 |
 |
 |
Upon my arrival
at Funspot, I'm
greeted by Greg and Bryan.
|
'Scootie'
Ahlers poses next to one
of his favorite titles - Crazy Climber.
|
Robert and
Donald talk over
gaming strategies.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Jason and Todd
chat, while keeping tabs on Chris McClard.
|
Abdner plays
yet another game of Robotron, in pursuit of the elusive one-million
score.
|
Donald decides
to give my favorite title (Crystal Castles) a go.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Darren checks
out his buddy Abdner, as he continues to play Robotron.
|
It looks like
all the play has paid
off for Abdner, as the Robotron scoreboard reveals a 912K score.
|
Abdner
rightfully poses next to
the game, in celebration of his second-highest score ever.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Here's another
second-best score - Brian Kuh's Road Runner high is in that spot, on
the TG scoreboard.
|
Robert Griffin
plays what will be
one of many Joust 2 games that
he'll attempt during the event.
|
The players
congregate in the tourney game area, eager to compete.
|
 |
 |
 |
Perry Rodgers
tries his hand at Mario Bros., which he still
holds the record on.
|
Brian Kuh
demonstrates a game
of Road Runner, on a day full
of world record attempts for him.
|
Brian's game
turns out to be another fantastic 1.7M point effort.
|
 |
 |
 |
Jenn Moore
serves as registrar for
the Funspot tourney event.
|
Nick Ortakales
shows off his
'stuff' on Space Harrier.
|
Pat Laffaye
shows that he's open to playing more than just Frogger, by
taking on a game of Road Runner.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The 'Patron
Saint of the Video Game Age', Walter Day, strikes a pose.
|
Yours truly,
Mark Alpiger, gets
to pose, in my Road Runner
shirt, no less.
|
Last, but not
least, in this trio of
posing shots, is Robert.
|
 |
 |
 |
Robert gives Robotron
a try,
now that Abdner's moved
on to Ms. Pac.
|
Three
'pinheads' have a go at the
three tourney pinball titles, including the eventual winner, Mike.
|
Adam, Jason,
and Chris are seen
by the three 'color challenge' titles.
|
 |
 |
 |
Don and Steve
continue to try
for great scores on Joust, while
other players chat in the background.
|
Morningdove
and Todd are
never far away from each other.
|
Like last year,
Darren camps out
at the Indiana Jones machine.
|
 |
 |
 |
Now that he's
gotten a great score
on Robotron, Abdner tries for the same result on Ms. Pac-Man.
|
Bryan Wagner
practices a bit
on Rolling Thunder, in prep-
aration for tomorrow's plan.
|
Rob chats with
80's legend
Perry Rodgers.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Todd works up a
sweat as he goes for a record on Drag Race.
|
Tho a measure
away, Todd
is closing in on a record time.
|
Don makes time
for some
of the tourney games,
including Liberator.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Adam tries his
hand at the color challenge title Blue Print.
|
Lovely ladies
Jenn Moore and
Anna Cram are ready to sign
up new tourney players.
|
A view from
behind the gameroom stairway shows a plethora of both games, and players.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Players
congregate in the main open area, as the evening winds down.
|
The players,
plus repair wizard
Randy Lawton (in blue), take
a break from the games.
|
Kelly Flewin
turns shy, while
having a TG pow-wow with Rob.
|
 |
 |
 |
This series of
shots primarily shows the results of Brian Kuh's 16 world records that he
achieved today.
