we have a former world record champ in our midst

cleverlyj

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so, i didn't know this, but was reading an old atari age magazine tonight, and a score caught my eye. turns out our own pacray is formerly (now #2) the gravitar world champion. here's a pic from video games magazine...

VideoGamesMagScoresDec83.jpg



and a link to the story.
http://www.cooganphoto.com/gravitar/mueller.html
 
Nice. I hear he's going to be in "Avatar of Gravitar", coming soon.
 
That Gorf HS is quite a bit higher than the current TG HS.

Does anyone know how those were verified, or were they TG as well? [edit, I see the bottom shows a thanks to Walter @ TG, nevermind]
 
More importantly than that, how the hell does someone get 3 million in Bagman?! I think I only got to the second level once or twice in my entire life and that was when I was a kid.
 
This was the time when people would lie about their scores. Walter kept the scores but really couldn't verify them. I've read stories from guys who competed for high scores in those early days who said they would lie to keep their name on top. Particularly on Pac-man and Donkey Kong. Pretty sure many of those scores were fake.
 
I think it was Atari Age magazine that used to post the score of Atari arcade games, but they also had the time it took to achieve the score.

I vaguely remember the Missile Command or maybe Asteroids score was listed as taking something like 52 hours?!
 
I think it was Atari Age magazine that used to post the score of Atari arcade games, but they also had the time it took to achieve the score.

I vaguely remember the Missile Command or maybe Asteroids score was listed as taking something like 52 hours?!

yeah, they did. i have a few atari ages and they show the times. here's a pic from one, showing a bunch of scores and times, including ray's.

atariage_vol1num6_18.jpg
 
This was the time when people would lie about their scores. Walter kept the scores but really couldn't verify them. I've read stories from guys who competed for high scores in those early days who said they would lie to keep their name on top. Particularly on Pac-man and Donkey Kong. Pretty sure many of those scores were fake.

the biggest one liar that i know of is David Marsden of Texas. I am working on a complete collection of Electronic Games magazine, and he is in almost every issue with quite a few different huge scores, but the biggest one he lied on was pacman. his pac score was always in there at something like 10 or 15 million. i'd love to email this guy and ask him why the hell he lied about all these scores. aside from his name being in print, i don't think he ever received any other spotlight in fame from it.

edit - here's a pic showing his fake scores, from the jan. 83 electronic games.

ElectronicGamesMagScoresJan83.jpg
 
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wow...... i spy steve sanders on there for the dk high score. looks like this was one big bamboozlefest!

the biggest one liar that i know of is David Marsden of Texas. I am working on a complete collection of Electronic Games magazine, and he is in almost every issue with quite a few different huge scores, but the biggest one he lied on was pacman. his pac score was always in there at something like 10 or 15 million. i'd love to email this guy and ask him why the hell he lied about all these scores. aside from his name being in print, i don't think he ever received any other spotlight in fame from it.

edit - here's a pic showing his fake scores, from the jan. 83 electronic games.

ElectronicGamesMagScoresJan83.jpg
 
wow...... i spy steve sanders on there for the dk high score. looks like this was one big bamboozlefest!

yeah. the scores got more accurate but there were still random fake ones in there, and finally toward the end of 83 they dropped the high score page all together.
 
325,325,325 on Robotron. Damn.. that's insane.

It's also fake. The guy later fessed up and has since changed his name. TG pulled his score, although to this day they still have a higher and even more embarrassing fake score for Robotron on their scoreboard, one that ends in "80," which is literally impossible.

That Gorf score is B.S. too.

The Bagman score I can actually believe because there is a leeching technique that has to do with the placement of the gold bags, the usage of the slopes, and the grouping of the guards. You can rack up huge points on just the first board. I also tend to believe it because Mark Robichek not only was and is a very talented gamer who was known back then for his Bagman exploits in addition to his then record Frogger play, but he's also a very trustworthy guy. What's odd, though, is that the Bagman high score is a tie with another player. Makes me wonder if the score maxes out at that number (3,333,330).
 
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Yeah that's it!. Damn.. 53 hours on Asteroids and 45 hours on Missile Command.



yeah, they did. i have a few atari ages and they show the times. here's a pic from one, showing a bunch of scores and times, including ray's.

atariage_vol1num6_18.jpg
 
wow...... i spy steve sanders on there for the dk high score. looks like this was one big bamboozlefest!

At least that score was still possible, before he went and started submitting scores in the 2-3 million range :D
 
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