Phil Younger is Goin' Berzerk
CA Native Breaks 25 Year Old World Record

San Jose, CA - When a 25-year-old arcade world record falls, the video game world takes notice. Such is the case with the 1980 arcade game Berzerk. On August 12, 2007 Phil Younger of Whittier, CA went to the 2007 California Extreme and decimated the long-standing world record on Berzerk. Phil's 304,570 point score nearly doubled the previous world record of 178,500 set in August of 1982. Phil was even fortunate enough to be able to have Walter Day himself as his witness! Phil is also the M.A.M.E. world record holder on the sequel to Berzerk, Frenzy.

Phil, who serves as the Twin Galaxies Contest Calendar Editor for Arcade, Pinball and M.A.M.E. Events stops and reflects on his gaming experiences with Twin Galaxies.

TG: Hi Phil, and thanks for taking the time to interview with Twin Galaxies. Tell us a bit about yourself.

PY: I work as a part time Gardener and have lived in Whittier most of my life.

TG:  When did you first start playing arcade games?

PY: There was an Arcade in Chula Vista called the Silver Cue. I started playing in the 1980's. They had the slow bullet ver. of Berzerk. Cinematronics, which was nearby, brought three games over to Silver Cue to test them.

TG: How did you first become involved with Twin Galaxies?

PY: I stopped playing video games in 1987 as the classics were almost gone and all they started making were the kung-fu and driving type games. In 2001, I found out about M.A.M.E., and then later Twin Galaxies and MARP.

TG: Tell us about some of the tournaments and competitions you've played in and what the results were.

PY: I played in the Silco West tournament and got to the second round. I played in Ron's Got M.A.M.E,? Challenge and got 49,000 points on my first man on Berzerk M.A.M.E.

TG: What was it like being at California Extreme 2007?

PY: It was a lot of fun being able to see a lot of other players play over 400 arcade games, including a few very rare ones.

TG: Who do you think was the best game player of the classic gaming era?

PY: I think Billy Mitchell is. He is the first person to do a perfect Pac-Man and has lots of #1's on other games.

TG: Tell us about your favorite memories from the Golden Age of Video Game Arcades.

PY: I remember playing some rare prototypes at the Silver Cue from Cinematronics including 2 versions of War of the Worlds. At SDSU there was an arcade nearby which also had some prototypes.
One of which was a Pacmania with different graphics than today’s game.

TG: Do you own any arcade or pinball games? If so, which ones?

PY: No, but I do have an Atari ST that is working.

TG: What kind of things do you do when you're not playing arcade games?

PY: I go to baseball games and listen to 80's music (favorite band is the B-52's).

TG: Are there any other games you think you could challenge for a world record on?

PY: I think I could try for one on Xybots.

TG: What do you see in the future for arcade games and arcade gamers?

PY: I see classics arcade games becoming more popular. At the CA over 200 arcade games were sold at auction and there seemed to be more people than last year.

TG: Phil, thanks so much for taking the time to interview with Twin Galaxies and for sharing your gaming experiences with us.