2011 CAGDC Tourney - Richie Knucklez Arcade

After a week in Las Vegas for the Interbike trade show (the bike industries big trade show), I flew out from Vegas to Philly to head over to the 2011 CAGDC Tourney. I hadn't played in a tourney since 2008 and was hoping for a great weekend of playing games and chilling.

The arcade is stellar - Richie Knucklez's place is packed with some fantastic titles, all kept up and near tip-top condition. The selection ranges from the familiar (Galaga, Star Wars, Frogger) to the player's titles (DK3, Gorf, Crystal Castles, Food Fight) to massive amounts of old school racing games (Pole Position 2, Stocker, Monaco GP) and then some rare classics (Crossbow, Bosconian, Hunchback, Swimmer). There were even a few pinballs - Stargate abnd Roller Disco, the former being a lot of fun with good ramp shots and a pretty deep ruleset and the later being just ok, but mostly missable, except for the theme, which is dope.

I showed up Friday night after flying all day and drove right from the airport to the arcade to practice Friday night. I started in on DK3 and Crystal, but also on Bosconian, Satan's Hollow, Stocker and some other titles. I also played a ton of Stargate, because, hell, it's my entry fee and I wanted to play some pinball too.

I had a good night and played more than talked to others. I fell inlove with Sega's Monaco GP, a mini-cabaret style driving game with frantic pace and good controls. I also got really into Bosconian, but could never seem to get a good game going. I left that night feeling a bit sore and very tired and but excited for Saturday's competition.

I woke up Saturday and felt like shit. I was super exhausted and felt lightheaded, but I headed out after some breakfast and played until 2 pm. I knew something was up when I stopped playing for a short bit. I went back to the hotel thinking I just needed some rest and paseed out on the bed and woke up 6 hours later with a raging fever. Now, I run a fever very rarely, even when I have been pretty sick. Last time I did was about 15 years ago when I got Scarlet Fever, so I was pretty freaked out.

I packed my self in ice and stayed on the hotel bed for a few hours, trying to eat and relax and I just felt like I was getting worse. I ended up taking an ice cold shower, which sucked major, but it did break the fever. I crashed out again at about 11 pm and woke in the morning feeling pretty good. Fever was gone and I got the chance to talk with Mark Alpiger, my roommate briefly before I left.

He did tell me I was doing great on the titles I manage to put scores up for - a 560K score on DK3 and a weak completed game of CC at 761K, along with some good scores on other machines like Crossbow, Monaco GP and Food Fight. I was bummed about not being about to finish the competition, but very relieved that I wasn't in a hospital, so it was kind of a trade off.

Thanks to Mark for sharing a hotel room with me and getting me coffee and a sweet roll Sunday morning and to Richie for hosting such a great tourney - at least for the time I was there.

Donkey Kong 3 high score #3

This will probably be the last high score until the tourney next week. I think I have a great game rolling here and can take down a top spot on this and maybe Crystal, though I haven't been practicing that. I'd like to take the top spot on DK3 and chill for the rest of the tourney, play some pinball and take a lot of photos. I will have Linda's flip cam, so I will be taking some video and uploading that as well.

This 598,100 score was just 900 shy of my 600K goal for the night and I feel pretty good about setting a 600K game for the tourney. I'm hoping for an hour marathon game, but that would be the best possible result.

I also really want to place in the tourney, but unless I can take down top scores on two of my games and then finish high on the rest, I don't think that is gonna happen. Who knows though, really anything cabn happen. This tourney should be a lot of fun.

Cloak & Dagger high score #2, 1CC ALL

Not a bad first 1CC of this game, no real point pressing here and a pretty average run back up to the top. It was extremely satisfying to finish this game though. The last few floors were pretty easy and I ran most of them quickly, taking out the guards and moving to the exit, just working on the clear.

I have a good plan for the floors up to 33, using the floor 7 warp, and a pretty good idea of how to run the floors on the back, but - according to the rules on Twin Galaxies:

Special Note: player cannot start from a floor lower than nine (9).

Which makes me a little wary of John McAlister's WR score on there as I a few of his MARP runs which are about the same score and he does use the 7th floor warp. I did send an email to TG asking for clarification and have not heard back, but I will try and see what patterns can be built from starting on 9 and working up without warps. I don't think there is a cave level until the 20's and I would need to search for a warp there. It may be advantageous to play every floor and rack up some points by killing guards and collecting boxes, but those express bonuses you can get from skipping floors may be where its at.

All of that aside, I am super stoked on this game still. I'm so excited to own it and super excited to play it each and everytime.