The 2010 Classic Arcade Gaming (dot com) Tournament   March 2010, Flemington, NJ

Introduction    (click here to skip to menu)

    The fifth annual edition of The Classic Arcade Gaming (dot com) Tournament was held at the same terrific location as last year - Richie Knucklez' Arcade, located in Flemington, New Jersey.  The three-day event took place over the long weekend of Friday March 19th thru Sunday March 21st, with a practice session on Thursday evening (the 18th).  Like the first three editions of the event, it was co-organized by myself (Mark Alpiger, administrator of this CAGDC web site), and my location partner, which is the arcade's owner - Richie Knucklez.  Of course, even with the change in venue, there were no changes with all of the great features of previous years, which were carried over for this event.  In addition, this year featured, for the first time, marathon attempts.  Ken House vied for making 12+ hours on the non-killscreen version of Dig Dug.  While he wasn't successful in reaching the half-day mark, this added feature further solidified the event into being one of the most unique, and player-friendly, to take place in our hobby.

    A record number of games (25) were part of the tourney, including the rare titles Crazy Kong, Eagle, and Congo Bongo.  Popular titles Mario Bros., Zaxxon, Pole Position II, Popeye, and Track & Field were also part of the event, which attracted gamers from as far away as Maine (Jason Cram), New Hampshire (Donald Hayes and Dave Nelson), Ohio (David Race), and even the west coast (Ken House, John McAllister, Chris Mansfield, and Chad Hurritz).  Other records / firsts for the event included attendance, which peaked at 41 entrants, and also the amount of prize money, which totaled $425, and included a new fourth place prize.

Picture galleries    (click here to go to top menu)

    by:  Mark Alpiger  -  covering Thursday, March 18th thru Sunday, March 21st

Mark Alpiger's pictures

    Here's my regular picture coverage of the annual CAGDC tournament.  For now, captions only appear on this page, but will eventually appear on the individual pages that come up when you click on a thumbnail below.  There's well over 100 pictures here, which begin the day before (Thursday, March 18th) the long weekend event, and continue on thru the final day (Sunday, March 21st).

