BREAKING NEWS - NEW WORLD RECORD ON CLASSIC "MS PACMAN" (ARCADE) !!
As reported on August 9th, 2005
Based on a score originally submitted on October 11th, 2004

Hello fellow gamers:

When "Pacman" debuted way back in 1980, almost 25 years ago, the title not only solidified itself as one of the greatest arcade titles of all time, but it's simplicity and mass-appeal spawned off dozens of sequel titles over the more than two decades that followed. In addition, the "Pacman" symbol has become one of the most widely recognized icons of the video gaming world, if not the most recognizable. I daresay the simple yellow circle with the pie-slice mouth might even be as easily recognizeable as a certain world famous mouse's ears !!

Almost a year later, with "Pacman-fever" sweeping the nation, an inevitable follow-up title was released, this one with a decided appeal to the female gaming community. "Ms Pacman" quickly drew a huge audience. In addition to the now famous staples of the original title, several cosmetic changes were made to keep the design fresh while retaining the spirit of the original.

Now featuring varying mazes, moving fruits and random fruits after the 7th stage, a new set of challenges awaited the serious "Pac-masters", which they fully embraced.

Nearly twenty years ago (6/30/85), Chris Ayra, who hails from Florida, practiced hard at the title, and eventually set a world record score of nearly 874,530 points. A few years ago (8/16/98), Chris beat his score with an incredible 920,310 points, a score that is probably 4-5 times more than the average player could ever hope to accomplish at their best.

A world record title on "Ms Pacman" has long since been considered to be one of the most prestigious world records to own on an arcade videogame title. Some golden age players agreed that having a great score on "Ms Pacman" was an absolute must back then, almost as if it was a measure of how good of an overall gamer you actually were. In fact, in Walter's first " Twin Galaxies Book of Records", I believe that famed gamer Ben Gold echoed these sentiments nicely.

Recently, within the past few years, the "turbo" version of the title has made a marked impact on today's gaming community. But it is the original classic version that remains to this day one of the most respected and desireable video game world records to call your own.

And now, more than two decades after it's release, and almost seven years since Chris Ayra last broke the world record, a new world champion has emerged.

Enter Abdner Ashman. This "Pac-master", who hails from Queens, New York in the USA, came to the attention of the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard more than three years ago when we heard of his skills on another "Pacman" title, "Junior Pacman". Darren Harris, another "Pac-master", met Abdner and later on they both showed up at the annual Funspot competition in Weirs Beach, NH, and it was there that Abdner displayed the tactics and skillset necessary to pass the 900K+ mark on "Junior Pacman", a feat that only fellow "Pac-master" Rick Fothergill from Canada had ever accomplished.

Abdner soon ended up passing the 1M point on that title, officially logging a world record score of 1.500M back in 2002 at Funspot, then 1.550M at the 2004 FUnspot competition, and unofficially becoming the ONLY player in Twin Galaxies recorded history to reach the "kill screen" in the title, a staple of several "Pacman" offerings in which the player's game comes to an unfortunate end shortly thereafter.

Additionally, Abdner made his mark on the classic title "Robotron" where he nearly beat the existing tournament settings (TGTS) world record in 2003 at Funspot with a score of over 893,000 points.

But this year, with one world record under his belt, and another within his grasp, Abdner pulled off an impressive score of 921,360 points on "Ms Pacman" to claim his second world record on this most respected and heavily contested title, passing the previous world record set by Chris Ayra by just about 1,000 points. And in doing so, Abdner becomes only the second or third player in Twin Galaxies history to simultaneously hold two or more classic "Pacman" title's world record scores under their belt at the same time.

The "Ms Pacman" world title seldom changes ownership because of the inherrant difficulty in surpassing it. For starters, it is almost impossible to envision beating the score without eating all of the ghosts and all of the fruits, never mind clearing a mind-numbing 134 or more stages at a title where even better-than-average players never reach more than the 13th stage.

After Chris beat Bill MItchell's record, then Rick Fothergill surfaced and achieved a 910K score in 1996, Chris would take it back around 1998 (8/16/98 as per Bill Mitchell) and would hold the record until Abdner's performance in 2004.

On top of that, to date, only a handful of players on the classic version of "Ms Pacman" have ever reached the last stage, the "kill screen". The skillset alone to do so is beyond the average gamer's abilities, and then there is the time involved. Abdner's game took almost six hours to complete at 5:47 total game time.

And finally, there is the much debated issue of the random fruits.

At the minimum, a "kill screen" game of "Ms Pacman" would involve the player surving up to the 134th stage, encountering, up to this point, 127 stages of random fruits (2 fruits per stage). With values ranging from a lowly 100 points to an impressive 5,000 points, and with the game routinely awarding random fruits closer to the median-value pretzel fruit worth 700 points, a player not only needs to get (hopefully) all the ghosts, fruits and dots, and live through over 100 stages, but also must benefit from a favourable fruit distribution.

Suffice it to say, at close to six hours at one sitting, having it all come together under a single game is a rare occassion indeed.

Rarer still is the number of "kill screens" that a player encounters. In most "kill screen" games, a player might encounter just a single "kill screen", or maybe 2, 3, 4 or as many as 8. With each "kill screen" allowing for an extra score potential of approx 2,500 points in dots and anywhere from 200 points to 10,000 points in fruits, a player hopes to be awarded as many "kill screens" as the game will randomly award, up to the maximum of 8. So to say that arriving at the 133rd stage with an impressive 890,000 points only to be given just a single "kill screen", and not only that, to be awarded two cherry-fruits worth 100 points apiece, is the epitomy in anticlimatic endings for a video game world record attempt.

