Special Report on Donald Hayes' New World Record on Millipede

As Reported on February 11th, 2005 by Robert Mruczek, Twin Galaxies' Chief Referee

Donald Hayes shown above, after breaking the world record on Dig Dug

To discuss any details about this accomplishment, go to this message board.

Hello fellow gamers:

Last year, on October 20th, Donald Hayes set a new personal best on "Millipede" of 6.8 million points, just missing the current world record of 6.9 million by a few minutes of game play. Here is how I ended the article I wrote chronicling Donald's attempt...

"And more importantly, I thank Donald for providing me with a most exciting 5+ hour achievement during which I could barely blink my eyes for fear of missing some of the gaming action. It was a privilege to verify his performance, and I do wish him all the best in his quest to be the world's greatest player at the title. In my book, I wouldn't bet against him. He's going to do it. I know he will. It's just a matter of when."

We all knew it was a matter of when. Donald Hayes, who hails from the USA, is the type of player that all gamers aspire to be. As of January 8th, when he took the world record on "Super Cobra" for his own, that was officially his 6th world arcade record held simultaneously. And now, adding to his ongoing legacy of achievement, "Millipede" becomes the 7th.

On December 26th, during the holiday season, Donald gave himself a present. He not only beat the previous world record...he shattered it. His new world mark, after 7 hours and 50 minutes of continuous lightning-fast gameplay, is 10,627,331 points.

Shave off the first two digits and probably more than 98% of "Millipede" players still can't beat his score.

Like I said in the close of my previous article, I knew he was going to do it, so I was extremely pleased that once again I was entrusted with the privilege of authenticating his performance.

"Millipede" is one of the fastest-paced arcade games of all time. For those familiar with it, this sequel to the classic title "Centipede" offers almost no room for a player to breathe or take a break. The action is non-stop, and at the highest levels of intensity, when the score is close to the next roll-over mark and when the "Millipede" is broken up into individual segments, few players even have a hope at survival even with the maximum of six shooters in reserve. And like it's predecessor, "Centipede", and another arcade classic from the era, "Star Wars", that maximum cannot be exceeded at any time during gameplay. In other words, a performance can be over in the space of less than a minute if a player gets tired, or has to leave the game for any reason, of if they simply have a bad run.

Easily one of the most unforgiving titles of all time, Donald at one point lost three shooters inside of 8 seconds, which I will go into details on later in this article. That's how intense the gameplay can be, and how quickly even a master player's performance can come to a conclusion.

What follows is a recap of Donald's performance, and then an interview that I conducted with Donald the other week. Squeezing in the eight hours to watch his tape through the end and writing this article wasn't easy for me during the month of January as I work in an accounting department and was closing out the previous year, so my apologies to Donald for this unavoidable delay.

"Millipede" players in particular will want to read the contents of the interview, which consisted of both questions that Donald replied to electronically and those that were handled verbally. A lot of killer tactics were revealed that maybe, just maybe, even the finest "Millipede" players may not yet have contemplated. After all, when the world champion offers some tips, it pays to listen up.

Enjoy the recap!! The interview follows.

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THE PATH TO VICTORY

THE FIRST MILLION (0 to 1,000,000)

74K - 1st loss of a shooter. Inevitable, and hardly indicative of a game's outcome at these settings, yet for all marathon attempts, I make it a policy to list the first five (5) losses as a matter of record and tradition. You may be wondering why I am not using precise numbers. The answer is simple. In a 10 million point game, they are not relevant...not until the game is over and it's time to log the score.

82k - 2nd loss

138K - 3rd loss

171-176K - 4th loss...I found it hard to determine what the score was for this one, but it's in this range. Keep in mind that the camera is far away so as not to interfere with the gamer, but is just close enough to capture the action and score. The problem is the small numbers of the score. I can tell, depending on the proximity and when the next free is awarded at what approximate point the gamer is at, but sometimes I have to approximate.

180K - 5th loss

205K - the game starts to get intense, and Donald's performance becomes more enjoyable to watch. Here, he can be seen one-shotting a train of four separated "Millipede" parts, each spaced one away from eachother and moving in the same direction, via one-shot firing, in the space of about a second. These are the kinds of moves that the average player one day hopes to pull off.