We'll begin with Paperboy.
|
Here's a shot
of Brian's
Chase H.Q. record.
|
The next record
is on
Turbo OutRun.
|
 |
 |
 |
Heavy Barrel
is next on Brian's
world record hit parade.
|
Brian topped
buddy Jason Cram
for this record, on Rampage.
|
Next up is Guerrilla
War.
|
 |
 |
 |
Here's the Guerrilla
War
high score table.
|
This APB
screen reveals yet
another record for Brian.
|
Briefly
changing gears, I took
a shot of Gary Whelan's wr
score on Galaxian.
|
 |
 |
 |
Here's a
well-deserved close-up
of Gary's incredible Galaxian wr.
|
Now, we're back
to Brian's 'Sweet Sixteen' (as I call it) set of wr's. Here's his score
on Lazarian.
|
The Xenophobe
record
shows on this screenshot.
|
 |
 |
 |
| We wrap up with
Brian's Hot Rod record score. Not all 16 games appear here, as
some don't allow for the score to be kept onscreen.
|
Day 2 of the
tourney begins, and Robert knows to get a good start, with a good breakfast.
|
Perry, sporting
his 1985 NAVGC shirt,
tries his hand at one of the contest titles - Popeye.
|
 |
 |
 |
Perry plays on,
with Brian there
to check out his skills.
|
Looks like this
power duo has gotten the attention of Gary Vincent, the head man on the game
floor.
|
David Cruz
poses beside the game that he holds the wr on - Tron.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Greg plays a
little BurgerTime, while the game's master, Bryan, watches from the
sideline.
|
Bryan continues
to check out Greg's play, as Gary Whelan pays rapt attention to this difficult
game.
|
What's this
? Abdner isn't playing
a Pac game, or Robotron ?
|
 |
 |
 |
Bryan begins
his unprecedented attempt to simultaneously make
two world records.
|
Greg Erway
gives today's Mystery Game, Spy Hunter, a try.
|
David Cruz (and
crew) are all
nearby the Tron machine. In
the background are the Brits.
|
 |
 |
 |
Perry poses
beside the game that
he held the longtime wr on.
|
With Lisa Paul
flipping away,
here's a shot of the three pins that
are part of the Ladies
Challenge.
|
Here are the
three titles that make up the main tourney's Pinball Challenge.
|
 |
 |
 |
As Derek and
Perry play away,
the three Color Challenge titles
in the tourney are shown.
|
Here's the
Mystery Game for day 2.
|
These
three video titles round
out the Ladies Challenge games.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The three
Monochrome Challenge titles appear in this shot.
|
Donald takes a
break from the tourney, and checks out Abdner's mad Robotron skills...
|
Bryan is in the
midst of his
incredible simultaneous world
record attempts.
|
 |
 |
 |
| All of the
'contest row' games are occupied, as players concentrate on topping their high
scores.
|
The
ever-friendly Tina does her part by taking down contestant scores.
|
The contestants
keep on playing.
|
 |
 |
 |
As he's done
the last few years, Adam Wood tries to top his own
wr on the game Quartet.
|
Steve Sanders
plays another game
of Joust, in his quest to top the wr.
|
Perry and I
pose in our classic
1985 NAVGC shirts.
|
 |
 |
 |
Since he
organized the '85
NAVGC event, Walter joins us
in our 'shirt' photo.
|
Here's a view
of the backs
of our NAVGC shirts.
|
A group of
players gathers around the TG table, where others sign Walter's contest
posters.
|
 |
 |
 |
Both Steve (on Joust)
and David
(on Tron) continue to play their favorite game titles.
|
Chris keeps
trying to gain back his Radical Radial wr.
|
More players
sign off on the tourney poster, which has a space for most
of the tournament entrants.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Because the
action is slow enough, Bryan can actually look away while playing a wr game on
BurgerTime.
|
Now that
Steve's on 'break',
Donald decides to try and top his
TG world record.
|
Dave coaches
Anna during her
play on Pengo.
|
 |
 |
 |
Mike and Martin
take on two
of the monchrome titles.
|
Todd and Jason
have a chat.
|
Even tho he has
the wr, perhaps
even Abdner isn't beyond praying
for some high score
inspiration.
|
 |
 |
 |
Darren isn't
the only player on
'Indy' this year, as Pat joins the fun.
|
A quick shot of
Abdner's progress - over 523K, and still on his first life !
|
Back to Indiana
Jones.
|
 |
 |
 |
On level 28,
the enemies slow
to a crawl on BurgerTime.