In his new world record performance, Abdner was awarded the most favourable condition of eight (8) "kill screens". Of course, when a player reaches the 133rd stage, they do not know in advance how many of these "kill screens" will be awarded as that is randomly generated, too. According to legendary gamer Bill Mitchell, a former "Ms Pacman" champion himself, a second "kill screen" is awarded "perhaps 1 in 3 times", with the same applied to the 3rd "kill screen" and again to the 4th". Yet when you receive your 5th "kill screen", the game thus far seems to award the full array of eight. Suffice it to say, completed games where all eight (8) "kill screens" were awarded are exceedingly rare, and a cause for celebration regardless of the final score.

It is possible to achieve a score of, say, 850,000 points after the 141st stage, or as early as the 130th stage. It all depends on the fruits. Over the past 20+ years, master players have often debated whether it is possible to affect their random outcome, somewhow, and after all this time, no one has come up with a definitive course of action. Thus, the chips fall where they may in every "kill screen" attempt by the world's best players whose verified ranks I can count on just my two hands. And with anywhere from 1-8 "kill screens" to survive, the expression "It ain't over till it's over" is most appropriate.

Abdner Ashman joins an elite cadre of "Pac-masters" who have reached the "kill screen" on the classic (non-turbo) title, gamers including Chris Ayra, Bill Mitchell, Rick Fothergill, and Darren Harris. I have also been informed by Darren Harris that Neil Chapman from Canada reached the kill screen once, and that the player who mentored Rick Fothergill at the title.

Like I said, I can count their ranks on just my two hands. Twenty three years, and not even ten players who have finished the game !! While many turbo players have reached the end since that version debuted, it is a rare player indeed who can complete the game at tournament speed.

Here now is a complete recap of Abdner's game, including a recap of his fruit distrution sequence, streaks and ratios for his complete and perfect game (all ghosts, dots and fruits eaten, and eight "kill screens" passed), followed by some closing thoughts.

But first, a little bit of the history of this submission, and then some background for those who have never read about a "kill screen attempt" before.

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THE HISTORY OF THIS SUBMISSION

Your first question is obvious...why did it take Twin Galaxies so very long to release the notification of such an important world record. There's an answer to that question which is at the core of what Twin Galaxies is all about.

When word reached me that Abdner passed the nearly 10-year old mark by Chris Ayra, I knew this was a major story to say the least, and upon receipt of the tape I wrote this very article almost 10 months ago. But when it was all ready for the worldwide press release, everything was put on all.

Enter Darren Harris, a fellow "Pac-master" with the 2nd highest verified score in the world. Darren alerted me of a major red flag. Normally, when a player reaches and clears stage 133, "Ms Pacman", the classic version anyway, awards either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 "kill screens". No one has ever seen 5, 6 or 7 awarded. But the amazing thing is that in Abdner's game, he was awarded the maximum of eight (8) "kill screen" stages.

That in itself is not enough cause for alarm, but it is a rare occassion indeed. In fact, after 24 years of naturally reaching the end and rack-testing, the major players had only seen or heard of approximately 7-8 occassions where all eight were awarded, and that's out of more than 1,200 estimated attempts reaching the kill screen. But the truly amazing thing is that after this attempt, Abdner was awarded the full compliment of eight "kill screens" two (2) MORE times, back-to-back after his world record performance. That's three in a row. And that was more than enough reason to put our press release plans on hold.

With Abdner's permission, and at my own personal expense, I paid for the testing of Abdner's board. The tests came back clean. The board needed some repair due to natural wear and tear and age considerations, but operated fine and all the bells and whistles came back green by the foremost expert in the industry.

However, due to the extreme prominence of this particular achievement, further expert testimonies were obtained covering all possibilities.. electrical, engineering, circuitry, programming, environment. All the experts agreed based on the information provided...there was no cause for concern. So as unbelievably difficult it is to fathom that eight (8) "kill screens" were awarded in back-to-back attempts, sort of like getting dealt a full house in 5-card stud poker three times in a row perhaps, the environment was deemed acceptable by Twin Galaxies based on the sum of all expert testimony and facts obtained, and now, after ten long months, a great gamer is finally getting the recognition that they so richly deserve !!

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BACKGROUND

Each board consists of a maze of dots including four energizers, and the goal is to eat all the dots to progress to the next screen.

"Ms Pacman" consists of four different mazes, two of which a player never sees again after the 5th board. Boards 6-9 are generally regarded as the "Chase" boards or the "Pear" boards by most players, and boards 10-13 are referred to predominantly as the "Junior" boards. This is because the maze pattern of board 6 is where the 2,000 point pear fruit debuts, while the intermission between boards 9 and 10 suggests the arrival of a "Junior Pacman", the offspring of classic "Pacman" and the new "Ms Pacman".

There are four "Chase" boards followed by four "Junior" boards. Then four more "Chase" boards, etc, and the pattern repeats until the player loses their last life, or reaches the end of the game.

Through the first sixteen stages, when "Ms Pacman" eats an energizer dot, the ghosts turn blue for a short period of time, during which "Ms Pacman" can eat the ghosts for some big points. As the boards increase, the time that these ghosts turn blue and are vulnerable to being eaten decreases to about one second. During board 17 they do not turn blue at all, while in board 18 they turn blue (albeit briefly) one final time before they never turn blue again.

Bonus fruits come out twice per board based on running over a preset number of dots. As with classic "Pacman", the earlier fruits are worth far less than the maximum point value fruits later on in the game. However, in "Ms Pacman", after the maximum fruit value has been reached, all boards that follow produce random fruits.

