The "Official" (Friendly) Battle of the Arcades Thread

Steve W

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The "Official" (Friendly) Battle of the Arcades Thread

Ken (Athometech) and myself have been hard at work (kind of), getting this ready for a March debut. While the tech details are ironed out by Ken (score submissions, streaming details, etc), I figured I would at least get the overall guidelines posted now that they are official so folks can plan ahead if they would like to participate. So without further adieu....

Battle of the Arcades Rules:

- You must have either 8, 9 or 10 players on your team

- ALL players MUST play EVERY game title and submit a score

- Your location must possess at least 8 of the tournament games in dedicated form, no more than 4 titles can be emulated either via "xx in 1" or MAME cabinets. Popular titles were chosen to aid in accommodating arcades meet this criteria.

- You are NOT ALLOWED to play one game for more than 1 HOUR. If you can play a title on the settings listed, for at least 45 minutes, your game should be timed. You should alert your team captain to accommodate this 1 hour timed game. As this contest will be done via honor system, this is the responsibility of the team itself to manage the games of its participants. For example, using a kitchen timer with an alarm set to 1 hour at start of game, etc.

- You must have the ability to stream from your location with at least one cam pointed on the overall arcade itself during tournament hours. Questions on streaming should be directed to Athometech.

- This tournament will take place on Saturday, March 24 2012, beginning at 12:00pm est and ending at 11:30pm est. No scores submitted before or after this time will be accepted.

- Please PM your arcade name and the names of your players (with captain) to: Steve W or AtHomeTech prior to March 1st along with the list of dedicated tournament games that will be onsite and a list of the games that you will need to emulate/how they will be played (MAME/xx in 1, etc).

- The following are the games and settings to be used for each game (it is the responsibility of the arcade to set these correctly using online resources for dips/options):

Centipede
Difficulty: Hard
3 Lives
Bonus Life @ every 12,000 Points
Special Rules: Use of spider trapping of any kind is not allowed

Donkey Kong
3 Lives
Bonus Life @ 7,000 Points

Frogger
5 Lives
Bonus Life @ 20,000 Points

Galaga
5 Ships
No Extra Ships
Difficulty: Rank D
No Rapid Fire Allowed
Special Rules: The trick to stop the enemies from firing is not allowed

Mario Bros
3 Lives
Bonus Life @ 20,000 Points
Difficulty: Medium

Moon Patrol
5 Patrol Cars
Bonus Car @ 10,000 Points

Ms. Pac Man Turbo
3 Lives
Bonus Life @ 10,000 Points

Pole Position
Game Time: 120 Seconds
Laps: 4
Practice Difficulty: "C" Rank
Extended Lap Difficulty: "G" Rank [75 - 51 - 57 - 61]

Robotron:2084
5 Lives
No Extra Lives
Difficulty: 5

Sinistar
3 Ships
First Extra Ship At: 30,000
Additional Extra Ship Points Factor: 30,000
Difficulty: 5
Continuous Fire: Yes
Special Rules: Use of the infinite life trick is not allowed

Track & Field
Difficulty: Normal
1 Event Loop. The game ends after the High Jump.
Special Rules: "Tool usage" of any kind to assist in game control is not permitted.

Zoo Keeper
3 Lives
Extra Life after every Escalator Stage
Novice Animal Speed: 39
Expert Animal Speed: 30
No Hit Mode: No
Special Rules: You may only land on the Top Platform Three times MAX during the Coconut Stage.



Ken will get everything together soon so you know how you will be posting scores, etc.

In the meantime, any questions related to these rules feel free to PM me or post here.
 
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Sinistar: using infinite life trick should not be allowed

Zookeeper: If I accidentally jump on the platform 4 times, how is my score counted?

Centipede: I don't even know what spider-trapping is, so if I accidentally do it, what happens?
 
Richie Knucklez Arcade Roster

If you have the list, also feel free to post your team:


Richie Knucklez Arcade Roster (in no particular order)

1. Steve Wagner (New Jersey): Mostly selected for his towel waving skills, Steve will use his dry wit and sarcasm to lull other teams into a false sense of security while his team carries him to victory.

2. Richie Knucklez (New Jersey): One of the all around good guys in the hobby and one of my best friends, if it has a gas pedal and a steering wheel, Richie will bring it to its knees. Widely considered one of the all time greats in the driving genre, it is rumored that many classic drivers that he has played have required rehabilitation as once they have been driven by him, they can no longer go back to being limited to the confines of normal speed and exhibit signs of severe withdrawal when being played by others. Along with dominating the racing scene, Richie is world class on such diverse all-time classic titles as Phoenix
and Space Invaders as he owns the WR on both.

