Classic Arcade Gaming's 2006 bounties

    The time has come.  As Classic Arcade Gaming's webmaster, I (Mark Alpiger) have picked up the torch in the arena of arcade gaming bounties, and, as usual, turned it on its ear, with a series of firsts.  Inspired by the spate of bounties over the last couple of years, I am posting what is, by far, the largest total bounty dollar amount for a set of arcade game titles ever offered by an individual (clocking in at just over double the second-place set, offered in 2005 by Rob Mruczek).  We're talking $25 grand in total - yep, that's $25,000 !!!  And, unlike many other bounties, the amount(s) claimed will be available to be awarded in full (versus payments) within a week of confirmation, either through personal presentation (for the $1,000+ awards), or via being mailed out (all other awards).

    So, I mentioned above that my bounties involve a number of firsts.  What are they, you ask ?  Well, as already noted, the total of $25K being offered is the largest amount to be posted by any individual, as far as arcade games go.  I am also offering the only four-figure plus bounties for marathon games that have ever been posted.  Finally, I am offering, regardless of the source, the largest single-task bounty ($12,000 on Crystal Castles) in history, that is reasonably achievable.  In other words, it's plausible, unlike the mythical (and, impossible, many would claim) goal of getting past the split-screen on Pac-Man, as was laid out in the most famous (and, the first) bounties offered for arcade games, which is detailed in the next paragraph.

    Now, for a little historical background.  The idea of arcade bounties was begun in 1999, via a very famous offering, courtesy of Rickey's Hot Sauce, under the vision of Billy Mitchell.  Since then, other persons (including, most famously, Robert Mruczek, and John Cunningham) have offered bounties for scores made on original arcade coin-op machines, and / or (in some cases), on MAME, a computer emulation program that allows play of most games on a home PC.  Note that Classic Arcade Gaming's 2006 bounties require the use of an original arcade machine; emulation play is not allowed.  More details (and a way to contact Mark) can be found on the web site's bounty rules and regulations page, reachable at this address: bounties.classicarcadegaming.com/rules.htm.  These directives must be adhered to in full, to qualify for any payout.

    As far as the main games involved, there are three, in the majority of the bounty categories.  However, I have decided to mix things up, ever-so-slightly, by allowing one of the seven categories to be flexible, as far as the arcade coin-op that can be used.  Other than this variance, the games involved are: Crystal Castles, Star Wars, and Pac-Man.

    Crystal Castles has an offer that's a one task shot at the whole amount of the bounty - a very tempting $12,000 !  Simply (yeah, right) beat the current world record (held by Frank Seay) of 910,722 points, and you've got the cash !  Well, it won't be simple, since it should take even an accomplished player a thousand-plus games of trying.  But, in all fairness, that much cash shouldn't really come too easy !

    Next up is Star Wars, which is involved in no less than five bounty categories, all of which are cumulative (assuming that all are unclaimed, at the time determination of the verification process).  You can start by beating the current marathon world record score, held by Rob Mruczek, to net $200.  For another $300, play for more than 67 1/2 hours, which is the current time record for play on an arcade title.  Now, with the three-day mark (72 hours) so close, managing to tie or beat that amount of time is made very tempting with an additional $500 as the reward (which, again, is in addition to any other (unclaimed) bounties already earned during the same performance !).

    Alright, now we're getting serious.  If Star Wars can be played for 100+ hours (yep, that's just over four days !!), a bounty of $1,000 is awarded.  Finally, if you are somehow a superhuman freak, then continue on, and somewhere around a week in total (!!!) you'll reach the unbelievable 'plateau' of one-billion points !  Not only will you be a living legend, a likely Guinness world-record holder, and a mascot and unofficial 'God' for this website, but you will also receive $10,000 for your effort !  And, again, since the bounties are cumulative, then the potential total (assuming, again, that all applicable bounties are unclaimed) is $12,000 !  Of course, you might need to use a big chunk of the money for psychological help, as you may very well be a blathering, slobbering fool by the time the billion point total is reached, since you'll have had no sleep for over a week !