The "Forest Gump" quote about "you never know what you're gonna get" comes into play here. Fruits from boards 8 thru / including the kill screens are entirely random.

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THE PATH TO VICTORY

With 141 stages of action in Abdners game, I will focus on the highlights.

Boards 1 thru 7 - Abdner achieves the perfect score at the end of stage 7 with 120,760 points. He has eaten all the dots and ghosts, and the last of the predictable fruits has appeared. From now on in the fruits are random.

Board 8 - What a great start !! Abdner receives two bananas this stage and keeps the perfect game going to finish with 145,340 points. However, the reality is that this already is a rare game...with the odds of 1-in-7 for a banana fruit to appear, twice would be 1-in-49 games. With over 200 fruits to go, logically this random streak must come to an end.

Board 16 - The next to the last stage where the ghosts turn "blue" after "Ms Pacman" runs over an energizer dot. Abdner finishes the board with a score of 284,220points which includes all ghosts eaten and six (6) banana fruits worth 5,000 points apiece.

Board 21 - This is a very tough stage. You move much slower than before, and some "Pacman" players to date are humbled by this difficult stage. Abdner makes it thru without a loss of life. Abdner's score is 321,260 points after the stage is completed.

Boards 26 thru 53 inclusive - Some of the worst fruit distribution luck imagineable. Abdner receives only three (3) banana fruits out of 56 fruits for these 28 stages. Even Abdner was heard saying "Come ON !!"at some point, expressing his personal annoyance at this run of bad luck.

Boards 51 thru 53 - Very bad luck here !! From the 2nd fruit in board 51 thru the last one in 53, Abdner receives as his bonus fruits four (4) 100 point cherries and one (1) 200 point strawberry.

Boards 64 thru 66 - More bad luck here. From the 2nd fruit in board 64 thru the last one in 66, Abdner receives as his bonus fruits three (3) 100 point cherries, one (1) 200 point strawberry, and one (1) 500 point orange. When combined with the last "mini-drought" from boards 51 thru 53, ten fruits totalling only 1,600 points were awarded. This is a classic reason why no player knows what their final score will be. You can start off with a bang or a whimper, still reach the kill, and be unable to know your final score until you actually finish the game.

Boards 78 thru 81 - This series of four "Chase" boards was among the most point-productive for Abdner. In the eight (8) fruits awarded, he received four (4) bananas, something he had not done since boards 6 thru 9 when you are guaranteed to receive two in board 7.

Board 84 - "Damn" !! Yes, folks, "Ms Pacman" can get very intense even when in the experienced hands of a master-class player like Abdner. Here, near the beginning of this "Junior" board, the ghosts broke pattern and all at Abdner at once, two covering each of the tunnels heading towards the lower right quadrant, and two from the middle and lower right. He had little time to devise an escape strategy after seeing what was happening evolving a few seconds before it would be too late. Five seconds later and he would be home free, but a less-than-experienced player would have lost a life at this point, providing they even got this far into the game, that is.

Boards 90 thru 93 - Still more bad luck here. From the 2nd fruit in board 90 thru the last one in 92, Abdner receives as his bonus fruits two (2) 100 point cherries, two (2) 200 point strawberries, and one (1) 500 point orange. Interesting how three times thus far a string of five low-value fruits occurred back-to-back starting with the second fruit of a set of four similar-maze pattern stages, and ended within the same set pattern !!

Board 91 - Abdner's toughest challenge this game. He got a little too close to the ghosts AND they broke pattern. They gave chase to him in this "Junior" stage for a good minute or so before he managed to shake them off, but until he did, using a combination of tactics, things looked grim as the ghosts were hot on his trail. I spoke with Chris Ayra about this, and he said that this illustrates why no matter how good you are at the game, every now and then the ghosts can behave differently and make clearing, or rather surviving, a stage quite difficult.

Boards 98 thru 101 - Although not as point-productive as boards 78 thru 81, Abnder received more high-value fruits here than any other board set except 6 thru 9 which guaranteed two bananas and two pears. Here, Abdner gets no fruit lower than the value of a pretzel (700 points) which is very unusual, and the player of course won't be opposed to this !! His distribution for this set of eight fruits is two (2) each of bananas, pears, apples and oranges which totals +17,400 points. In boards 78 thru 81, the four (4) bananas alone were worth +20,000 points, which goes to show you how highly valued and significant the random banana is worth, especially at end-game as you shall soon see in this recap.

Board 108 - Bar none, this was Abdner's most difficult stage this entire game. Now, I know this as of right now, but he had no idea until it was all over whether the game would throw him another similiar problem.

Here, just like in Board 91, the ghosts broke pattern, only this time at a very disadvantageous position. Abdner is forced to radically abandon his usual pattern and prematurely use the upper left energizer defensively. After escaping the clutches of the ghosts which gave him quite a determined chase, he had to think about the best way to handle the dots in the difficult remaining positions on the board. Ultimately he became trapped at the top of the screen with less than ten or so dots to go, and loses his first life.

If he was disappointed, I didn't hear it. For those who know Abdner's personal play style, he is among the quietest of the master-class gamers, rarely expressing emotion or frustration, a trait most visible when he is playing "Robotron" and merely shrugs off an unexpected game death at tournament settings when he's well over the 500K mark.

Board 111 - For only the second time this game, Abdner registered audible reaction to the what the game was dishing out. The first was early on in board 42 when he said "C'mon !!" after a less than fruitful (pun intended) array of fruits was awarded after quite a few stages (just two bananas and two pears going back to board 25).