202-275K - no loss of shooter. Donald also doesn't lose a shooter from 368-425K and from 475-542K.

547K - Donald is at 3 shooters in reserve for the first time this game. Inevitable, and not indicative of the game's final outcome.

675K - Back to 6 shooters in reserve.

852K - Donald hits 2 in reserve, but is back to 3 by 855K, and up to 6 by 900K.

958K - Hits 2 shooters in reserve again, but up to 3 by 960K

966K - Down to 1 shooter in reserve for first time this game as things get hairy. "Millipede" is actually at it's nastiest when the visible score is over 900K. The game rolls over each million and the actions subsides a bit, but quickly picks up pace, and every 900K mark is a nightmare for players, because the next 100,000 points that follows is sure to be ultra hard.

993K - Donald has survived to this point and reached a "swarm" wave where multiple enemies come streaming down from the top. This is one of the nastiest as all three enemy types come at once, each with it's own drop pattern. Coupled with the spiders down below, It's quite hectic. Donald finishes this swarm wave with 1.030M, meaning he made 37K in a single wave. An awesome way to pass the first million point barrier.

THE SECOND MILLION (1,000,001 to 2,000,000)

As Donald enters his second million, now with a few shooters in reserve, he has a brief respite due to the general slowdown of intensity, and must use this time to replenish back to 6 shooters. As a matter of fact, even thinking back to Donald's 6.8M score and his earlier efforts, once he passes each million point barrier, he pretty much cruises for the next few hundred thousand until the intensity starts to peak again.

However, slowdown or not, he does not have a chance to relax or take a break as the action is continuous.

From this point on, I will be recapping only critical moments within the performance.

1.824M - the first time Donald is at 3 shooters in reserve since entering the wave. He has played this second million exceptionally well, thus far.

1.927M - down to 5 shooters in reserve. Briefly goes down to 3, but finishes the second million with 5 in reserve. At no time during the second million did he reach only 2 shooters in reserve.

THE THIRD MILLION (2,000,001 to 3,000,000)

2.620M - first time down to 3 shooters in reserve since passing the 2M mark

2.620-2.655M - Donald is stuck in the same wave on the same shooter valiantly fighting off the replicating "Millipede" segments from the side-feed.

2.668M - down to 2 shooters, but bounces back to a full compliment of 6 by 2.760M

Donald never goes below 3 shooters again this million, and clears the 3M barrier with 6 shooters in reserve.

THE FOURTH MILLION (3,000,001 to 4,000,000)

3.082-3.162M - no loss of shooter

3.553M - down to 3 shooters in reserve

3.660M - back to 6 shooters in reserve

3.990-3.999M - never goes below 3 in reserve for the final 100K. Reaches 4M at 2:58 mark (2 hours 58 minutes).

THE FIFTH MILLION (4,000,001 to 5,000,000)

4.668M - Donald maintained between 4 to 6 shooters in reserve at all times up to this point, but the next 57,000 points was the toughest part of this million point leg of his performance.

In the space of 12,000 points he went from 6 shooters in storage down to 2 by 4.680M, and hovered at 2 up to 4.725M, the first time he picked it back up to 3 and held it, until he had 4 in reserve at 4.740M. By 4.785M he was back in action at 6 in reserve.

4.856M - dipped down to 3 in reserve

4.890M - back to 6 !!

4.925M - this was the first time I saw Donald in a situation he had no control over. One (1) segment was left heading towards the bottom from left to right, one level above the bottom, when a beetle just happened to come out right underneath it. There was no chance at all for Donald to get this segment before it reached bottom. As it turned out, Donald lost the battle with the side-feed swarm that followed. But he finishes this million point leg strong with a full compliment of 6 shooters in reserve.

THE SIXTH MILLION (5,000,001 to 6,000,000)

There were three moments in Donald's performance when he was faced with the most dire of circumstances, and through a combination of his skills and a never-say-die attitude, he overcame adversity and kept going towards an even higher goal. This million point leg includes one of those moments.

5.020-5.127M - no loss of shooter

5.760M - the time on Donald's camcorder clock is 4:19pm and he has 6 shooters in reserve. Little does he know that the next 12 minutes will be the toughest test he has faced this performance thus far. It is moments like these that separate the wannabees from the champions.