|
Here's Bryan
Wagner's wr Rolling Thunder score, made during a break on his wr
attempt on BurgerTime.
|
A close-up of
Bryan's wr score.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Don continues
to play some non-tourney game titles.
|
Tim attempts to
regain WC (World Champion) status on LSA Squad.
|
Paul Drury,
from Nottingham, England, asks Bryan about his
unique wr attempts.
|
 |
 |
 |
Chris continues
to try for the
record on Radical Radial.
|
The British duo
of Paul and Tony have a bit of a chat with Walter.
|
Perry and Rob
have a little 'down-time' during the tourney.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Like a number
of players, Cameron skips the tourney games to concentrate on one or two
titles.
|
Likewise, Pat
also chooses to go
for records on a couple of games, versus playing in the tourney.
|
Perry just has
to check out Abdner's incredible prowess on Ms. Pac.
|
 |
 |
 |
As was the case
during a lot of
the event, Steve's playing Joust,
and David takes on Tron.
|
Robert Griffin
has already pummeled the Joust 2 wr, yet goes for more.
|
A close-up view
of the new
(and continuing to grow) wr.
|
 |
 |
 |
Rob's well over
5 million,
and counting...
|
Here's one of
the many unusual screens that make up Joust 2.
|
A flash shot
shows Rob, and the game, with a little more clarity.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Lisa and Anna
have a go on the Ladies Challenge pinballs.
|
Players in the
main tourney continue to try and raise their scores.
|
Morningdove
just won't let
herself be photographed.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The players are
still hard at work.
|
Tony Temple
shows his stuff on his wr title game, Missile Command.
|
Richard Marsh
always has to get
in a few games of Tempest.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Jenn and Nick
check out one of the many games on the Funspot floor.
|
Rob is still
adding points to his
wr game of Joust 2.
|
8 million and
change, and still going.
|
 |
 |
 |
| A close-up of
Rob's score.
|
Eric Ahlers
tries his hand
at Robotron.
|
Pat tries hard
for a new personal record on Indiana Jones.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Rob's really
into this wave...
|
On a break from
score-crunching, Rob plays a little Indy.
|
Everyone
gathers around the
popular Indiana Jones title.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Fred and Tim
give LSA Squad a go.
|
Robert's
closing in on the 10 million point mark on Joust 2...
|
We're
ever-closer to possibly
turning the score over, for
the first time in history !!
|
 |
 |
 |
There's the
turnover - the zeroes
are all there, but the '1' is missing !
|
Here's a close-up
of Rob's historical accomplishment on Joust 2.
|
This shot shows
the glass overlay
to the game, and play tips.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Another one of
the 40 different screens that appear in Joust 2.
|
A group of
players checks out
the game Track & Field.
|
The group
continues to 'rap'
about T & F.
|
 |
 |
 |
The
always-cheerful Fred Pastore checks out Greg Erway's game
of Depthcharge.
|
Robert
continues to play, even tho he's gone well over the 10M mark.
|
A close-up of
the current score on Rob's continuing Joust 2 wr game.
|
 |
 |
 |
Robert is now
almost to the
12 1/2 million mark !
|
After about 8
hours, the 13M
point is reached.
|
Wave 627 is the
one that Rob chooses to finish his game on.
|
 |
 |
 |
After spending
two minutes to kill
off the 64 lives he had left, Rob
winds up the game.
|
Here's a close-up
of the final score; 13,012,450 points - easily a wr !
|
Robert enters
his standard
message, which is for his son.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Surprise - the
high score table shows a strange 9,999,999 point score.
|
Robert proudly
poses beside the game, after his multi-hour battle !
|
A close-up of
the game's score table.
|
 |
 |
 |
David Cruz
poses beside Tron,
which he just set a new wr on.
|
Here's the
record score (with the millions digit of 7 not shown).
|
A close-up of
the Tron wr.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Darren plays
some more on Indy, while another big fan of the game, Robert, looks on.
|
Walter gets
another set of players
to sign his 'Funspot VIII' posters.