Here, Abdner must have been exhausted and sighed a bit as he entered the stage. I must admit, most players don't live long enough at this game to appreciate the mental battle of dealing with 134 or more boards. Abdner was "only" in stage 111, something less than 1% of all "Ms Pacman" players will ever be able to say they've done, and he knew he had a minimum of 23 more boards to go. About 80% of the work now done, he would soon enter "end game" but still needed to get there... and anything could happen along the way.

Board 125 - Nearly at the end of the game, and still on his 2nd life, the game throws Abnder for another loop. Before the first fruit came out, the ghosts all apparently converged on Abnder. Whether expected or not, and I suspect most likely not, this forced Abdner to the bottom right energizer for defensive purposes. After eating it, he quickly parked himself into a "safe spot" to the right side of the bottom middle divider, and paused for a moment or two as he devised the best way to handle the balance of the stage. This time he succeeded.

Board 130 - A routine stage, except at the very end. Abdner holds up three fingers, signifying three stages until the "kill screen". Always the quite type, that signal does all the talking he needs.

Board 131 - Same here, the board is routinely finished, and now two fingers are held up. Not much more now. Abdner finishes the board with 874,000 points which is just about what Chris Ayra's world record from 20 years ago was. Abdner still has two stages to go before the "kill screen", and in order to beat the world record he needs about 46,000 points which is more than possible in just three stages. In fact, the most he can expect at this point is another +12,500 per stage assuming he is awarded two bananas per stage in each stage.

Board 133 - One stage from the kill, and the game is not done yet with throwing him a few fast ones. In the middle of clearing the board, the ghosts break pattern. Abdner reacts quickly and defensively, running to the nearby upper right energizer, but this is still not enough this time, and he is herded, literally towards the top left energizer. Already way off his normal pattern, he is left with a veritable mess of dots to deal with. And if that wasn't enough, the game spits out a mere 100 point cherry fruit to add further insult to injury. But Abdner's a pro... doesn't let that phase him for a moment, at least not audibly or physically, and finishes the stage with 880,780. Next stage is the "kill screen", and this is where no player fully can predict what happens next.

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THE "KILL SCREEN"

When a "Ms Pacman" player clears the 133rd board, the next board is widely regarded as a "kill screen". The game has the potential to award a board where the screen is upside down, and the visual location of where the tunnels are does not match where the player actually needs to be moving in order to eat the dots, and avoid the ghosts. Most players find this to be disconcerting to watch, even when seeing a master-class player execute the moves.

However, due to the extreme random factor of "Ms Pacman", the game can award 1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 "kill screens". Once a player has been awarded four and is given a fifth, no one seems to remember seeing a game at this point come to an end after 5, 6 or 7 boards. Bottom line is, once you get the 5th "kill screen" board, you inevitably seem to get three more.

At a minimum of approx 2,700 points per stage (about 2,500 in dots and, assuming you get both fruits, a minimum of 200 more points from the fruits). Thus, a full-compliment of eight (8) "kill screens" would mean a minimum of +21,000 points for Abdner... definitely giving him a 900,000 point game. And with the banana worth a whopping 5,000 points, you can see now how extremely important this fruit can be, even when the game is nearing it's conclusion.

Most "kill screen" games that exceed 900K tend to comprise of at least 3 or 4 "kill screen" boards, by the way. This is what I remember Darren Harris telling me way back in May or 2000 or 2001 at Funspot.

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END GAME

Board 134 (1st "Kill Screen") - This is a "Chase" board maze pattern, and the screen is not upside down. This automatically tells Abdner that he will have at least one more board and the related points to attempt. He is awarded two low value fruits here, and finishes with 884,160 points, a very high score indeed, and with a chance to be much higher depending on the fruit(s) awarded.

Board 135 (2nd "Kill Screen") - Still no upside-down board, and starting to shape up to be a possible 900K game. Near the bottom right of the board, Abdner must abandon pattern as the red ghost breaks off and starts to give chase. No problem, though, and he deals with this quickly and efficiently.

Board 136 (3rd "Kill Screen") - Again, no upside-down board. What luck !! And if the luck held out, if the next two stages were also not upside-down, Abnder knew that a 900K game was in the bag. A 500 point orange pushes him past the 890,000 mark and he finishes the board with 892,820 points.

Board 137 (4th "Kill Screen") - Abdner's luck is holding out. Still no upside-down board, and he has probably a 1-in-3 chance that the next stage will also be normal, in which case his game score will go into the stratosphere. Mid-board the ghosts start giving him a minor headache, but his patience and avoidance skills are rewarded with a valuable 5,000 point banana which is very welcome at this point in his game. In fact, he is given a second banana in this board, and soars past the 900,000 mark, finishing with 905,400 points. Now... only one more bit of luck is needed.

Board 138 (5th "Kill Screen") - OUTSTANDING !! No upside-down board, and this virtually guarantees, based on all previous knowledge of "kill screen" attempts, that he will have three MORE boards after this. Abdner can quickly calculate that his game, if he does not lose it at this point, will finish in the 915,000 point-plus range, well within striking distance of the world record. And with eight (8) fruits to go, anything can happen.

This stage, he is awarded a decent array of fruits...a pretzel for 700 points, and a pear for 2,000 points. According to Bill Mitchell and Chris Ayra, the game tends to be very stingy at the "kill screen" boards, especially in eight (8) screen games, which both had previously experienced. Abdner finishes this board with 910,640 and a definite chance at finishing his game with another nearly 8,000 points if all went well, at a minimum.

By the way, these last four stages are the "Junior" pattern.