3. Ben Falls (Pennsylvania): Regarded as one the very best classic competitive gamers on the scene, Ben is revered for being world class on many games that rank among the most popular of all time and therefore create the most competition. His ability to rise to master status on famous titles such as Donkey Kong, Popeye, Satan's Hollow, Centipede, Frogger, Moon Patrol and many, many others makes him without question one of the most elite active players.

4. Bryan Wagner (Pennsylvania): One of the all-time greats in classic gaming history, Bryan has compiled a laundry list of incredible achievements. You want Pac-Man? How about 3m+?, you want platform game skills? How about world class play on Dig Dug, Donkey Kong and the best to ever build a burger? Trackball you say? Bryan ranks among the best in the world on Centipede and Milipede. Throw in world class play on mid to late 1980's titles such as 1943 and the world record on the classic Rolling Thunder and you are starting to run out of obstacles to throw at him.

5. Sam Miller (Pennsylvania): A Ms.Pac/Galaga operator's worst nightmare, Sam has single handedly brought the headband back from obscurity. ZAZ_CAG as he is known as, also has a wide range of classic gaming skills he will be displaying during this event.

6. Mike Vacca (New Jersey): Aka - Big Mike, perhaps best known to folks as the Ed McMahon to Richie's Johnny Carson during his Arcade Culture shows, Mike also has put together a classic gaming resume of his own, having held both team arcade WRs on Double Dragon and Double Dragon 2 as well as the WR on the cult classic Leprechaun. Don't let that tough fighting game exterior fool you, however, Mike is just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet.

7. Bill Holmes (Pennsylvania): One of the funniest dudes in the history of planet Earth, Bill is also dynamite on a plethora of classic titles, including Moon Patrol (on which he has come within an earshot of 1 million), Tapper, Crystal Castles, Crossbow and Indiana Jones. He also hosts a local trivia challenge event and thus will possibly distract other teams with constant querying.

8. Hank Chien (New York): You might have heard of this guy, he's only the best plastic surgeon in the world!...oh and he plays Donkey Kong in his spare time a little bit. Film crews and mass media tend to follow Hank everywhere so we are expecting this event to finally get Hank recognized when he goes out in public.

9. George Leutz (New York): Inching ever so close to Q*Bert immortality, (who am I kidding, he is there), George has been in the news himself with his sadomasichistic Q*Bert marathon attempts. Folks might not realize however that George is a beast on a multitude of other classic titles as well, like Ladybug where he is in the 500k range and Crystal Castles where he has put up over 800k in tournament play. Watch out for George on the tourney scene!

10. Ed Palamar (New Jersey): Last but certainly not least, we are enlisting the services of Ed The Human Killscreen. In addition to somehow managing to kill the power in the Pacific Northwest during this event, Ed also has some classic gaming skills in his own right. Ed is still the only player I've ever seen put up 50k+ points on the insanely difficult Cosmic Avenger on the TG settings which to me is one of the most underrated verified scores around.
 
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Sinistar: using infinite life trick should not be allowed

Zookeeper: If I accidentally jump on the platform 4 times, how is my score counted?

Centipede: I don't even know what spider-trapping is, so if I accidentally do it, what happens?

Agreed on Sinistar (though I've never seen anyone be able to do it), I'll add it. As mentioned there is an honor system...you'll know how many times you leeched the top platform on ZK and it will eat away at your soul for eternity. There are several ways to trap the body of the Centipede to allow you to stay on one screen shooting the spider ad nauseum. This is not allowed and you would realize it, if it happened.
 
Regarding Centipede, what about spider hunting? That is, using the technique of deliberately leaving the centipede alone on the first screen (dodging it), and shooting spiders at will. Allowed?
 
Regarding Centipede, what about spider hunting? That is, using the technique of deliberately leaving the centipede alone on the first screen (dodging it), and shooting spiders at will. Allowed?

It's an honor system tournament, no one will be standing over someone's shoulder making sure they play Centipede straight up. However, as I know you to be a player who has competed on popularly contested titles and been quite successful, I would assume you would know if what you are doing is not in the spirit of the game. I would suspect others would follow suit. Above all this is meant to be fun, we're not playing for thousands of dollars, or even ten dollars. My one hope is that this becomes a fun, recurring event that is like an arcade party happening in various parts of the country at the same time.
 
West Coast Team so far..

John McAllister (Washington): Multiple world record holder and Funspot tournament placer

Bill Carlton (Oregon): STAR of the award winning documentary 'High Score'. Competitive gamer for many years, multiple live attempts to take the Missile Command world record.