|
Under 'the
Master's' watchful
eye, Tim tries to get a record
on Astro Fighter.
|
 |
 |
 |
Smiling Brit
Greg Mott poses by
his 'contender' title, Robotron.
|
Greg decides to
have a go at Donkey Kong, one of his fave games, as Steve stands by.
|
Chris has still
not given up
hope of getting his wr back.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Robert jams to
tunes while he jousts for a TGTS wr on Joust 2.
|
Another
headphone aficionado, Cameron Feltner, tries a game of Elevator Action,
as Adam watches.
|
Pat explains
his Frogger pursuits
to one of the attendees.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Time for a
little joke on Fred Pastore, courtesy of prankster Mike Stulir.
|
Mike (and joke
associates)
surround Fred while he's
playing Astro Fighter.
|
Fred takes the
time to read the t-shirt, and soon realizes the joke.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Another fan of Indiana
Jones, Tom Votava, joins Rob and Darren.
|
Joel Hedge is
manning the
Battlezone controls.
|
Don moves in
for a peek
at how Joel is doing.
|
 |
 |
 |
Rob's done with
another tough
5-man game of Joust 2.
|
Greg and Steve
are still on their 2-player game of Donkey Kong.
|
Fred checks out
Perry's
proficiency at playing The End.
|
 |
 |
 |
Tourney
entrants chat, and play,
up and down the length of this aisle.
|
The Crams have
a pow-wow, as Martin plays one more game.
|
Here's an
exclusive look at the soon to be released TG book of wr's II.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Cameron poses
beside his favorite game - Elevator Action.
|
Richard decides
to try a
game of Gauntlet.
|
Taking a rare
break from Tron, David tries out day 3's Mystery
Game - Vs. Duck
Hunt.
|
 |
 |
 |
All the games
on 'tourney row'
are getting a workout.
|
Before leaving
for Patrick's, I
took a shot of Abdner's current
Ms. Pac-Man game.
|
This close-up pic shows Abdner closing in on 800K, and he's still on his first man (or,
woman !).
|
 |
 |
 |
| Most of the
tourney players have arrived at Patrick's, including Scootie, Christian, and
Morningdove.
|
Pat and Steve
mug for the camera,
as the rest of this group chats it up.
|
The 'Brit's
table' has a few 'American blokes' joining in on their fun.
|
 |
 |
 |
My table
featured quite a
few of my gaming friends.
|
The 'Cram crew'
are all
together, at a table.
|
Here's the last
table of gamers.
|
 |
 |
 |
| After getting back from Patrick's, I captured
the day's high scores, by Robert Griffin, on Joust 2.
|
Richard fits in
a game that he holds the wr on - S.T.U.N. Runner.
|
Perry fits in
another game
of Mario Bros.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Robert takes a
break from Joust 2, by playing a little on the original.
|
Walter holds
another group of
gamers 'captive', so they can sign
off on the posters he's
brought.
|
This close-up of
the Joust 2 high-score table shows Robert Griffin's new 5-man wr.
|
 |
 |
 |
A group of
players give
Off Road a try.
|
My gaming
'buddy-ette', Christian Cram, poses next to her wr title game, Starship 1.
|
Lovely
Christian strikes a pose.
|
 |
 |
 |
| As son David
(off-camera) distracts her, Christian poses yet again.
|
Darren Harris
is well on his way to a great Indy score (over 1.1M now).
|
A new Indiana
Jones wr - 1,260,570 points !
|
 |
 |
 |
| Darren proudly
poses next to the game he has two wr's on.
|
Looks like Gary
is telling that
old butter-churn joke again...
|
The popular 'Joust-Galaxian'
row
is crowded with gamers yet again.
|
 |
 |
 |
This screenshot
from Rolling Thunder shows Bryan Wagner's
wr at the top.
|
A close-up of
the record score...
|
Finally, here's
the high-score table showing a number of great scores
on Rolling Thunder.