Board 139 (6th "Kill Screen") - A routine clearance, but it was Abdner's rare reactions to the fruits that made this stage memorable. The first awarded was a minimum-value cherry worth 100 points. I had to turn the sound way up on my TV to make out a barely audible "Ugh !!" or something to that effect. But he must have been pleased with the second fruit... a pear worth 2,000 points. Not quite a banana, but he won't complain. This pushes his score to 915,280 points and two stages to go. A quick mental calculation would tell him that with a chance for +2,780 per stage or a total of +5,560 points, that would put him right up there with Chris Ayra's world record performance, slightly edging him out. But I'm not sure Abnder did this calculation while playing, though I am sure he knew he would be close.

Board 140 (7th "Kill Screen") - At the very beginning of the stage, Abdner almost buys the farm on this life in the tunnels, but battles it out to finish with 918,520 points after being awarded a 200 point strawberry and a 500 point orange. Not great, but at least better than cherries !! Only one board to go now.

Board 141 (8th "Kill Screen") - END GAME !!

At the beginning of the stage, and before the first fruit appeared, Abdner was having a tough time grouping the ghosts together. Took him quite a few attempts, but perseverance pays off. A 200 point strawberry pushes him past the 919K mark, and with a lot of dots left, a 921K game is guaranteed. The question is how much over 921K... so long as he didn't lose the game, but with two lives in reserve, he knew better than that.

Abdner was in the high 920K range with 920,700 and he knew he was already past Chris' score. And, with one fruit to go, Abdner did something that took me by surprise... he actually sounded excited at the premise of maybe a 5,000 point banana being the next fruit. As it turns out, the final fruit was the very basic, and minimal point value, cherry. No matter. His final score would be a shade over 921,000 points, and as it turns out, he beat the previous world record by more than 1,000 points, and regardless of the "woud have, could have" moment when the value of the last fruit had yet to be determined, Abdner was the new world champion on one of the most celebrated classic arcade video games of all time.

BOARD-BY-BOARD RECAP

Code:
                                               Total     Total
Board  Fruit (1)  Fruit (2)  Dots   Ghosts     Stage     Cume

1       100        100      2,400   12,000     14,600    14,600
2       200        200      2,400   12,000     14,800    29,400

3       500        500      2,600   12,000     15,600    45,000
4       700        700      2,600   12,000     16,000    61,000
5     1,000      1,000      2,600   12,000     16,600    77,600

6     2,000      2,000      2,580   12,000     18,580    96,180
7     5,000      5,000      2,580   12,000     24,580   120,760
8     5,000      5,000      2,580   12,000     24,580   145,340
9     1,000        100      2,580   12,000     15,680   161,020

10      700        500      2,540   12,000     15,740   176,760
11      500        100      2,540   12,000     15,140   191,900
12      700      5,000      2,540   12,000     20,240   212,140
13      100        100      2,540   12,000     14,740   226,880

14      700      5,000      2,580   12,000     20,280   247,160
15    5,000        700      2,580   12,000     20,280   267,440
16    2,000        200      2,580   12,000     16,780   284,220
17    5,000        700      2,580        0          8,280   292,500

18      200        100      2,540   12,000     14,840   307,340
19    2,000      2,000      2,540        0      6,540   313,880
20    1,000      1,000      2,540        0      4,540   318,420
21      200        100      2,540        0      2,840   321,260

22    2,000        500      2,580        0      5,080   326,340
23      500        200      2,580        0      3,280   329,620
24    5,000        500      2,580        0      8,080   337,700
25    5,000        100      2,580        0      7,680   345,380

26      200        100      2,540        0      2,840   348,220
27      500        700      2,540        0      3,740   351,960
28    2,000        700      2,540        0      5,240   357,200
29    1,000        500      2,540        0      4,040   361,240

30      100        700      2,580        0      3,380   364,620
31      100        700      2,580        0      3,380   368,000
32      700      2,000      2,580        0      5,280   373,280
33      200        500      2,580        0      3,280   376,560

34      500        100      2,540        0      3,140   379,700
35    5,000        200      2,540        0      7,740   387,440
36      200        500      2,540        0      3,240   390,680
37      500        500      2,540        0      3,540   394,220

38      200        200      2,580        0      2,980   397,200
39      100      5,000      2,580        0      7,680   404,880
40      200        700      2,580        0      3,480   408,360
41      500        100      2,580        0      3,180   411,540

42      500        200      2,540        0      3,240   414,780
43    1,000        200      2,540        0      3,740   418,520
44      500        500      2,540        0      3,540   422,060
45      700      5,000      2,540        0      8,240   430,300

46    2,000        500      2,580        0      5,080   435,380
47      700        100      2,580        0      3,380   438,760
48    1,000        100      2,580        0      3,680   442,440
49      100      2,000      2,580        0      4,680   447,120

50      500      2,000      2,540        0      5,040   452,160
51      700        100      2,540        0      3,340   455,500
52      200        100      2,540        0      2,840   458,340
53      100        100      2,540        0      2,740   461,080

54    2,000      5,000      2,580        0      9,580   470,660
55      100      1,000      2,580        0      3,680   474,340
56      200        700      2,580        0      3,480   477,820
57    1,000        500      2,580        0      4,080   481,900

58    5,000        200      2,540        0      7,740   489,640
59    5,000      2,000      2,540        0      9,540   499,180
60      100        200      2,540        0      2,840   502,020
61    2,000      2,000      2,540        0      6,540   508,560

62      100        100      2,580        0      2,780   511,340
63      700        100      2,580        0      3,380   514,720
64    1,000        100      2,580        0      3,680   518,400
65      200        500      2,580        0      3,280   521,680

