Pinball Hall of Fame - Las Vegas

Last weekend, I decide to go to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I didn't go there to play pinball, I went there to play Asteroids. I wanted to see how rusty I was at the game, having not really played in the last 24 years. My interest in Asteroids has been renewed, since my purchase of a PS1 console. I purchased \"The Atari Collection 1\" which has six great arcade hits, including Asteroids.

Back in the 1982, I put in a 40 hour Asteroids session. It was during this session that I reset the machine, 256/257 extra ships, at a score of 3,858,640.

I arrived at the Pinball Hall of Fame around 8:00 pm. with three quarters in my pocket. I put my first quarter in and was very rusty. I struggled to score a little over 100,000. I put the second quarter in with much of the same results. \"Last quarter\" I said to myself, just try your best its only been 24 years!.

I put my last quarter into the game, and started to play. All of a sudden, it was like a switch was turned on. Things started to click. It was all coming back to me now. I started to collect extra ship after extra ship. After about 1 1/2 hours of play, people would walk by the game and say \"look at all those extra ships\". At one point, I had a small crowd of people watching me. At first, it felt a little weird and I wasn't sure why.
Then one guy said to me, \"You have to be over 30 years old\". I replied, yep. Did you play back in the day, I asked him. He replied that Asteroids was on of his favorite games.

After about 3 hours of play, I had almost a complete screen of extra ships. It was getting late and that same guy was watching me play again. I turned to him and said, \"I have to take off, do you want to take over\". He thank me and said, \"I wasn't sure if I would get a chance to play tonight\". I laughed and said \"good luck\".

As I left the arcade, after a three hour session of Asteroids, I have to say I was beat. I was feeling a little motion sickness, but the really problem were my fingers. I couldn't move the fingers on my left hand. They were stiff. I also could barely move the fingers on my right hand. Still, all things considered, I just had a good time playing Asteroids.

I have given some thought of trying a marathon session of Asteroids sometime in 2007. Looks like I will have to put in a lot more training sessions.

Freeway Sessions 12-3-06

For the past month, I have been working on my Freeway scores. But as of late, I have been concentrating on 1B. (Atari 2600 console). I have also been trying to duplicate my runs on the PS1 platform.

After the chicken has crossed the road a few times, the same patterns keep repeating themselves. So, if you have memorized the patterns, all you have to do is \"execute\". There are a few instances where if you are off even a fraction of a second with a certain move, obtaining a max \"world record score\" is not possible.

Lately I have been stuck on a score of 36. But Dyancey gave me some words of encouragement, which motivated me to try and play my best. I still have not achieved my perfect score of \"38\", but I did improve to 37.

Thanks again bro!!!!!!!! 8)

Open Letter to Tom Duncan.................................

I now have the honor to say that I have beaten one of your world record scores. Just to let people know, if they think they can easily beat your scores, they can think again.

It took me quite some time, 4+ hours of practice, but I broken your space cavern game 35(a) for the atari 2600. Total 52,215.

I look forward to challenging more of your scores in the future. Specifically the driving game on the PS2 console. 8)

Originally Posted by cyberfly

Open Letter to Tom Duncan.................................

I now have the honor to say that I have beaten one of your world record scores. Just to let people know, if they think they can easily beat your scores, they can think again.

Thanks for the complement. Records are made to be broken, but it's nice to know that they don't fall easy.

Originally Posted by cyberfly

It took me quite some time, 4+ hours of practice, but I broken your space cavern game 35(a) for the atari 2600. Total 52,215.

Space Cavern is a fun game, but it sure can be frustrating around the 50,000 mark, as I'm sure you know. Or when they kill you and your next man is pinned in the corner and there goes the extra guys. A sad ending to what looks like a great game.

Originally Posted by cyberfly

I look forward to challenging more of your scores in the future. Specifically the driving game on the PS2 console. 8)

I do enjoy the PS2 driving games. Hopefully they will also give you a challenge.

The Test Drive: EOD times are very beatable. Most of which I can beat myself, but have just never gotten around to redoing them.

I think the Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec times are pretty fair over all, but only time will tell if my times are respectable.