5.764M - down to 5 shooters in reserve

5.766M - down to 4

5.767M - down to 3

5.772M - down to 2

5.774M - down to 1

Everything that possibly could have gone wrong here did. Spiders coming out at the worst possible moment and position. Fleas dropping inconveniently placed shrooms accelerating a millipede's path to the bottom. Beetles being in annoying spots at the worst possible times. Lesser players would have been completely unravelled by now. Not Donald.

5.784M - still at 1 shooter in reserve

5.788M - down to zero in reserve. This was a do-or-die moment for Donald. Fortunately the next bonus shooter was mercifully close, and so Donald kept going...possibly momentarily stunned by seeing his reserves dip to zero for the first time this performance, but if so, clearly not showing it. The mark of a true champion.

5.820M - battles his way back to 3 in reserve !!

5.827M - down to 2

5.865M - up to 5 in reserve, but there's a lot of action between now and the next million mark

5.878M - after several more difficult moments, he's down to 1 shooter in reserve again.

5.916-5.947M - I referred to this segment of his game as "The Big Battle" in the notes I took during verification. Donald started the wave with either 1 or 2 shooters in reserve and by the time the "millipede" reached the bottom and the side-feed kicked in, he just couldn't catch a break, though he kept on fighting. On the same shooter he lasted 31,000 points during this swarm of segments. Anyone that knows this game realizes how tough it is to last so long during a swarm phase. Towards the end he made a totally awesome move that, during my interview with Donald, he remembered well.

Faced with a wall of pieces moving from left to right, and coming into a mess of shrooms on the right side, Donald waited until the top of the millipede wall passed under a shroom and went up, over and down behind the wall. What made thus move so remarkable is how close the nest shroom above was. The spacing was extremely tight, leaving no margin for error. This time, Donald finishes the swarm off on this shooter. Believe it or not, this was not his toughest swarm...that was yet to come, But for now, back to this one.

The coup de grace is that he clears the 6 million point barrier with 5 shooters in reserve, and at the 4:31 mark (4 hours, 31 minutes). Now, with the action slowing down a bit, Donald can breathe again in his final leg to passing the existing world record.

THE SEVENTH MILLION (6,000,001 to 7,000,000)

And so begins Donald's second attempt at going from the 6M barrier through 7M. His last attempt ended a mere 100,000 points or so away from the existing world record back on October 20th, 2004.

During my recap of his sixth million point climb, I said that there were three moments that were his toughest challenges this performance. The following chronicles his toughest moments. And like I said before, it is moments like these that separate the wannabees from the champions.

6.352M - This is the earliest moment after a million point barrier that Donald feels the pressure, I think, as he is down to 3 shooters in reserve. And pressure is an appropriate term, as the next few spiders are seemingly making a beeline for him. That, plus the fact that after about 5 hours of gameplay, and so close to the world mark, Donald has to be considering the deja-vu factor, thinking back to his last attempt that ended at 6.8M points, 100K shy of the world mark.

6.386M - down to 2 shooters in reserve

6.389M - down to 1 in reserve...momentarily throws his hands up in frustration, based on what I see in the reflection. Quite understandable.

6.394M - down to 1 in reserve again. And remember...there is 600K to go, and it only will get worse as the game approaches the next million point barrier.

6.40xM - I could not tell for sure when this exactly happened, but Donald loses his last reserve shooter and is far off from the next one. What happens next is without a doubt his finest moment this performance.

Like I said, he lost his last shooter and was a long way from the next bonus. Then the side-feed swarm came, as the current "millipede" was all segments and quickly travelled downward to the bottom.

With his game-face on, Donald starts the epic battle with a swarm. A worm came. Shooting it would have meant temporarily slowing down the wave, but Donald could not afford to do so (I'll explain more on this in the interview segment). Three more worms passed. He eventually had a chance to take out the problem shroom in the bottom right that was accelerating millipede parts hitting the bottom. AT 6.420M he was back to 2 shooters in reserve, and still within the swarm !!