66      100        100      2,540        0      2,740   524,420
67    5,000        200      2,540        0      7,740   532,160
68    1,000      1,000      2,540        0      4,540   536,700
69      500      5,000      2,540        0      8,040   544,740

70    1,000        700      2,580        0      4,280   549,020
71      200      2,000      2,580        0      4,780   553,800
72    2,000        200      2,580        0      4,780   558,580
73    2,000        700      2,580        0      5,280   563,860

74    2,000        200      2,540        0      4,740   568,600
75      200      1,000      2,540        0      3,740   572,340
76      200        200      2,540        0      2,940   575,280
77      100      1,000      2,540        0      3,640   578,920

78      500        100      2,580        0      3,180   582,100
79    5,000      5,000      2,580        0     12,580   594,680
80    1,000        200      2,580        0      3,780   598,460
81    5,000      5,000      2,580        0     12,580   611,040

82      700        100      2,540        0      3,340   614,380
83      200        500      2,540        0      3,240   617,620
84      500        500      2,540        0      3,540   621,160
85    5,000        700      2,540        0      8,240   629,400

86      500      2,000      2,580        0      5,080   634,480
87      200        500      2,580        0      3,280   637,760
88    5,000      5,000      2,580        0     12,580   650,340
89      500        200      2,580        0      3,280   653,620

90    2,000      1,000      2,540        0      5,540   659,160
91      500        100      2,540        0      3,140   662,300
92      200        200      2,540        0      2,940   665,240
93      700        500      2,540        0      3,740   668,980

94      200      5,000      2,580        0      7,780   676,760
95    2,000        500      2,580        0      5,080   681,840
96      200      5,000      2,580        0      7,780   689,620
97      100      5,000      2,580        0      7,680   697,300

98    2,000        700      2,540        0      5,240   702,540
99    1,000      5,000      2,540        0      8,540   711,080
100   1,000      5,000      2,540        0      8,540   719,620
101   2,000        700      2,540        0      5,240   724,860

102     500        500      2,580        0      3,580   728,440
103     500      1,000      2,580        0      4,080   732,520
104     200        200      2,580        0      2,980   735,500
105     700      5,000      2,580        0      8,280   743,780

106     200      2,000      2,540        0      4,740   748,520
107     100        500      2,540        0      3,140   751,660
108     700        100      2,540        0      3,340   755,000
109     200        700      2,540        0      3,440   758,440

110     500      1,000      2,580        0      4,080   762,520
111   1,000        200      2,580        0      3,780   766,300
112     700        100      2,580        0      3,380   769,680
113     100        200      2,580        0      2,880   772,560

114     500      2,000      2,540        0      5,040   777,600
115     500        700      2,540        0      3,740   781,340
116     200        200      2,540        0      2,940   784,280
117     200      5,000      2,540        0      7,740   792,020

118     100      5,000      2,580        0      7,680   799,700
119   2,000        100      2,580        0      4,680   804,380
120     100      5,000      2,580        0      7,680   812,060
121     700      5,000      2,580        0      8,280   820,340

122   1,000      2,000      2,540        0      5,540   825,880
123     100      2,000      2,540        0      4,640   830,520
124     100        700      2,540        0      3,340   833,860
125     700        200      2,540        0      3,440   837,300

126   2,000      2,000      2,580        0      6,580   843,880
127   5,000        700      2,580        0      8,280   852,160
128   2,000        700      2,580        0      5,280   857,440
129     700        500      2,580        0      3,780   861,220

130   2,000        200      2,540        0      4,740   865,960
131   5,000        500      2,540        0      8,040   874,000
132     100        500      2,540        0      3,140   877,140
133   1,000        100      2,540        0      3,640   880,780

134     200        500      2,580        0      3,280   884,060
135     100      2,000      2,580        0      4,680   888,740
136     500      1,000      2,580        0      4,080   892,820
137   5,000      5,000      2,580        0     12,580   905,400

138     700      2,000      2,540        0      5,240   910,640
139     100      2,000      2,540        0      4,640   915,280
140     200        500      2,540        0      3,240   918,520
141     200        100      2,540        0      2,840   921,360

Next, some background on the 1 million point dream, followed by
some cool statistics

********************************************

THE MILLION POINT DREAM

Even though the fruit distribution is random, the experts to this day discuss the outcomes of the many "kill screen" games to date. After all, as much as they know about this title, there might still be a nuance or two that might prove instrumental towards attaining a higher score.

The last frontier on this title is "fruit manipulation", a concept that may be a pipe dream, or which may very well be the key to a "Holy Grail" of video gaming...attaining a score of 1 million points on "Ms Pacman".

Experts have contended that if everything goes right, and the fruit distribution is about as perfect as they can expect, then they envision a possible score of maybe 1.003 million points as being possible under normal conditions on classic "Ms Pacman". And if you think that all it will take is just a few more bananas, think again. In twenty three years, only two (2) scores of over 920,000 points have been logged on the classic version of the title, separated by barely 1,000 points.

Perhaps this will illustrate things better. There are seven active "kill-screen" capable players. The average complete game takes +/- 5 hours to complete. Now suppose each plays the game to completion once per week. That's just 350 or so attempts per year. Considering that I previously stated how rare it was to encounter all eight "kill screens", perhaps a 1-in-100 or even greater chance of happening, and how you've seen from Abdner's recap how important every point is, then you're not really looking at too many attempts per year that stand half a chance at breaking the new world record by a healthy margin, or even tying it for that matter.