Tom

More Freeway Sessions 1B

After analyzing my run of 37, I thought it might be possible to obtain a score of 38. I started taping and was taking a few warm up runs when everything starting coming together and I was having the perfect run.
But then I choked big time!!!!! I hit a car and I was two lanes short of a 38 score :x

Dejected, I decided to play on. But I wasn't even coming close. Thoughts ran through my head like \"will I ever come this close again?\". :twisted: \"I might have had my one chance and I blew it\" :evil:

But, I pressed on and finally I was able to score 38.

I will need a little break from this game for a while, it is starting to mess with my head :shock:

Pole Position - Atari 2600 & 7800

I have submitted the following scores:

Pole Position - Atari 2600 - 60,960.
Nine people have the same high score of 60,910. Could a perfect run be 61,000?????????

Pole Position - Atari 7800
Track Seaside - 74,650
Track Fuji - 74,400

Track Test - 74,750
Six people have the same high score of 74,550. Could a perfect run be 75,000?????????

Todd is in possesion of these tapes.

I also have Pole Position for the PS1 console. This is the arcade version.
It is on the cd Namco Museum 1. This will be the next pole position game I will try to complete. I did refill my medication so hopefully my PS1 controllers will be safe :?

THE SPACED OUT YEARS (1979 - 1984).

Flash back to the years 1979 - 1984. These years, for me, will forever be known as THE SPACED OUT YEARS.

I was 14 years old with no responsiblities or finanical obligations. I played video games every waking moment of the day. One could say that I was a video game addict. An addict devotes or surrenders (oneself) to something habitually or excessively.

I was either in the video arcade or in front of the television playing on the Atari 2600 console. Atari was something I did when the arcade wasn't open. The games were extremely easy and the graphics were horrible, compared to the arcade versions. But, back then, the Atari 2600 was cutting technology. And, I had to get my \"fix\" when the arcade was closed.

In the summer time, my daily routine was the same, get up around 8:00 am, shower, eat breakfast, play Atari until 10:30 am, then ride my bike to the game room. I would stay in the game room until 3:30 pm, then ride home for dinner, which was at 4:00 pm. After dinner I would ride back to the game room, stay until 9:00 pm and then come home. Often, I would then play Atari for a few hours until bedtime. The next day I would get up and repeat the process over and over, day after day.

Sometimes, my parents would want to do family things. They consisted of going out to dinner, or shopping at the mall. If we went out to dinner, the first thing I would do when I got to the resturant was scope out the place to see if the coat room was converted into a game room. Or I would go into the bar area and see if there were some video arcade games there. As soon as I ordered, I would leave the table and head for the games. I would then played until dinner arrived. After dinner I would then head back to the games until I parents tapped me on the shoulder to say that it was time to go back home.

If we were shopping at the mall, I would check it out for a game room, or I would at least go to Sears where I could play the console that they had on display. This sometimes caused a problem. I would be playing the console and there would be a big line behind me of kids waiting to play. Eventually the parents got tired of waiting and had to drag their kids out of the line. Or the parents who would call the store supervisor over and ask if there was a time limit or something. Other would just say \"why don't you give someone else a chance\".

That was my life back then..........SPACED OUT.

PS1 Console - Barnstorming

Barnstorming is a game that I never played way back when. Thought that I would give it a try since all the Activision game are on one cd. The controllers didn't pose that much of a problem for me. There are only two movements, up or down.

I will be submitting scores for the following:

1B - 33.14
2B - 50.47
3B - 52.80
4B - 1:12:52

PS1 Console - Activision Skiing

I did actually buy this cartridge when it came out back in the early 80's. Activsion had a \"Skiing Team\". To qualify you must run slalom course 3 (game 3) in under 28.2 seconds. If you break this time, send us a picture of the screen and we will enroll you as a member. And if you break 28 seconds, consider yourself Olympic caliber.

Somewhere I still have the patch they sent me :P

I have taped and will be submitting the following:

1B 32.85
2B 1:05:66
3B 28.06 (not Olympic caliver yet :x )
4B 47.24