Two more worms were passed by, and Donald finally looked like he had the board under control as 3 segments remained, but the vicious side-feed kept alternating sides and between that and the fleas, and those spiders which seemed to home in on him, he couldn't wrap it up. By 6.35M he was at 3 in reserve, and the swarm was still coming at him, unrelenting and without mercy.

The shrooms down below were getting severely congested again by the time the seventh worm passed by, and then the eighth. Donald finally succumbed to an unavoidable hit at 6.442M, lasting about 40,000 points in the same swarm. I don't think I've ever seen a player last that long in a swarm before on a single shooter. I was mightily impressed.

6.448M - Donald is quickly down to 1 shooter in reserve again, but bounces back to 2 at 6.450M

6.495M - things are starting to calm down a bit...he's up to 4 in reserve.

6.525M - for the first time in 8 harrowing minutes, Donald can breathe. He has battled back to 6 shooters in reserve. A great weight was lifted from him, and now he could concentrate better on the immediate task of 6.9M and a new world mark.

6.525-6.885M - Donald keeps his reserves hovering between 4 and 6 at all times, personally aware of how difficult it will be to deal with being down to a low reserve again, and with the game difficulty now at maximum being so close to the next million point barrier.

6.894M - a brief sequence of events leads to his going down to 3 shooters again. He's now past the previous 6.8M personal best and well under 100K away from the world record. But Donald has a steely resolve about him, and nothing is going to stop him now.

6.941M - still at 3 in reserve

6.960M - battles back to 5 in reserve

6.975M - at 6 in reserve, Donald sees the 7 million point barrier about to be smashed.

6.977M - down to 5 shooters, Donald then finishes the wave and begins with a new "millipede", a sure-fire way to break through the next million point barrier, as new "millipedes" are easier to handle.

6.984M - down to 4 shooters in reserve now, Donald enters the bonus wave, and soars past the 7 million point barrier, finishing this shooter at 7.050M and clearly the new world champion !! Time to break 7M was 5:19 (5 hours, 19 minutes)

What I failed to mention above, as it would have meant a break in the action, is that Donald, when he passed the world mark at approx 5:17 into the game, gave a brief pump-of-the-fist into the air, his first real show of emotion this game. Considering the heart-wrenching end to the 6.8M attempt, that silent but significant action spoke volumes !!

THE EIGHTH MILLION (7,000,001 to 8,000,000)

Considering how unpredictable this game can be, even Donald did not know how long he could keep the game going for as he was now in uncharted territory. But like a man on a mission, he stayed focused, alert, and kept on going.

7.235M - in the space of 8 seconds (I counted), Donald went from 6 shooters in reserve to just 3. After losing the first of the 3, then the spiders homed in on him near the screen edges for the next 2. He had no chance on either as a new "millipede" rack began and a lot of spiders were coming out.

7.305M - back to 6 shooters in reserve

7.595M - during an epic side-feed battle, the bottom half of the screen becomes littered with shrooms, an absolute mess to clean up, so Donald makes this his next focus and does so brilliantly while maintaining control of the "millipede"

7.603M - a brief cough at 5:45pm is about the only sound that Donald has made since breaking the world record. This serves to remind me that as I'm watching all this action, there's a guy responsible for it who was playing his heart out to make this happen.

7.621M - down to 3 in reserve

7.633M - down to 2 in reserve for the first time since passing 7 million

7.665M - battles back to 5 in reserve

7.680M - at 6 again, but by 7.695M the bottom of the screen is a disaster from another side-feed battle. Down to 5 again.

7.965M - after maintaining a good supply of reserves, Donald is looking forward to passing the 8M mark, and enjoying a brief respite as the action temporarily slows down. With 6 shooters in reserve this is inevtiable. Ultimately, he passes the 8 million point barrier with 5 shooters in reserve at the 5:59 mark (nearly 6 hours into his performance)

THE NINTH MILLION - (8,000,001 to 9,000,000)

The early part of this million point leg was fairly routine...for Donald, that is. He never dipped below 4 shooters in reserve. And by 8.746M he still was at 6 in reserve, but, as he has experienced throughout this game, anything can happen.

8.753M - down to 4 in reserve

8.760M - back to 5

8.774M - down to 4

8.775M - down to 5

8.782M - down to 4 again...no matter how hard he tried to get back to 6, he could not. And now it became even harder.