Further, and this is the stark reality of the 1 million point dream, assuming the above players each play once daily for fifty years each, then the number of total "kill screen" games...asuming every game reaches the "kill screen", mind you, as sometimes they do not...that's still only about 10,000 lifetime game attempts that have the potential for a 1 million points, between the active players. Not much considering the odds of getting 1 million are much, much higher than that.

To put this into perspective, it takes a multi-million chance to hit the lottery. If only a single person played, that's not much of a chance, but as millions are playing, odds are that sooner or later, someone will win, either this drawing or the next. Well, in "Ms Pacman", over a fifty year stretch, maybe 10,000 such chances will have existed...and that assumes (A) that every attempt reached the kill, and (B) that these players even bother to play once daily, each for fifty straight years. Most likely they won't. But like the lottery, you have to be in it to win it, so the more cumulative "kill screen" games are played, the greater the chance that one of these skilled players may pull it off...or at least come reasonably
close.

The 1 million point dream may one day happen, or it may not. Chris Ayra once said that if someone ever reached a million points, including himself, he would stop playing. After all...once the dream is reached, the odds of it happening twice in a lifetime are beyond astronomical.

And one last important note before I provide the statistics. Someone once trumpetted on the Twin Galaxies forum that a "perfect game" on this title could be nothing less than getting a banana fruit in every stage, in addition to eating every ghost and dot, and probably on top of that getting all eight "kill screens".

It is the official position of Twin Galaxies that this is not what constitutes a "perfect game" on this title. It cannot happen. Ever. If you programmed a million computers to do nothing but play four (4) "kill screen" games daily, while getting every ghost, dot and fruit, then you still have the following odds to deal with.

-> Odds of getting eight (8) "kill screens" - at least 1 in 100 or so, maybe more

-> Odds of getting a single banana after the 7th board - 1-in-7...the true odds tend to be more like a banana coming up less than 14% of the time each fruit, but for illustrative purposes, let's stick with 1-in-7 for now

-> Odds of getting a banana in both fruits of board 8 alone - 1-in-49

-> Odds of getting bananas in each of the boards 8 thru 141 - well, take the odds of 1-in-49 and multiply them by 1-in-49 for each of the 134 boards after the 7th. Trust me...it's a pretty big number with more zeros than there might even be a name for

-> Next, divide that by the same million computers playing four (4) times a day thru the "kill screen", sometimes getting awarded 1 "kill screen", rarely getting awarded all eight

-> Bottom line, even under these circumstances, the odds of it happening are astronomical

That being said, the players generally feel that a 1 million point game is possible, and it is that goal that keeps them going, for the minute that one of them hits this magic mark, it is fair to say that no one will ever be able to do so again. And that's why it is possibly the "Holy Grail" of classic arcade gaming.

Okay, time for some statistics.

********************************************

STATISTICS

Although no one has ever formally kept a permanent log of all "kill screen" fruit distributions to date, for analysis purposes, we may as well start with Abdner's game and take it from there.

Okay, the recap is that there are 134 guaranteed screens in a game, if you can make it that far, with the possibility of 141 in total. Abdner did 141. And the fruits are "set" for the first 7 boards, so the following data primarily covers boards 8 thru the "kill screen".

For starters, here is his fruit distribution for boards 8 thru 141. If you want to calculate for the entire game, simply add 2 to each of the fruit counts, covering the first 7 boards.

47 for 17.54% of total fruits - Cherry (100 points)
47 for 17.54% of total fruits - Strawberry (200 points)
45 for 16.79% of total fruits - Orange (500 points)
34 for 12.69% of total fruits - Pretzel (700 points)
24 for 08.96% of total fruits - Apple (1,000 points)
34 for 12.69% of total fruits - Pear (2,000 points)
37 for 13.81% of total fruits - Banana (5,000 points)

As you can see, the game is bottom-heavy when it comes to fruit distribution. You would think that the average fruit would be the "pretzel" but that would be incorrect. The game has a consistent severe tendency to award lower-value fruits, and further, it tends to skimp on awarding one or two fruits in particular no matter whose game is being played. Keep in mind that the distribution is random, and another "kill screen" game may vary, though not widely.

Next, I thought it might be interesting to chart out the occurrances of how often each fruit occurs first as opposed to last, and what the awarded second fruit for that stage was, to see if any pattern is discernible, but at the very least to allow experts to disceminate the data. Here is what I have found...

(A) Which fruit appears first (boards 8 thru 141)

200 as 1st - 26
500 as 1st - 21
100 as 1st - 21
2000 as 1st - 18
700 as 1st - 17
5000 as 1st - 16
1000 as 1st - 15

(B) Which fruit appears second (boards 8 thru 141)

100 as 2nd - 26
500 as 2nd -23
5000 as 2nd - 21
200 as 2nd - 21
700 as 2nd - 18
2000 as 2nd -16
1000 as 2nd - 9

Each set adds up to 134 boards (8 through 141)

Of these 134 stages, I also thought it might be interesting to note how many of each combination of fruits per stage there were (i.e. banana and apple, two pears, etc). The data below is regardless of which order the two fruits came in on any given stage, so if, say, stage 6 was banana then strawberry, and stages 61 and 128 were strawberry then banana, that's three (3) stages of a strawberry/banana combination.

There are twenty eight (28) combinations of two fruits under these conditions. Seven (7) with a cherry and another fruit, six (6) with a strawberry and a fruit other than a cherry, all the way to a single combination of two bananas.

You never know how an expert can take such data and learn from it, so this is for any serious player's benefit.

