so to achieve it in 1983 and to have the score for so long is a testament to how hard it was to achieve it back then, and I think that that’s something that I’m very, very proud of because it’s something, well, who says they’ve got a world record and the longest world record?
While I’ve never met him, the words by themselves don’t reflect the obviously self-effacing and genuine nature of the guy, who seems a credit to our sport. Good job, Rod! I only wish they’d said where they’d filmed the story - it looks like a real video gaming arcade.
I’ve been googling around for something on the champ himself, Mr Hornitzky, but he doesn’t seem to have much of an on-line presence. However, I did notice he also holds world records in a couple of other video games. Obviously a very talented man, and no doubt among the first picked for any future Australian national arcade video gaming team. Given the singular focus of my gaming career, my ambitions in that regard should probably be confined just to securing a spot on the interchange bench.
In terms of my own play, the highlight of the period since my last post was probably also a world first - two one-million point games in one afternoon. They came unexpectedly after a run of demoralisingly low scores. The first was a steady, albeit welcome, 1,068,090. Fair enough, but with some time on my hands, I thought I’d press my luck and have another go. The second game was slightly better at 1,079,010. It’s good to be back in some form. Otherwise it had been a very quiet month or so - largely due to infrequent play.
The only statistic to update from last time is the total number of million+ games I've now accumulated. That’s up to 22, hopefully with plenty more to come.
Big Rod held the official world Pengo record for just shy of 30 years until his score of 1,110,370 was passed by fellow Australian Paul Hornitzky in 2012.
Back in October 2009, when he was still top dog, the program “Good Game SP”, on Australia's public television broadcaster, filmed a segment on the great man as one of its short profile stories on this country's greatest gamers. The link to the 2 minute 40 second piece is here - http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/stories/s2717947.htm
In case it ever gets taken down, I thought I'd also transcribe it. Just part of the service we like to offer here at PengoQuest. Over to you, Rodney …
G’day, I’m Rodney Day. I’m the world champion Pengo player.
I started playing arcade games in the very late 70’s. Space Invaders just hit the Australian market. It was the biggest thing to hit the market since skateboarding and roller blades. That was when I was hooked. And I started playing Pengo in 1982.
Pengo’s a strategy game. It’s no different to anything else. It’s based on a Pac-man design where you’ve got to work through a maze and kill these little sno-bees running around everywhere and do it within a limited amount of time. That’s obviously where you achieve the highest scores. And that’s the hardest part about it because they do catch up with you after a while.
I was hooked once I first saw it and eventually got to the point that I got drawn so much into it that I ended up playing it all day, and this particular day, it was very much an all-day-into-the-night event, because the maximum score was only about 10-15,000 points per frame so if you can imagine how many frames you’d have to turn to get 1.1 million points. At the end of the day, we had a world record score, which I wasn’t aware of back in 1983.
It was just purely by luck that I found that the score had achieved such a high ranking. My friend had contacted me one day. He said “Have you ever googled your name?” And I said “No, I hadn’t”. So, just with the challenge well I thought I’d google my name and this particular website came up and there was actually a plaque placed on the website for this search for this world champion that no one had known where he’d vanished to. And this person’s name was Rodney Day from Canberra. So I was actually blown away by that because - “Hey, I’m that person”.
After 26 years, 1983 was a long time ago for me and I recall I was 18, 19 years of age and to hold that world record for so long it is, I suppose, a testament to the achievement because the game is still played today and in the Guinness world record books, the third highest ranked score actually occurred recently - I think it was only 2008 - so to achieve it in 1983 and to have the score for so long is a testament to how hard it was to achieve it back then, and I think that that’s something that I’m very, very proud of because it’s something, well, who says they’ve got a world record and the longest world record?
While I’ve never met him, the words by themselves don’t reflect the obviously self-effacing and genuine nature of the guy, who seems a credit to our sport. Good job, Rod! I only wish they’d said where they’d filmed the story - it looks like a real video gaming arcade.
I’ve been googling around for something on the champ himself, Mr Hornitzky, but he doesn’t seem to have much of an on-line presence. However, I did notice he also holds world records in a couple of other video games. Obviously a very talented man, and no doubt among the first picked for any future Australian national arcade video gaming team. Given the singular focus of my gaming career, my ambitions in that regard should probably be confined just to securing a spot on the interchange bench.