8.787-8.820M - Donald hits 3 shooters in reserve, and then 2, and at this point is finding it tough to get back to 4 again. He manages to do so at 8.835M, but by 8.847M he's back at 3 again.

Fortunately, by 8.865M, he has battled back to 5 shooters in reserve, and for the rest of this million point range, he hovers between 4 and 6 in reserve, finishing strongly at 9.030M with 6 in reserve after 6:41 (6 hours and 41 minutes) of cumulative gameplay.

THE TENTH MILLION (9,000,001 to 10,000,000)

More impressive than the fact that what Donald has done up to this point hasn't already been done before (it hasn't...passing 7M), but thus far breaching the 10 million point barrier has been kind of unfathomable. No one has ever talked about or announced a plan to do so. It's sort of like someone announcing that they are planning on getting a score of 20 million on "Tron"...most players will tell them "Sure, but let's see you get 10 million first...THEN you can talk about hitting 20 !!"

At Donald's current pace he was a good 40-45 minutes away from this mark. He surely had a good start (6 shooters in reserve), but from experience, he knew that anything could happen. So at this point, the best he could hope for was to try and see what would happen as the performance unfolded.

9.005-9.078M - no loss of shooter

9.485M - 7 hours later...Donald is still at 6 shooters in reserve. Wow !!

9.500M - according to my notes, Donald has yet to dip below the 4 shooter reserve mark for this leg of his performance.

9.728M - Don reaches 3 shooters in reserve.

Remember earlier when I mentioned that there where three (3) moments in his game when Donald faced the most dire of circumstances ? Here comes the last of them...just as the 10 million point barrier is less than 15 minutes away.

9.733M - down to 2 in reserve

9.742 - down to 1 in reserve. Picks it up to 2 in reserve at 9.750M but a lower right shroom is causing him major hassles with the side-feed swarm, so he's back down to 1 again by 9.751M

9.763M - down to zero in reserve, it's do-or-die, put-your-game-face-on time for Donald !!

9.765M - back to 1 in reserve as he was very close to the next bonus shooter

9.780M - back to 2 again, but too early to breathe just yet

9.783M - down to 1 in reserve, with the next one a long while off

9.787M - down to zero shooters again...8,000 points away from the next bonus shooter. This was a dire moment, to say the very least. The millipede quickly reaches bottom and a side-feed swarm begins.

9.795M - Donald survives the swarm to earn 1 shooter in reserve, but he dies in the next bonus screen. Back to zero.

9.810M - earns another bonus shooter...at 1 in reserve again.

9.821M - down to zero again, 4,000 points from the next bonus shooter

9.825M - back to 1 in reserve

9.840M - up to 2...the pressure still not off, but MUCH better than at zero in reserve !!

9.855M - back to 3 in reserve !! Donald, as it turns out, would not drop past 3 in reserve again for this leg of his quest. The resolve was there.

9.915M - up to 5 in reserve. Definitely breathing time again.

9.926M - dips down to 4, then by 9.928M he's at 3 again.

9.930M - back to 4 shooters...and minutes away from history!!

9.945M - back to 5 again

9.960M - reaches 6 in reserve for the first time since late 9.6 million. This was one major battle, but Donald survived. Definitely 8-9 minutes of very hard work. Less experienced players might have folded. Donald held it together. His reward was minutes away.

9.999M - here at last, his personal goal (which he later told me that he had in mind once the 6.9M world record was passed) was now a reality. Donald passes the 10 million point mark at 7:21:31 (7 hours 21 minutes 31 seconds) with a perfect 6 shooters in reserve...way to go, Donald !!

If Donald was feeling anything at this point, his reaction was very subdued and personal. He just kept on playing.

BEYOND TEN MILLION (10,000,001 to ???)

As with all roll-overs thus far, a definite temporary slowdown occurs, giving Donald some breathing time again.

10.327M - first time he hits 3 shooters in reserve after passing 10M

10.380M - raises it back to 6 shooters.

10.485M - still maintaining his reserves at 6 shooters, but at this early stage in his 11th million, little does he know that this will be the last time he's at 6 shooters in reserve. Whether the game is starting to get exceptionally nasty, or Donald is starting to show some fatigue, or a little bit of bother, that is irrelevant.