Thursday afternoon, the day before the tourney begins, contestant Justin Dean has arrived for the scheduled practice session.    Robby C. gives Crazy Kong, the tourney 'Mystery Title', a go.   J.J. Cahill practices on Gyruss.   Jamie C. gets in a play on Donkey Kong II, a repeat title from last year.   Gun-game master Shawn Howlett plays Chiller, which is running on a multi-title board inside Cheyenne.   Arcade regular Steve Wagner watches Andy Beck play on another multi-title machine.   First-time entrant Chris Long tries out a non-tourney title - Tron.   While Steve practices up on Elevator Action, Zack Lubow (right) does the same on Journey.   Newcomer Rob Maerz plays a personal favorite title.   Ed Palamar plays DK II.   I had Rob take a photo of me next to 720°, since I had an original shirt on.  I wore it for arcade owner Richie Knucklez, as it's his fave game.   First-timer Chris Mansfield (left), a mod on the CAGDC forums, has arrived from the west coast.   Lisa Reilly practices on Mario Bros.   Another west-coaster, John McAllister, is ready for tourney title Missile Command.   Graham Ogilvie (right) looks on as Richie Knucklez plays his fave title - Pole Position.   David Race, of Pac-Man fame, poses next to non-tourney title Pac-Man Plus.   In preparation for a marathon attempt on Friday, Ken House (center) gives Dig Dug a go-over, with the help of Richie and John.   The 'Cram crew' has arrived - Jason Cram and wife Anna surround Richie as he checks out a game, as Dave Nelson (left of center) looks on.   It's Friday, day one of the event, and in advance of the 4 PM start, Richie preps tourney games so he and I can check the settings.  Ken and John look on, and Ken gears up for his marathon attempt with some coffee.   A few guys have wandered into the arcade, and will serve as support for myself and Ken, with Richie doing babysitting duty at home until later.   As Ken prepares for his Dig Dug marathon (using a version 2 board), he puts on a grimace, to show his determination and drive.   Fast-forward to a bit after 5 PM.  Ken's marathon attempt is over (at about 4 hours), and the tourney has begun !  Entrants and spectators alike crowd the arcade.   A view down another row.   Bill Holmes has a try at tourney title Crystal Castles.  Note the notecard on the machine, which gives entrants (and refs) info about tourney games.   Ben Falls is here, and tries his hand at 720°.   Richie decided to compete a bit this year, and here, plays one of his favorite titles - Phoenix.   John tries his hand at Pole Position II.  He ended up being tied with master-player Richie, at the end of the tournament.   Tourney referee Graham Ogilvie takes down a score from past winner Donald Hayes.   Fellow tourney ref Pat Laffaye gets ready to write down a score for Robby's game on Track & Field.   Justin takes a turn on DK II.   Jason plays on Donkey Kong 3, which is a title that his brother (Shawn) used to hold the record on.   Richie plays one of his arcade favorites - 720°.   A crowd looks on as Richie smokes on 720°.   Chris plays a round of DK 3.   Jason taps the buttons on Hyper Sports, a first-time tourney title.   Steve plays a personal fave of his - Journey.   Ken tries non-tourney game Robotron, as entrant Raj Gantela looks on.    Greg Bond, who didn't enter the tourney, enjoys a game of pinball.   New Donkey Kong world record holder Hank Chien (center) is surrounded by Dave, and a film crew (right) that is covering his exploits.   As day one approaches the final hour of play time, entrants continue to try to push up their scores...   A view down the other row of tourney games shows everyone here is also trying to boost their scoring.   Capable refs Pat and Graham continue to do a bang-up job with their tourney duties.   Hank is likely caught pondering a gaming question, as his brother (immediate left) looks on.   Don tries his hand at Gyruss.   Dave has put his tournament ID badge 'backwards', to avoid it interfering with his play on Race Drivin'.   During a well-deserved break, Pat plays Hang-On.   Jamie has a try at DK II.   A group of young entrants (plus Steve, at left) hang out at 1943, as Matt T. plays.   As closing time approaches, most games are taken, with entrants trying to boost their results.   In the front of the arcade, an Atari Football contest is being held.   Richie gets in a lap on Pole Position II.   Raj takes a minute to check out something on his netbook.   MAME world record holder Chad Hurritz goes for a score on Elevator Action.   Chris tries a game of Robotron.   David Hernly (left) chats it up with Hank.   Jimmy Linderman has arrived, and just has to play a Pac title (one of his favorite genres).   Matt is still flying high on 1943.   Hank signs a few memorabilia items for me (Mark Alpiger).   Jimmy and Ben pose next to a HotRod joystick.  Ben, myself, and John Marks (a CAGDC mod) all pitched in to get this for Jimmy's PC.   Saturday (day 2) has arrived, and after a busy morning, I finally got freed up to take some afternoon pics.  Here, Bryan Wagner gets in a score on 1943.   Ken again goes for a marathon run on Dig Dug.  He wasn't successful yesterday, and ended up not being able to pull it off on Saturday.  Still, his efforts are much appreciated.   Ben gets in a game on Journey.   Vic Osinaga is here, and tries out one of his fave games - Sinistar.   Here's a slant view down one row of the tournament games.   Ben G. readies his finger technique, in preparation for an event on Hyper Sports.   Raj takes a turn on Sinistar.   