    Even tho I strongly encourage using Star Wars for all of the marathon bounties, I did mention an exception, and that's for the third bounty (for $300) in the official list below.  The current record for longest play time on an arcade title is 67 1/2 hours, held by Jim Vollandt on Joust.  He accomplished this feat during the only existing marathon contest, which was organized by Twin Galaxies.  Named the 1985 Video Game Marathon (and, nicknamed the Iron Man contest), it was held in the summer of 1985 at Johnny Zee's Family Fun Center in Victoria, B.C., Canada.  Amazingly, Jim's record still holds today, after more than 20 years.  Since I consider his performance to be sort of a holy grail, I want to be a bit flexible in the titles that can be used to possibly top that incredible length of playing time.  So, I have approved the following list of games as qualifying titles to use for this one bounty:  Star Wars, Defender, Frenzy, Galaga, Gyruss, Joust, Joust 2, Kick Man, Millipede, Mouse Trap, Nibbler, Q*bert, Robotron, Root Beer Tapper, Star Trek, Stargate, Tapper, and Timber.  Remember, these titles can only be used for bounty #3 in the official list below, and do not qualify to be used in any of my other bounties (other than Star Wars, which qualifies as listed).

    OK, now on to the final (and, in a way, the most interesting) bounty.  Almost since Pac-Man came out, and clever players developed patterns to reach 'the end' of the game, which inevitably happens on screen 256, there have been a number of gamers (called liars by many) that claim to have gotten past screen 256, which is best known as the 'split-screen'.  It got the nickname from the fact that the screen is half-filled with number and symbol 'garbage', generated by the game's program code being confused from trying to create a screen that it was not set up for (screen zero, since the poorly foresighted programmer didn't allow for enough memory to track a number over 255, and the result is that the screen counter 'turns over' to zero).

    Now, Billy Mitchell, in his original, pioneering set of bounties from 1999, made an offer of $100,000 for any player that could show how to proceed past the split-screen.  My offer of $1,000 is quite a bit less, but, I don't have the same constraints as Billy did on his bounty.  I'll leave it up to the player to read through his original offer, and mine, in order to find the difference, and, perhaps, 'exploit' it.  Plus, maybe now we'll find out who was lying, and (possibly) who was not...

    Last, but far from least, is a generous bonus offer that Joe LeVan (who owns Challenge Arcade, a mall-based arcade near Reading, Pennsylvania) has made to certain players who are paid out on one (or more) of my bounties.  Joe told me that he will give an additional 10% of any bounty amount that is paid out, if the performance is done at his arcade location.  With a potential extra $2,500 on the line, the incentive is high to try for a bounty at Challenge Arcade.  (Disclaimer: this offer is totally independent of Mark Alpiger's bounties, and is not guaranteed by Mark in any way.  All arrangements to potentially have the performance attempted at Challenge Arcade must be made between and the player.)

    As a media event, and as a way to mark the beginning day of these unprecedented arcade gaming bounties, I have arranged with Joe LeVan to make the official announcement of my bounties at the Challenge Arcade location in Pennsylvania.  This will occur at 12 noon on New Year's Day (01-01-2006), and will likely have extensive media coverage, based on the current high interest level in classic gaming.  In addition, there will be multiple world-class gamers gunning for world record scores before, during, and after the time of the announcement, on games located at the arcade.  Everyone interested in gaming should show up for what promises to be the most festive gaming event this winter !  The address of Berkshire Mall, which the arcade is located in, is: 1665 State Hill Road, Wyomissing, PA 19610.  The phone number for the arcade is 610-376-1650.  For a map to the mall, click here; for driving directions, click here.

    Well, there you have it.  All of the bounties are laid out below in table form, and the constraints for each are spelled out in detail on the 'rules' page, accessible via the link underneath the table.  Again, all requirements must be followed to the letter, with no exceptions.  Note that all players must register their intentions to compete in advance, and should also take all due precautions to avoid problems coming up during their attempts (including, but not limited to: power outages, machine or recording equipment problems / failure, medical issues, etc.).  Needless to say, an assistant could be a very good idea !

    I want to wish everyone the best of luck, and, I hope, a lot of fun.  I know that quite a few of the bounty categories will be claimed, and here's hoping that at least one of the four or five figure bounties gets claimed, since the difficulty level of each of them is very, very high (as it should be !).  OK, ladies and gentlemen - start your video games !

The rules and regulations that apply to these bounties, and to all games that qualify for the seven individual bounties, can be found by going to the official  bounty rules and regulations page: bounties.classicarcadegaming.com/rules.htm

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