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.

Public Pengos?

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

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

To start the ball rolling …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Funspot - Laconia, New Hampshire, USA

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

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

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

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

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

The top 5 official Twin Galaxies high scores remain as follows:
1. 1,217,650 - Paul Hornitzky, 9 September 2012
2. 1,110,370 - Rodney Day, 13 August 1983
3. 809,990 - Kevin Leisner, 25 February 1983
4. 723,950 - Frank Lupia, 20 September 2008
5. 694,030 - Paul Elia, 31 March 1983

Scoring update

Happy 2015 to everyone. Hope you’re all still on track with those various resolutions.

I admit I’m struggling a little with mine, which, as an inveterate Sydney CBD ‘J’-walker, was to wait for the green man before starting to cross.

That said, it’s been a productive new year period here at PengoQuest HQ with some quite heavy scoring. I finished up 2014 with a bang with 1M+ scores on each of the last two days of the year (1,272,650 and 1,193,270). Then, after a short pause, I proceeded to rack up another two in the past week (1,075,130 and 1,269,950).

I’m now up to 14 scores over 1 million, with five of those eclipsing the official world record of 1,217,650.

To recap, my top 5 scores are:
1. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
2. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
3. 1,272,650 - 30 December 2014
4. 1,269,950 - 13 January 2015
5. 1,237,950 - 15 July 2014

My other ‘records’ are:
• Fastest Act clearance - 11 seconds
• Fastest Act clearance with 10,000 bonus - 24 seconds
• Total scores over 1,000,000 - 14

Given I exceed 500,000 in just about every game I play these days (which is around 2-4 a week), and that I only bother keeping track of the scores over 1 million, I decided to change this benchmark from total scores over 500,000 to those over 1,000,000.

I’ve also decided to add a new benchmark - the highest score after completing the first 16 Acts. I was prompted by a slashing start to a game during the week when I managed to score 10,000 bonuses in each of the first 14 Acts, followed by near misses on each of Acts 15 and 16. While I lost three men in the process, it was worth it just to see what sort of score I could reach - which was 221,880. And it didn’t really affect the rest of the game. I finished with just over 708,000.

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 note from a recent check of the Twin Galaxies website that the date for Paul Hornitzky’s record has been amended from 10 July 2012 to 9 September 2012, although the score itself is identical. Perhaps this reflects the date of verification rather than the date of the game? But it makes my blog entry back in July 2013 celebrating the anniversary of his score look a bit silly. In any event, for the purposes of this list, I’ll go with the latest information.

It's Done

So, friends, when I said in the last entry on this blog that I would “report shortly”, you understand, of course, that I was using the word “shortly” to indicate that I would get back sometime in the next year or two.

And now, true to my word, here I am!

In case you were wondering, it’s been an interesting and productive interlude, sprinkled with some national and international travel, a solid half-marathon at the Gold Coast, stints at Harvard and the LSE, cancer surgery, some sensational trekking (especially New Zealand’s Milford Track and England’s Coast-to-Coast walk), and other highlights too numerous and irrelevant to mention in a blog about a simple arcade video game.

But the standout moment occurred on a sunny Tuesday morning - on 15 July 2014 - on a table-top video game terminal in a café in Newtown (an inner suburb of Sydney) adjacent to the Dendy cinema.

For it was on that day in that place, that probably the highest ever score in a single game of Pengo up to that time was achieved - by me!

That score, ladies and gentlemen, was a magical - 1,237,950. A full 20,300 points ahead of the official Pengo world record established by my countryman almost exactly two years previously, in July 2012. I clocked the machine at 654,840 and reached 583,110 the second time around.

But there’s more …

Just two weeks later, on 31 July, at the same venue, I managed to beat that score by over 200,000 points - with a total of 1,452,130.

And again on 6 December, when I passed the monumental 1.5 million barrier, with a score of 1,548,250. At an average of around 9,000 points a minute, it took almost three hours solid play and two pots of green tea (happily, without inducing a need for a natural break) to get there.

That said, I still haven’t figured out the logistics around recording the games, so Paul Hornitsky’s position atop the official Twin Galaxies table is safe.

Since I started on this quest early in 2013, I’ve managed to exceed 1 million ten times - twice with the Powerhouse Museum machine which had four Pengos, and the rest at the Newtown machine, which has six (five to start with, and a bonus Pengo at 50,000).

The scores ranked as follows:
1. 1,548,250 - 6 December 2014
2. 1,452,130 - 31 July 2014
3. 1,237,950 - 15 July 2014
4. 1,164,090 - 22 October 2014
5. 1,077,940 - 12 August 2014
6. 1,059,670 - 19 December 2014
7. 1,017,250 - 8 June 2013
8. 1,016,940 - 15 August 2014
9. 1,005,030 - 26 May 2013
10. 1,002,130 - 19 October 2014

A few too many 900,000+ scores in recent months have left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, but all up, very pleased with progress.