Jamie C. races against time on Marble Madness, as brother Robby plays Journey.   Hank has come out to play Donkey Kong this afternoon, in an attempt to best his own world record .   Entrant John Balsley goes for a high mark on Super Breakout.   David watches Richie play DK II.   Ben has to give PP II a go, since it's a quick and 'easy' score to make.   Matt McCarthy gives the obscure tourney title Crazy Kong a go.   Pat takes a sit-down from his ref duties, while Bill and he both check out the game play going on.   Jamie sits to play Phoenix.   Cliff Reese poses beside the title that he picked to appear in the event - Paperboy.   A look down tourney row one, at a point late Saturday afternoon.   Here's tourney row two, late Saturday afternoon.   Chad proudly poses next to the game that he eventually set the tourney high score on (125,050).   Another posed shot shows Jimmy next to a fave title of his.   Ben plays Crazy Kong.  He attempted this title multiple times before finally ending up with a full one-hour of play.   Jamie takes a turn on Race Drivin'.   Dave has a run on PP II.   Early evening Saturday reveals contestants still trying to bump up their scores.   A view of the other row, taken just after the previous shot.    Dave checks out Steve's Paperboy progress, in-between laps on PP II.   After I get a call from a friend of Steve Wiebe's, he hands the phone over to Steve, and I then let Hank talk to Steve for a minute.   Cliff tries his hand at 1943.   David tries out a tourney title.   Richie tries to up his Phoenix score.   Hank is still hard at work on DK.   In a fitting conclusion to the night, entrant Dan Garofalo sets the second-highest mark on 1943, and gathers a crowd that admires his efforts.   Sunday, the last day of the event, has arrived, and Zack Lubow gets an early crack at Journey, in this shot taken shortly before noon.   Ken continues to play around on Robotron, and he's 'armed' with protective glovewear.   Richie keeps an eye out for competition, including Justin's attempts on PP II.   Brian tries his hand at one of the 'shmup' tourney titles.   It's right at noontime, and the main tourney row is packed.   A noontime view of the other row of tournament games shows less of a crowd.   Greg can never get enough of playing the pins...   A great gaming group from New England gathers for this shot; L-R: Scott Doyle, John Jacobsen, Matt McCarthy, Brian Robicheau, and Marc Mathieu.   Steve plays the lone cocktail title in the tourney - Congo Bongo.   David plays a non-tourney title.   It's mid-afternoon, and entrants are getting in a few final plays.   Pat again uses a little break time to play Hang-On.   Here's the referee table, with the Internet score table showing via a CAGDC-donated display. The items seen are gaming-related goodies that I had for sale.   Hank's still at it...   Likewise, David has made a few attempts to record a great run on Pac-Man Plus.    Just over an hour's left, and a few attempts at score-raising are seen.   Some of the players watch a scoring attempt.   The tournament is over, and time to start the awards ceremony.   After he and I make a few announcements, Richie shows off hot sauce and posters that were generously donated to the event by Billy Mitchell.   Alright - time to get ready to show everybody the money !!   Before the bucks, one prize (donated by Bryan Wagner) is handed out - a Funspot 10 glass !  Bryan chose J.J. Cahill as the recipient because of his first documented killscreen game on Crazy Kong.   First up for a tourney award is fourth place finisher Jason Cram.   Third place went to David Nelson.   Coming in second is great gamer Ben Falls.   And, for the fourth year in a row, Donald Hayes places first.   Now for the five prizes for top finisher on a randomly chosen game.  Ken house gets $10 for Zaxxon.   J.J. is back, and collects for his finishing spot on Phoenix.   Robby C. gets a sawbuck for his finish on Hyper Sports.   The perfect shot to wind things up is everyone (entrants and non-entrants alike) gathered in front of the arcade.

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Tourney results    (click here to go to top menu)

    CAGDC Tournament scoring results for all entrants

    Player ranking results

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Other scores of note    (click here to go to top menu)

    Not all scores that occurred outside the tournament are noted below, as some accomplishments are unknown.

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Sponsors of the event    (click here to go to top menu)

	www.thisoldgame.com Rich Lint is a dedicated artist who has quite a few pieces of unique reproduction artwork for classic arcade coin-op machines.  In addition to that, he offers custom printing services, silk screening for t-shirts, and a whole lot more !  Be sure to check out his online store, and get what you need to make your games look as good as they play !
	www.homeactionreplay.org Chad Hurritz is a big supporter of MAME, and is a large part of the origin of the fantastic MARP site.  A few years back, he added his efforts to the creation of the HARP site, which does for home console (and computer) games what MARP does for arcade titles !  Thus, players can submit game play recordings using the program MESS (similar to MAME), for a multitude of the older home console machines / computers, and others can play back their efforts, and learn to better their game play, as a result.

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