"Millipede" is a title that Twin Galaxies refers to as "potentially marathonable". Like I said earlier in this recap, you cannot stockpile extra shooters in reserve beyond 6, just like "Centipede" and "Star Wars", so the game's duration depends on fatigue, the controller holding up, the game getting a little nasty at the worst possible times, or something even more basic...the electrical connection holding up. With no time to rest...well, you CAN for a little while with "Centipede", if you know how to set it up...these games are not the easiest to consider as "marathonable".

10.520M - down to 5...and that's the last time he will be at 5 in reserve, as well

10.525M - down to 4 shooters.

10.526M - Donald hits 3 again, and between 10.526M and 10.593M - he hovers back and forth between 3 and 4 shooters in reserve, finishing at 3 by 10.593M. He will not hit 4 again this game.

10.601M - down to 2 in reserve. Donald manages to pick it back up to 3 again by 10.605M but drops back to 2 by 10.617M. He will not see 3 again.

10.619M - hits 1 shooter in reserve. After close to 8 hours of gameplay, my own gamer's instinct tells me that Donald might be privately wondering if this is, in fact, where his game is about to come to an end. Sometimes you get that feeling...it's hard to explain how during some dire moments, you just know you will survive, while others, it's like a premonition. But that's just my opinion.

10.620M - brings it back to 2...and then everything that can happen does.

10.624M - a "routine loss" brings him down to 1 again with 11,000 points to go. This does not bode well.

10.626M - a "beetle trap" gets him...loses his last reserve shooter.

10.627M - one final hit and that's all she wrote. A brief clap from Donald signals the end to the world's greatest performance on "Millipede" ever. 7 hours and 50 minutes. Incredible.

He puntuates this with a quick spin on the trackball before entering the initials.

"Final score...10,627,331 (points)"

Donald's shadow on the machine's glass is a quiet testament to what had just transpired. He was standing for the first time in nearly 8 hours.

He adjusts the video camera to better zoom in on the score.

"Tape's about to run out anyway, Robert..." he says, as it is an 8 hour tape and the camera clock shows more than 7:51.

And with that, the camera recording stops, and although all I see is a snowy screen, I can envision Donald with a deep sense of satisfaction as his personal goal had become a reality. He had not just beaten the world record, he took it into the stratosphere.

A lot of local arcades across the globe have "Millipede" machines with "999,999" as the high score. Fine. Let those players try topping this !!

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THE INTERVIEW

Donald graciously allowed me to conduct a written as well as verbal interview with him. Here are the results. I hope you will find his answers both informative and enjoyable.

I'll start with the bulk of the interview which was the written questions.

Question (1) - “Millipede” has been a title that I know you wanted the record on for some time now, having come close on a few occasions, most recently missing the mark my about 5 more minutes of game play, maybe less. And now, a few months later, you obliterated the previous world record. What was going through your mind as you finally passed the world record mark ? At that game speed it’s almost kind of hard to watch the score and keep your eyes on the action at the same time, so I’m wondering if you even saw yourself pass the world record, or if you just knew that you did and kept on playing, to retain the focus.

Answer (1) - I was actually very conscious of where I was in terms of score all during the game, especially having come so close to the record on multiple previous attempts. When I actually did pass the old record you can see a quick "fist-pump" action from me which was probably the most emotional response during the entire game, unlike the previous attempt where you noted that I was more vocal than usual and somewhat annoyed with my game play. It was certainly a relief once the record was passed and I then turned my attention to the personal goal I had for myself of passing 10 million.

Question (2) - There were two (2) occasions before the world mark where you went down to zero lives in reserve, one of which came during the last millipede when all the pasts were separate, so to me this was your finest moment as you battled back and kept your cool. This was the most nail-biting moment of your game, for me as a spectator. How did it feel actually playing the game during this moment of enormous pressure ? You had a few thousand to go before the next free, and it was highly likely that the millipede would reach the bottom of the screen, so surviving an end-wave swarm at this speed was inevitable. I’ve got to hand it to you, I don’t know if even Billy could have pulled this one off as successfully.