In terms of my own play, the highlight of the period since my last post was probably also a world first - two one-million point games in one afternoon. They came unexpectedly after a run of demoralisingly low scores. The first was a steady, albeit welcome, 1,068,090. Fair enough, but with some time on my hands, I thought I’d press my luck and have another go. The second game was slightly better at 1,079,010. It’s good to be back in some form. Otherwise it had been a very quiet month or so - largely due to infrequent play.
The only statistic to update from last time is the total number of million+ games I've now accumulated. That’s up to 22, hopefully with plenty more to come.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Another Record!!
The Pengo everest of 2,000,000 is in sight.
At 6:26pm on Saturday 21 February, after more than 3 hours of play, I finally lost my 6th and last Pengo - with the score at a monumental 1,884,380. For a moment there, as I was doing the maths during the game, I felt like the 2 million point milestone was in touching distance. It was one of those rare games where just about everything went my way. No stupid mistakes. No real fatigue or other natural issues (despite consuming two large pots of green tea during the game). Some quite fast scoring. And all the time in the world. While I didn’t think to calculate it, my third Pengo must have come close to scoring 1,000,000 points just on his own in what was a flawless run. But at least I now know what’s possible.
Earlier in the month, I’d hit another million (on 9 February) with a score of 1,248,570 - my overall 6th highest. This game was particularly notable for the first man surviving 4 sets (each comprising 16 Acts) and then another 8 Acts - a total of 72 Acts without dying. While I haven’t been keeping a tally, that has to be some sort of record. And about a week later, on 17 February, I managed yet another million - this time 1,191,920.
To complete something of a purple patch for the month, I also clocked up 1,148,940 on 23 February - just a couple of days after the 1.8 million effort.
So after all that, the various records now stand as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
5. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - now 23 seconds, down from 24 seconds after a freakish run in an Act 5 on 8 February during a 950,000 game
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 19
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 8
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
Finally, and further to my previous post on public Pengo machines, I should add that when I was in London in September 2014, I trekked out to a reasonably new - and hyped - video arcade venue, called “Heart of Gaming”. It was located in a fairly drab, industrial, area of west London, a short walk from North Acton tube station. I’d read somewhere that they operated a Pengo game and so arrived mid-afternoon full of expectation and planning on a lengthy session. As it turned out, after searches by the staff there, Pengo was, sadly, one of the few downloadable arcade games they didn’t offer. But if your video game interests are slightly less myopic than mine, feel free to check them out.
At 6:26pm on Saturday 21 February, after more than 3 hours of play, I finally lost my 6th and last Pengo - with the score at a monumental 1,884,380. For a moment there, as I was doing the maths during the game, I felt like the 2 million point milestone was in touching distance. It was one of those rare games where just about everything went my way. No stupid mistakes. No real fatigue or other natural issues (despite consuming two large pots of green tea during the game). Some quite fast scoring. And all the time in the world. While I didn’t think to calculate it, my third Pengo must have come close to scoring 1,000,000 points just on his own in what was a flawless run. But at least I now know what’s possible.
Earlier in the month, I’d hit another million (on 9 February) with a score of 1,248,570 - my overall 6th highest. This game was particularly notable for the first man surviving 4 sets (each comprising 16 Acts) and then another 8 Acts - a total of 72 Acts without dying. While I haven’t been keeping a tally, that has to be some sort of record. And about a week later, on 17 February, I managed yet another million - this time 1,191,920.
To complete something of a purple patch for the month, I also clocked up 1,148,940 on 23 February - just a couple of days after the 1.8 million effort.
So after all that, the various records now stand as follows:
Top 5 scores:
1. 1,884,380 - 21 February 2015
2. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
3. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
4. 1,365,400 - 22 January 2015
5. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - now 23 seconds, down from 24 seconds after a freakish run in an Act 5 on 8 February during a 950,000 game
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 19
• Total scores in excess of current official world record - 8
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
Finally, and further to my previous post on public Pengo machines, I should add that when I was in London in September 2014, I trekked out to a reasonably new - and hyped - video arcade venue, called “Heart of Gaming”. It was located in a fairly drab, industrial, area of west London, a short walk from North Acton tube station. I’d read somewhere that they operated a Pengo game and so arrived mid-afternoon full of expectation and planning on a lengthy session. As it turned out, after searches by the staff there, Pengo was, sadly, one of the few downloadable arcade games they didn’t offer. But if your video game interests are slightly less myopic than mine, feel free to check them out.
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