Bored? Try playing 4,000 games.
by John Bardinelli 
{ Jul 10th 2007 at 11:00AM }
Twin Galaxies, the as-official-as-it-gets record keepers of the videogame realm, recently printed a revised edition of its Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. The tome details 4,000 arcade games with current high scores for each one. Gamer Rocky Howard is convinced many of those records are there simply because no one can be bothered to find the arcade machine to play (emulated game scores are not allowed). As a result, Rocky's new life goal is to play every game listed to see how "feasible the scores listed are", then seek out the arcade machines to have his name plastered throughout the book. The experiment began just over a month ago and Rocky is currently on his 14th game. At this rate it will take him over 25 years to work through everything, at which point finding the original machines will be about as easy as unearthing a t-rex femur with a spork in your backyard. But hey, gotta have a hobby, right?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Geoffrey @ Jul 10th 2007 11:15AM
"as easy as unearthing a t-rex femur with a spork in your backyard." = classic
horngreen @ Jul 10th 2007 1:24PM
WOW what a goal to set for yourself! Shoot him.
FSK405K @ Jul 10th 2007 11:55AM
It would be even more ironic if the guy flatout sucks at the games.
TooManyGames @ Jul 10th 2007 1:40PM
We've run numerous world record tournaments at Challenge Arcade (Reading, PA www.challengearcde.com), and I can say the scores in Twin Galaxies book are legit. If you've never watched actual gaming masters playing games you might not be willing to believe scores like 350,000,000 in Robotron or 1,000,000 in Donkey Kong are possible, but they are. Challenge Arcade's hosting another world record weekend in March 2008. If you get the chance, stop by the arcade to watch some of these amazing game players. We'll also probably be featuring a 3 day marathon game on either Q*Bert, Burgertime, or Mouse Trap (meaning one quarter, one game, 3 days). Definitely worth checking out. I have a video interview on YouTube from the last marathon attempt on Q*Bert. Check out toomanygames on YouTube.
Inch75Vox @ Jul 10th 2007 1:47PM
3 days? Do people tag out so they can hit the bathroom? Or do they just go 72 hours straight?
zero @ Jul 10th 2007 12:30PM
It is getting almost impossible to find certain old classics in arcades these days. It IS impossible to find pinball machines basically anywhere.
Anam @ Jul 10th 2007 12:59PM
I've seen quite a few pinball machines in various pizza places and such. Granted, they're all new variations, like "South Park Pinball," but they do exist.
I'm a little bit confused by new arcade machines though. Surely they no longer need to be that large just for one game. Why not create a jukebox-style arcade machine where you can select between dozens of games. Companies like Sega could easily re-release a bunch of their games on one machine.
I think arcade games could come back if anyone actually bothered to do it right.
Oh well, good luck to the guy in his crazy adventure.
Roxinos @ Jul 10th 2007 8:04PM
I take Speed Demos Archive over Twin Galaxies any day.
Ignatius @ Jul 10th 2007 8:19PM
Way to waste a perfectly good life.
Zack Katz @ Jul 11th 2007 10:34AM
"as easy as unearthing a t-rex femur with a spork in your backyard."
I actually wrote a story in third grade about a kid who unearthed a t-rex femur in his backyard. With a spork? No, but it was still fun to see!
joeyct @ Jul 11th 2007 12:06PM
a few years back i went to an arcade game auction in columbus, ohio. they had acrade/pinball machines from the 70's all the way up to recent ones. it was sweet too because you could play all the games you wanted for free before they eventually got auctioned off. the only catch was that you had to bring your own extension cord lol. i remember there being close to 500 different games there... something like that would probably be a better start than just seeking out all the games one by one.
Mitchell @ Jul 11th 2007 3:39PM
This reminds me of an idea I had when I was in high school. I was big into the original NES, and had the GREAT idea to rent and conquer every NES game ever made -- and create and give myself an award for the achievement.
I made the "award" (which I called "The Golden Sleeve"), but the idea got boring after about 20 games into the effort and I quietly dropped it when I realized that I should be spending more of my time studying.
ChampionofEverything+YourMom @ Jul 17th 2007 2:12PM
As far as arcade records go, if you're interested in the topic or arcade gaming AT ALL... you MUST, MUST, MUST GO SEE THE MOVIE, KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS. You'll be doing yourself a huge favor. It's the ultimate video game documentary.
See the trailer here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y6FTAbs0qeI