100 100 4
100 200 7
100 500 7
100 700 9
100 1,000 2
100 2,000 9
100 5,000 5

200 200 5
200 500 10
200 700 4
200 1,000 4
200 2,000 6
200 5,000 6

500 500 4
500 700 5
500 1,000 5
500 2,000 6
500 5,000 3

700 700 0
700 1,000 1
700 2,000 7
700 5,000 9

1,000 1,000 2
1,000 2,000 2
1,000 5,000 2

2,000 2,000 3
2,000 5,000 2

5,000 5,000 5

Some surprises, I think !! Mind you, this is based on Abdner's game and the results may vary with every performance, especially since Abdner was awarded all 8 "kill screens". However, all comparative analysis must start somewhere, so here goes.

11.9% - Both of the fruits that Abdner was awarded were valued at 1,000 points or higher (over the median 700 point pretzel), even though statistically such combinations of fruits make up 21.4% of the 28 possibilities.

58.2% - At least one fruit awarded to Abdner was valued at 1,000 points or higher. Statistically, such combinations represent 64.3% of the 28 possibilities.

27.6% - Both of the fruits awarded to Abdner were valued at 500 points or less (under the median 700 point pretzel). Statistically, such combinations represent only 4.5% of the 28 possibilities.

As you can see, mathematical statistics of what fruits should be awarded are most definitely not reflective of what fruits actually are awarded. This holds true with nearly every reported "Ms Pacman" game to date that has reached the "kill screen".

The most startling results, which clearly support master-class players' assessments that the game's fruit allocation percentage is "stingy", is the disparate ratio which indicates that 2-fruit (pair) combinations per wave statistically should occur 4.5% of the time, yet in Abdner's game they were encountered 27.6% of the time (waves 8 thru 141). In my opinion, this differential is too great to be an anomoly. It is simply a fact that all "kill screen" capable players must deal with in their full game scoring expectations.

Statistically, every fruit should be valued at 1,357 points, or the sum of the values of all seven (7) fruits divided by seven. So for boards 8 thru 141, the 268 fruits should have been worth in total 363,714 points or so. In Abdner's performance, the fruits through these stages were worth a cumulative total of 337,600 points, a little below the statistical average.

I'd like to think that the average complete "kill screen" performance would come to a reasonable percentage of the 363,714 points, but Abdner's game was only 92.8% of the statistical average for these boards. Once again, statistics may not apply to the game "Ms Pacman". For if they did, in theory, every "kill screen" game of eight (8) "kill screens" would have been approx +26,100 points more than what Abdner attained (363,700 less 337,600), and Abdner's score would have been closer to 947,600 points.

That being said, with so much apparently working against the player, it appears that a million point score is going to be the "Holy Grail" of classic arcade video gaming for a ver, very long time !!

One more set of statistics, and then some afterthoughts.

For Boards 10 through 141, the stages which represent full sets of the two different mazes and which do not include Fixed-value fruits awarded (i.e. boards 6 and 7 will always be pears and bananas), I though it might be interesting to see one more number...which of the two mazes tended to award the highest point value fruits in Abdner's game.

Boards 10 thru 141 comprise of seventeen (17) 4-maze "Junior" pattern boards, and sixteen (16) 4-maze "Chase" pattern boards. Logically, the sum of the fruits awarded in the "Junior" boards should slightly exceed those awarded in the "Chase" boards. Interestingly, this was not the case in Abdner's performance. Not even close.

140,800 - points awarded in "Junior" mazes (68 boards from 8 thru 141)
185,700 - points awarded in "Chase" mazes (68 boards from 8 thru 141)

That's some difference !! And now for the fruit breakdowns...that would be 132 boards (141-9), with 136 "Junior" fruits (17*4*2) and 128 "Chase" fruits (16*4*2).

Junior

100 25
200 27
500 24
700 17
1,000 13
2,000 18
5,000 12

GT 136

Chase

100 21
200 20
500 20
700 18
1,000 10
2,000 16
5,000 23

GT 128

Clearly, the "Junior" maze sequences in Abdner's game awarded lower valued fruits. I wonder if this holds true for all "Ms Pacman" attempts that reach the "kill screen".

Okay, enough statistics already, let's wrap things up !!

********************************************

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Wow...didn't think I wrote that much. Really !! But when a new world record on a classic arcade title like "Ms Pacman" is set, it's such a rarity that going the extra distance is more than warranted.

Like sporting event records...fastest 100M, highest high jump, longest home run...eventually the world records on all video games reach a point where competitors sit back and marvel at just how much effort had to go into setting such a score. Can the effort be duplicated ? Can they themselves pick up the skillset and challenge the world's best scores?

One such record that is awaiting a new champion is Abdner's own "Junior Pacman" record of 1.550M... his personal unofficial record is well past the 3 million point mark, so until he makes it official, this one is within striking range for an interested and skilled player of the genre.

Sometimes, once a score is established, it is thought to be unbeatable, while other times it's just a matter of when. But on this particular title, there are so few players capable of setting the world record that this is an event you may not see happen again for a very long time. Of course it can happen even tomorrow, but odds are it won't. So, for the present, we at Twin Galaxies proudly proclaim Abdner Ashman as the NEW world champion at the classic arcade title "Ms Pacman", and wish him well in his future video game pursuits.

You've waited long enough for this score to be announced, and I am pleased to be the TG staff member to have written the accompanying article. Congratulations, Abdner, on behalf of Walter Day and the staff of the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, on a stellar achievement that is definitely one for the books.

Robert

If you'd like to join us in discussion on this absolutely phenomenal world record, please feel free to join us in the forums, here.