Answer (2) - I remember pretty clearly one of the times that I was down to my last man, and I think it's the one you reference above. I think it occurred around 5.8M or so. My initial thoughts as the men dwindled was "NO!!! NOT AGAIN!!!!" I remember taking a quick peak at the score in between losing men, so I concentrated on trying to keep the bottom relatively clear of mushrooms since I was expecting to have the side feed kick in. Sometimes it is more dangerous to try an prevent the side feed than it is to actually prepare for and handle it.

Question (3) – I realize from watching your previous tapes, and this one, that every 1M points the difficulty ramps down a bit, giving you somewhat of a breather and chance to replenish your lives, so every time the score reaches the 700K+ range things get tough, especially when you’re coming close to rolling the score. Do you have any special strategy at this point, such as using the bonus wave to soar passed the next rollover and start the next wave at a lower speed, or is the game so fast such that a strategy like this is not even feasible to apply mid-game ?

Answer (3)- Your observation about the behaviour after a rollover is correct. Almost all facets of the game are based on the current displayed score so when the rollover occurs, most things slow down to the way they were at the beginning of the game. As the score progresses, certain enemies start moving faster or coming out more often. The primary exception to this rule is the side feed which progresses to a certain level of difficulty and then stays pretty much at that level for the rest of the game. This is in contrast to Centipede where the side feed gets harder and harder to finally being basically impossible, but then turns over and goes back to extremely easy and continues to cycle this way.

As far as using any special strategies, the answer for my style of play is "no".

Question (4) – One of the best tactics that I’ve seen you display is during one of the bonus waves…I’m sure you know which I am referring to. Am I correct that doing the exact opposite would be devastating for the waves that follow ? I envision missed shots sailing upwards and valuable time lost as a result, for starters. Am I on the right track, here ?

Answer (4) - Yes, I know exactly which tactic you're referring to. Jason Cram also noticed this a few weeks ago when we played a doubles game of "Millipede". I found that my survival rate increased using this tactic because it gives me better control of the entire screen. My style of play depends on having a shot when I need it (since that is the same way I play Centipede, and I learned that first).

Question (5) – Seven+ hours of game-play on the same credit…I think that this is the longest single gaming performance in your personal gaming history, yes ? What was the second longest…your previous 6.8M on “Millipede”, or was it the 4.5M on “Tron” ?

Answer (5)- Well, this game was closer to 8 hours, but I believe that only ranks third for my personal longest game. My Centipede record took 9 hours but even that is only second. My personal long was back in the 80's when I played "Gauntlet" for 10 hours. My 4.6M "Tron" score took 6.5 hours, but I think a couple of my other "Centipede" scores were just a little bit longer.

Question (6)– Based on what you have just seen, would you now say that “Millipede” is marathonable, potentially marathonable, or is the game still too difficult and unpredictable to make such an assessment ? Like “Star Wars” and “Centipede” (both of which you excel at), this game awards extra lives but you can only maintain a limited number (6) in reserve at any given time, so you realistically can’t take a break from the game.

Answer (6) - I think I would classify it as "potentially marathonable".

Question (7) - So…maybe this game is only marathonable to the point that either (A) the trackball gives out from the excess oils, or (B) until “nature calls”. Agree ?

Answer (7) - I'd pretty much have to agree with that. In the back of my mind, I do have an idea of how to possibly take a short "nature break" (perhaps 2-3 minutes). A similar strategy would probably also work on "Centipede".

Question (8) – Wow, you claimed the world record on “Super Cobra” (over 225K) and “Millipede” (10.6M) within the same month. Add that to the other titles you hold world records on and I think you now possess 7 or is it 8 world records on arcade titles at the same time ? This is unprecedented.

Answer (8) - The "Super Cobra" record makes 7 total arcade records.

Question (9) - Which begs the question…what title is next ? I’m guessing “Berzerk” is on your short list. (Donald recently hit 106K on his 1st life on fast-bullets "Berzerk" as part of the 2004 Advanced MAME decathlon...the world arcade record is about 230K for an entire game of 5 lives which includes the two bonus lives)

Answer (9) - I have several ideas in the back of my head, but for now I'm keeping that to myself.

Question (10) - You have mastered titles with joysticks, flight controllers and track balls. Do you ever see yourself picking up interest in a driving or shooting game, or do you prefer the aforementioned three controller-types ?

