How does marathon gaming work?

spmahn

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When reading accounts of record holders, you often read about people who are able to sustain 40 or 50 or more hours of play on just one quarter. My question is, how does this type of marathon play work from a mechanical standpoint? I know on some games like Ms. Pac there are spots on the board where you can park and never get hit by ghosts so you can have time to piss and eat and what not, but how do people endure lengthy sessions of other games that don't have these exploits, or is it such that ALL games have these exploits that allow you to take a break?

Are there really people out there capable of foregoing eating and sleeping and bathroom breaks in order to endure a 55 hour Robotron session? Anyone have a clue? Shit, I'm only 24 years old and I can barely tolerate being awake for 13 or 14 hours before I get exhausted.
 
When reading accounts of record holders, you often read about people who are able to sustain 40 or 50 or more hours of play on just one quarter. My question is, how does this type of marathon play work from a mechanical standpoint? I know on some games like Ms. Pac there are spots on the board where you can park and never get hit by ghosts so you can have time to piss and eat and what not, but how do people endure lengthy sessions of other games that don't have these exploits, or is it such that ALL games have these exploits that allow you to take a break?

Are there really people out there capable of foregoing eating and sleeping and bathroom breaks in order to endure a 55 hour Robotron session? Anyone have a clue? Shit, I'm only 24 years old and I can barely tolerate being awake for 13 or 14 hours before I get exhausted.
you sleep WAY too much.
 
you sleep WAY too much.

I gotta agree with that. I'm 38, and my day starts at 6am and (hopefully) ends at midnight. I think I have actually had 8 hours of sleep in a night maybe a dozen times in the last 4 years. Before that, probably less. I think we all need to petition to get longer days; 24 hours is never enough.

Back on topic, I have no idea how they can play that long. I think I heard on Asteroids, they can walk away for quite a while since they can build up so many ships. Just need to get back before they are all gone.

If the kill screen bug were ever fixed on Donkey Kong, I think I would probably quit playing the game. The kill screen is a good goal to shoot for, and I think it takes close to 3 hours. I wouldn't want to play longer than that. I usually start losing focus after about 45 minutes, so I may never get that far anyway.
 
The 12 or 13 hour thing was really just an exaggeration. I have to be up at 5:30am to be at work for 7am. Sometimes I take a mid afternoon nap for like a half hour when I get home at 4, but usually I go to the gym or see my girlfriend and don't get back to sleep until around 11 or 12. Regardless, my question still remains...
 
I played Bubbles for 10.5 hours one time. Of course I was 13 or 14 at the time so it was not a problem.
I had enough men saved up that I could run to the bathroom at the arcade. Bubbles was up front by the entrance and the bathroom was way in the back.
I think someone brought me a sandwich from the deli next door and I could play while eating. :)
 
I think usually the games are planed and some one is there to help feed them and keep them awake. A namco guy I bought a game from said his brother use to be so good at Robotron that he could go out and take a smoke break and come back and play. He had that many men saved up.

I wonder how high a score could be achieved if there was Co-Op play. One person play for 8 to 10 hours then switch with someone else. Maybe have 2 or 3 really good players.
 
When I played Gravitar for 12 hours, I was lucky enough to do it at a Chuck E Cheese, way back when they had classic games. The manager provided me with all the pizza and pop and wanted.

Then when I needed to take a break (which I only did once I believe) I had over 100 lives saved up, and was able to put my ship in a pretty stable orbit, so I barely lost any guys while I was gone.

How someone could play a game like Star Wars for 24 hour straight is beyond me. I did hear that the last person to do it had a cathader installed to eliminate the need to eliminate, and started to hallucinate before it was all over.
 
I did hear that the last person to do it had a cathader installed to eliminate the need to eliminate, and started to hallucinate before it was all over.

That is fucking retarded! All for a damn high score. I could understand if it was for say...a million bucks or even ten grand,but to abuse your body like that all for the sake of having your name put up on a website run by goofballs or your name in the guinness book of world records for the high score for that particular game is beyond stupid.
 
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