Elijah Hayter (Oregon): The new kid on the block and the future of competive CAG gaming. With his first 48+hour marathon (on Track and Field no less) under his belt and an eye on the Nibbler Billion+ we all better watch out for this kid.

Matt 'BBH' Hall (Oregon): Multiple world record holder, mostly on MAME. Serious skills on any platform on any game. He's a ringer!

Dan Corcoran (Oregon): Fresh off his 900k+ Ms PAC Turbo score and Envision Arcade Dan is our local 'PAC' guy. He is also in a heated race to 1million on Centipede with John, Bill and Ross.

Sam McNear (Oregon): A local gaming legend BITD. The local scoreboards will all filled with SAM, KEN or MAK. His Million point list is comparable to anyone's and we are happy to have him!

Ross Benziger (Oregon): Ross... We love you Ross.

Ken House (Oregon): Former Dig Dug world record holder, co organizer, west coast host and streaming coordination for the event.

We have reached out to other west coast gamers like Dick Moreland, Hector "Fly" Rodriguez, Andrew Laidlaw, Steve Weibe and Perry Rogers. Anyone else on the west caost interested in competing let me know. We are hoping to make this a truly memorable event and the first of many VS events.

We may end up making more than 10 person teams if we get enough interest. As of now it is a one day event but I personally am not apposed to going two days to get the maximum bang for the buck for the travelers. We are really just out for FUN here.

More to come.
 
This competition needs a really shitty team in it.

Person A: Can play robotron for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Person B: Had made it to plants on Moon Patrol once
Person C: Injured himself putting a quarter in an arcade machine in 1987, and this is his first attempt since coming back.
Person D: Once watched someone finish Super Mario Bros at a Pizza Parlor on one quarter.
 
When you are stockpiling the teams with the best players in the world, how exactly is this "friendly"...? Sounds more like a serious competition. No one else is going to be able to put together a team even remotely competitive to these guys.
 
When you are stockpiling the teams with the best players in the world, how exactly is this "friendly"...? Sounds more like a serious competition. No one else is going to be able to put together a team even remotely competitive to these guys.

Nothing wrong with Silver ;-)
 
When you are stockpiling the teams with the best players in the world, how exactly is this "friendly"...? Sounds more like a serious competition. No one else is going to be able to put together a team even remotely competitive to these guys.

At least they picked the games none of them are good at. :D
 
At least they picked the games none of them are good at. :D

The only game on that list I am good at is Pole Position, (that of course only if someone does not reach in and push me while playing what is shaping up to be a 67K+ record game)
: )
 
At least they picked the games none of them are good at. :D

Actually the game list is made up of common classics in order to make sure the most locations can join in and play. There are a few exceptions but those are easily emulated and play well on other platforms.

Personally I am only 'Good' at one of the games the rest I am just an average Joe.

We hope this is the first of many of these 'Battle of the Arcades', or maybe 'Battle of the game rooms'

-Ken
 
Everyone should gain an extra 30 pounds for the event so we can call it "Battle of the Bulges" :D

Also, I feel very strongly that the game selection will have to evolve. I'm not saying alter the main games every event, but later tourneys should feature fresh competitions amongst fresh games to keeps things entertaining. Eventually we might even come to some games which are commonly known but the core Team do not play well, forcing the teams to recruit wildcard players to put their team on top.
 
Everyone should gain an extra 30 pounds for the event so we can call it "Battle of the Bulges" :D

Also, I feel very strongly that the game selection will have to evolve. I'm not saying alter the main games every event, but later tourneys should feature fresh competitions amongst fresh games to keeps things entertaining. Eventually we might even come to some games which are commonly known but the core Team do not play well, forcing the teams to recruit wildcard players to put their team on top.

Fo shizzle
 
Everyone should gain an extra 30 pounds for the event so we can call it "Battle of the Bulges" :D

Also, I feel very strongly that the game selection will have to evolve. I'm not saying alter the main games every event, but later tourneys should feature fresh competitions amongst fresh games to keeps things entertaining. Eventually we might even come to some games which are commonly known but the core Team do not play well, forcing the teams to recruit wildcard players to put their team on top.

Yeah I chose popular games for the first pass so as many home arcades could get involved as possible to see if it is fun for them or not and if they will continue on with us. Eventually, much like the Funspot tourney, we will expand to less common shared titles. I think a lot of the teamwork that plays into it is a good thing, learning/teaching games to help your team. Normally in a competitive one-on-one atmosphere that the game tournaments usually are, it's every person for themselves, now you have to pick each other up, I think that's a good thing. Unless we gain 30 pounds as Gozer suggests.
 
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