Answer (10)- I never cared for driving games in general (I drive enough in real life as it is!). It's not so much that I prefer one controller type over another, it's more a matter of whether I personally enjoy the gameplay as a whole.

Question (11) – I know from personal experience, including competing with you in various gaming events, that some titles you pick up right away whereas others, and every gamer has a few, you just don’t enjoy playing. Which titles do you absolutely can’t stand playing, either by genre or specific titles ? For instance, I’ve already accepted the fact that I can’t play precision-shooting titles like “Cheyenne” even if my life depended on it, but I cannot stand playing a game which requires too much pre-memorization of fixed movement sequences, like most modern fighting-game titles.

Answer (11) - Well, I've publicly stated that I never want to play "Ghosts & Goblins" again. "Motorace USA" also comes to mind. I also don't care for the modern fighting style games.

Thanks, Donald, for answering all the written questions that I requested of you.

We later discussed the finer points of his performance, and most specifically the three moments when he reached zero shooters.

I noticed one common denominator in how Donald handled the side-feed swarms, and was wondering why, during the swarms, was he missing so many worms. He explained this to me as only an expert could.

According to Donald, hitting the worms during the swarms, a tactic most players would employ to perhaps give them an "edge", is something Donald pointedly avoids. "They throw off my timing with the side-feed", he explains. As a world class player, Donald does not like to have the tempo of his game rapidly changing like that. Once he's accustomed to the speed, the slow-down is more of an annoyance than a helpful tool.

He said that the key to dealing with the side-feed swarm is predicting where the next piece will come from. They come out so quickly that the only way to close out the swarm is to take out several pieces within a second...assuming you whittle the swarm down that far. It is, he said, the toughest aspect of the game. You either know how to deal with the side-feed swarm, or you can't get past a certain point in the game.

I asked him about those "DDT" capsules which have the power to take out several enemies at once, and whether they were an integral part of the game. Not absolutely necessary, he said, but they help under the right circumstances.

We also discussed his mindset during the three moments when he hit zero shooters in reserve, one of which was close to the existing world mark, the other of which was close to ten million. In both cases, Donald was concerned, but overcame that with focus and determination. As a fellow gamer, I get the distinct impression that he was thinking "I could always try again, but it would be nice if I didn't have to !!".

The last thing I asked him was about the 10-million point goal. He said his intent was to hopefully put up a score which would be much more difficult to beat than 7 million, or even 8 million. Considering how difficult each million point barrier was for him, surviving ten such difficult situations was hard enough...now, to beat Donald, someone would have to find a way to survive through eleven.

Any takers?

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AFTERTHOUGHTS

Donald accepts the mantle of a seventh simultaneous classic arcade world record with stoic professionalism. Defending so many titles at once will not be easy, but he has set such a high bar that few can hope to take down some of his scores, especially not a near-8 hour, 10.6 million performance on "Millipede".

One thing is certain...there is no slowing this player down. Donald also holds quite a few MAME records, which is the platform that emulates the inner-workings of the arcade classics, allowing you to play the titles' ROMsets on your at-home PC in lieu of the presence of the stand-up or sit-down arcade original. And he also holds the highest scores on the tournament setting variations of a few of the arcade titles he holds the records on. For the moment, Donald is among the top players in the globe, easily, when it comes to arcade titles. Who is number one ? It doesn't really matter, not when you reach that calibre of competition. But when it comes to "Millipede", "Tron", "Dig Dug", "Super Zaxxon" and the rest, there is no denying who the number one player in the world is...Donald Hayes.

The staff of Twin Galaxies congratulates Donald on his historic and inspirational 10 million point world record performance on the classic arcade title "Millipede". We wish him all the best on his next title(s) to conquer, and look forward to his progress in the weeks and months to come.

Will he set another world title this year, and add an unprecedented 8th to his belt ? Only time will tell. Will he successfully defend the seven titles that he now calls his own? The same can be said. Will he find a new title that he can master and try for the world record on...that, fellow gamers, is a guarantee !!

Robert Mruczek
Twin Galaxies' Chief Referee

To discuss any details about this accomplishment, go to this message board.