Classic Arcade Gaming Tourney in IL

[***PL***]

The third annual edition of The Classic Arcade Gaming (dot com) Tournament will be held this year at Pro Putt Family Fun Center, an arcade / amusement location in Bloomington, Illinois (it's less than 5 miles from a major airport). The three-day event will take place from March 28th through March 30th, and, like the previous two editions last year, it is being co-organized by Mark Alpiger, administrator of the CAGDC web site, and Mary Lou Nelson, who is owner of the Pro Putt FFC. All of the great features of the last two years are being carried over again. In a nutshell, this tourney is unique, in that it is totally designed for, and around, the players. Not only are there going to be popular games in the contest (see the potential game list in this post), but in a continuation of the inaugural year's wildly popular historical first, the players actually get to choose the games that they play ! It's like you being able to design your own contest ! For the full details, please go to the official web page, located at http://www.classicarcadegaming.com/contests/CAGDCT2008/ .

Here is a list of this year's games...

1 Capcom Bowling
2 Crystal Castles
3 Dig Dug
4 Donkey Kong 3
5 Frogger
6 Galaga
7 Gorf
8 Kangaroo
9 Rally-X
10 Rampart
11 RoadBlasters
12 Star Wars
13 The Glob
14 "Mystery Title"

Day / date Contest hours (for contestants only)

Friday, March 28 2:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Saturday, March 29 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Sunday, March 30 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM

[MDARULZ]

Hi MARP'ers, and hi Pat (***PL***). I'm surprised there weren't any responses here. MAME on a PC is great, but playing the original games in an arcade is better !

Here's a write-up I've done with a few additional details:

We're less than two weeks away from the third annual edition of the Classic Arcade Gaming (dot com) Tournament, which will be held from 2 PM Friday, March 28th through 4 PM Sunday, March 30th. The signups that we already have include incredible gaming luminary Donald Hayes (fresh off a Dig Dug wr), champion players Pat Laffaye and Mark Boolman, and a number of others, including many from the greater Illinois area.

That's right - this year's event has moved from Challenge Arcade in PA to the Pro Putt Family Fun Center; located in Bloomington, Illinois, the gameroom features more than 50 (!) classic game titles (second only to Funspot). Conveniently for those who are flying in, the arcade is less than 5 miles from the airport, and rides will be provided from there, and also to and from the 'official' motel (more info is on the link at top).

The location is an easy drive from many large cities that are near the midwest crossroads that Bloomington is centered at; Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis are two hours away, Milwaukee and Des Moines are three hours drive, and a four hour (or so ) trek is the distance for those in Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus (OH), and Lansing (MI).

In a nutshell, this tourney is unique, in that it is totally designed for, and around, the players. Not only are there going to be popular games in the contest (the games include Dig Dug (see Don play !), Frogger (Don and Pat both have well over 400K records !), Star Wars (Mark Boolman can play over an hour on one shield), Galaga, Crystal Castles (I have almost 900K as my record !) and Gorf, plus Donkey Kong 3, Kangaroo, Rally-X, RoadBlasters, and others), but in a continuation of the inaugural year's wildly popular historical first, the players actually get to choose the games that they play ! It's like you being able to design your own contest !!

For quick details, go to the official press release. For full details, see the official tourney page. And, for coverage of last year's incredible event, go to the 2007 CAGDCT picture page.

Keep in mind that tournaments are a rare breed; to my knowledge, my tourney, and Funspot's, have been the only major events with prize money to happen since the turn of the millennium. Most other events have been 'come out and set a world record' type of occurrences, and as great as those are, a true tourney atmosphere, with a few wr attempts thrown in, are the best events of all. And, unlike at Funspot (as great as it is, with the huge arcade, and numerous top gamers), you can come out and rub elbows with all the players at this tournament, with the intimate and uncrowded atmosphere. And for those who loved The King of Kong, three of the co-stars will be at the event !

Well, I hope everyone within driving distance, plus a few who'll join Don and Pat as far as 'fly-ins', will come out, join in the event, and witness the incredible showdowns that are likely to happen at the third annual CAGDC Tournament.

[Alessandro.S]

Well, if I didn't live at 10-hour flying distance I would surely have chipped in to play Frogger against ***PL*** and Don Hayes (and getting trashed of course, but that's beside the point )

I should be flying to NY for a week in early May - if there's anything in the area I might as well try and nose around... I looked at where Funspot is, and it also looks a bit away from NY

Have fun, I'll be envying those who are there !

[***PL***]

I should be flying to NY for a week in early May - if there's anything in the area I might as well try and nose around... I looked at where Funspot is, and it also looks a bit away from NY

Well then, you need to go to Barcade in Brooklyn, NYC!! Check out this thread over at CAG Forums...

http://www.classicarcadegaming.com/foru ... 287.0.html

I live about an hour from Barcade so I may be able to meet you there when you come to NYC. Let me know when you get closer.

They have a chalkboard with some of the high scores...

[Alessandro.S]

Will surely let you know - and thanks for the tip !

I take you don't play there though - Frogger "only" has a 250K high score ?

[Phil Lamat]

Too far from us, Europeans.
But thanks to let us informed, especially with the results after the tourney.

And try to motivate some masters to upload to marp !
I know some hate emulations, but it would be cool for the rest of the world to be able watching their abilities ; I still dream to watch the guy who was mastering Carnival at -I don't remember year- Funspot, making easily 100k+ each time he was playing

[dbh]

I still dream to watch the guy who was mastering Carnival at -I don't remember year- Funspot, making easily 100k+ each time he was playing

That would be "Carnival" Fred Pastore. He is unbelievable at that game!

[***PL***]

Yup, "Carnival" Fred. Known to shoot 4 bears at a time with ease... He still holds the unofficial TG record for a blowout in Tourney play. When Carnival was up a few years back the 2nd place finisher could only muster 30% of his top score!!

I've been to Barcade 4 times. The Frogger machine there is very challenging!!! First off, it is set to default settings (3 frogs to start + 1 bonus). The JS is loose and tall, screen is a little warped on the top corners, and not to mention it uses the hardest romset of all. If I go there tomorrow for the Guinness event I'll see if the owners will swap it out. Ben Falls (lived just a few blocks away) beat my score a couple of months ago by 13K.

[Alessandro.S]

I read the CAG thread - didn't know there were so many players hooked up there !

As per Frogger - what is the hardest romset ? All the ones I played in MAME looked exactly the same to me (and my scores easily show that )
And 5+1 - never seen one machine at bars/arcades. Always 3+1 - as I said in another thread my PB was 180K on a 3+1 machine at the bar managed by the church folks when I was 13, in late 1981 / early 1982 I think...