Compliments of the season to you all!

Game changer

Those of you who have been paying attention will recall that back in June, I wrote:

… I am quietly confident of soon eclipsing Mr Hornitsky’s 1,217,650 world mark (the first anniversary of which is coming up). That is, as soon as (a) I can get a bit more time to focus on it, and (b) I get my hands on a machine that has the regulation six Pengos, not the four I’ve been confined to on the museum’s machine since this quest began a few short months ago.

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

Well, dear reader, “the very near future” has finally arrived.

First, I have just started a period of leave from my job - 12 months to be exact. I’ve been heavily engaged in a senior position in a government agency over the past few years and the opportunities for taking time off have been severely limited. As circumstances have unfolded, that opportunity has now presented itself. So while I have no designs on becoming a full-time gamer, I will have much more time available to devote to this little quest of mine.

Second, I have today taken delivery of my very own table-top Pengo machine. It’s actually a multi-game machine with all the old arcade games loaded up - except, sadly, Moon Patrol. But my one and only requirement was that it meet the specifications that Twin Galaxies mandates before it will certify high scores for Pengo. I am assured it does. It’s also the first time I’ve ever played with six Pengos. All my games to date have only had four - three to start with and a fourth after 30,000 points.

Exciting times indeed.

I will report shortly on my first experiences with the new machine.

Pengo rage

It’s something that describes exactly my feelings this afternoon. I’d just completed Act 16 for the fourth time, had amassed over 660,000 points at quite a clip, albeit with one Pengo left, and was about to launch confidently into the fifth set with ambitions of at least another quick 100,000 points before being seriously challenged. Alas, too confidently as it turned out. A case of appalling complacency in Act 1 and it’s all over - at 665,730.

Dr Zackomba, noting my fairly obvious frustration, diagnosed it as a case of Pengo-rage - although very well contained, I should add. No museum exhibits or other paraphernalia were harmed in the immediate aftermath of the game.

Looking back, it was probably exacerbated by some lacklustre scoring over the past week or so. Last weekend, it was a 293,330, followed by a 303,220, a very promising 672,570, but then a 296,130. Yesterday, it was 114,680, and then 287,490, and then 382,540, followed by a 213,130, and finishing with an exceptionally strong 425,440. The tragedy of that final score was that it was achieved with only one Pengo down. Unfortunately, the security guard at the museum - nor, for that matter, the person on the museum’s loudspeaker - don’t seem to be Pengo fans, and were insistent we leave so that museum staff could get home to their families at the end of their working day.

Today’s first game (130,780) was as uninspiring as yesterday’s opener, but the subsequent 600K effort made up for it. The breakdown was 196,300 after the first set (with a Pengo lost in Act 9), 368,180 after the second set (with the second Pengo lost in Act 7), 517,290 after the third set and 665,300 after the fourth set (having lost the third Pengo in Act 14). Overall, it was a very solid per-Act average of just under 10,400 over 64 completed Acts. And again, the machine clocked at 655,350.

So after that run, my total number of games with scores exceeding 500,000 is now up to 17, including two 1,000,000 point games. But with more to come, I'm sure.

Happy Anniversary, Mr Hornitsky!

For a blog like this, today is a day worth celebrating.

It was exactly one year ago - on 10 July 2012 - that the great Paul Hornitzky, like me a resident of Sydney, Australia, managed to eclipse one of the longest standing records in video game history. That was the iconic million-plus effort achieved on a Pengo machine in a Canberra bowling alley, and then formally recorded, by big Rodney Day way back in 1983. (Of course, as someone who is somewhat less than svelte myself at the moment, I mean ‘big’ in the nicest and most respectful-ist possible way here, Rod.)

Much less is known (by me, at least) of the circumstances of Paul’s new record 12 months ago, but I’m sure it’s a moment, or more likely 3+ hours, that’s seared into his memory.

My job now - nay, my quest - is simply to make sure that Paul’s mark of 1,217,650 doesn’t live to see its second anniversary atop the Twin Galaxies scoreboard, let alone its twenty-ninth.

To that end, and while I hadn’t planned on playing again for a period while I finalised some work matters, I couldn’t help but drop by the museum for a quick game last Saturday morning before heading into work. I didn’t appreciate how quick the game was likely to be when I lost my first Pengo in Act 5 and the second later in the first set. I also didn’t bother keeping track of the set scores as I was going along. As it happened, my third and then the last Pengos performed extraordinarily well and took me to a final score of 736,430 - my fifth best. As before, the machine clocked at 655,350, while I lost my final Pengo in Act 12 of the fifth set.

The quest continues.