On Saturday, March 31, 2018, players of all levels came together at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Score Wars. Organized by Adam "doseone" Drucker, the event was meant to showcase retro gaming and bring the community together over a love of the classic arcade game Galaga. The main event for Saturday was an all-day Amateur Galaga tournament for all comers to attempt to qualify and throw down head-to-head in tough tournament play. Just a moment ago, the tournament came to an end. Santa Fe local Sherman Peterson came out on top against legacy retro gaming champion Daniel Rodriguez to take the 1st place in the $1,500 competition.
The compeition was a bracketed tournament in which players played Galaga in Tournament Mode on its highest difficulty. Players have five ships total and must score as many points as possible before losing all ships. In the Semifinals, Peterson and Rodriguez overcame their competitors to move on to the Finals. One the competitors, Maison Montgomery, who lost to Rodriguez in the Semifinals would drop down to a match against Travis Siemon in the "Battle for Bronze". Montgomery came out on top of that match up to take third place with a score of 362,160.
Meanwhile, Peterson and Rodriguez ascended to the final round. While Rodriguez played a calm and collected game, Peterson played aggressive and gained an early lead in the match. According to Peterson, practice got him there, but Tournament Mode was an altogether extraordinary experience.
"I've been playing Galaga since I was a teenager back in Silver City in the 1980s, but once I had found out about the tournament, I had been practicing a lot more," Peterson explaned. "I would play about two to three games per week at We Love Videogames in our local mall, but when I discovered the realities of Tournament Mode Galaga, I was humbled quickly."
Despite that shock, Peterson adjusted to overcome his opponents. Rodriguez was the first to drop a ship, allowing Peterson to turn a small lead into a large one quickly.
"My problem was that I kept changing strategies because I saw everyone around me elevating their game," Rodriguez claimed. "It's something I sometimes preach against, but I'm not sorry I did it because when it works, it works."
While Peterson pulled further ahead before losing his first ship, Rodriguez began to flounder. As he tried to adapt his game, Rodriguez unfortunately gave up ship after ship. By the end of his run, Rodriguez had put up 162,620. Meanwhile, Peterson kept his steam going. Well after Rodriguez was forced to concede at the loss of his final ship, Peterson pushed forward to a winning 391,400 points. It was a game well-played by Peterson.
"It took me back to the days when I was a teenager," Peterson professed. "I had to see how long I could make that quarter last. Of course getting better came with it, but the goal was playing as much game as possible. That's what happened here and I'm happy it paid off in the end."
Rodriguez was just happy to come this far. Despite being a retro gaming champion, known for records in games like Pole Position and Daytona USA, Rodriguez actually hadn't competed for some time.
"About 3 years ago, my father passed and I backed away from competition," Rodriguez explained. "My friend had qualified for Score Wars and he wanted me to be here for support. I wasn't going to compete at first, but I decided to give it a try. I found I still have fire in me and I can still put up a good game. For someone who wasn’t originally going to be in competition here, I snuck through the brackets and only lost to a better person. There's no harm in that."
With a gracious Rodriguez bowing out to second place, Sherman Peterson has the honor of claiming the golden accolade of becoming the Score Wars Amateur Galaga Champion. The official results and final match points are as follows. (bear in mind Montgomery lost to Rodriguez and overcame Sieman to take 3rd Place.)
1st Place: Sherman Peterson - 391,400 points
2nd Place: Daniel Rodriguez - 162,620 points
3rd Place: Maison Montgomery - 362,160 points
You can see the final bracketology and results of the tournament at Meow Wolf's official Amateur Tournament Bracket on Challonge.
The best is yet to come in Score Wars. Be prepared tomorrow as professional players face off in the Pro leg of the Score Wars Galaga World Championship. In the meantime, check out our Pro Tournament Preview with words from legends like Andrew Laidlaw, Phillip Day, Andrew Barrow, and more!