|
 |
 |
 |
| You can get a
feel for the lighting in the Funspot gameroom from this pic.
|
That's better -
the flash shows
Tina consulting with Lisa Paul.
|
Eric, Don and
Bryan chat about
the events of the day.
|
 |
 |
 |
An accomplished
Robotron
player himself, Rob checks out Abdner's game play.
|
Day 4 begins
with my playing Leprechaun for the first time ever.
|
Here's the Leprechaun
explanatory screen.
|
 |
 |
 |
With my decent
372,040 score in
the corner, here's a playfield
screen from Leprechaun.
|
Christian and
Jenn try for top scores on the Ladies Challenge games.
|
Players try to
top their score on
the contest games, as the contest hours wind down.
|
 |
 |
 |
Gary enjoys a
light moment in
the contestant game area.
|
Linda Padhi
dons 'buds' while she plays a Ladies Challenge title.
|
The tourney
games section is crowded in the early afternoon.
|
 |
 |
 |
Darren checks
out Rob's
ability on Joust.
|
Tony and Gary
continue to
try for great scores.
|
At the TG
table, Morningdove continues to hide from the camera.
|
 |
 |
 |
M.D. uses a
postal mailer
as a personal photo-shield.
|
Pat keeps
trying on Indiana Jones.
|
After making
the wr on Astro Invader, Fred poses by the game.
|
 |
 |
 |
The new Astro
Invader wr is
shown at the top of this shot.
|
A close-up of
the Astro Invader wr.
|
The TG table
clears out in
advance of the awards ceremony.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Tourney players
gather for the tournament 'awards' ceremony.
|
Gary starts
things off with a little help from Emily, the current 'Miss Winni'.
|
Players drink
in the proceedings.
|
 |
 |
 |
Mike prepares a
drawing for gaming-
related items that he's donating.
|
With Emily's
assistance, names
are drawn for the prizes.
|
Walter begins
his TG announcements.
|
 |
 |
 |
Gary, and
others, listen intently
to Walter's speech.
|
With the Brit's
gathered, Walter goes over some special TG items for them.
|
Out comes the
British hot sauce !
|
 |
 |
 |
Billy's limited
edition sauce
is
shown for everyone to see.
|
The 'British
Invasion' poster is explained to all by Walter.
|
Walter is ready
to unveil a special surprise for Dave and Todd.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Things get
silly as Walter gives Dave the 'apron of the Braggin' Dragon'.
|
With Todd as
his protégé, Dave
gets 'inducted' by Walter.
|
Finally - back
to business. Mike beams when he learns that he's
won the POTY award.
|
 |
 |
 |
The players
begin to leave, now
that the proceedings are over.
|
Tim McIlroy,
now reinducted into the WC club, poses next to LSA Squad, which he set
a wr on.
|
The LSA
Squad high score
table shows Tim's triumph.
|
 |
 |
 |
| A close-up of
the new wr...
|
Another score close-up;
this time, it's Cameron Feltner's personal best mark on Elevator Action.
|
A fullscreen
view of
Cameron's score.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Time for Brian
Kuh's 'Sweet Sixteen' - Brian poses beside the sixteen titles he set wr's on,
on day 1 of the event.
|
First up is LeMans.
|
Next is Indy
4.
|
 |
 |
 |
| More Indy 4.
|
Heavy Barrel
is next.
|
Another shot of Heavy
Barrel.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Now, we're to Rampage.
|
A vertical shot
with Rampage.
|
Brian poses
with Guerrilla War.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The vertical
shot of Guerrilla War.
|
Radical
Radial is next.
|
Radical
Radial, take II.
|
 |
 |
 |
| APB is
next in the 'lineup' !
|
Another one of APB.
|
A vertical shot
with Lazarian.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The horizontal
view of Lazarian.
|
Here's another
driving game title
for Brian - Super Sprint.
|
Super Sprint,
again.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Indiana
Jones is next on the multi-game hit parade.
|
Another view of
Indy.
|
Chase H.Q.
brings us back
to the driving theme.
|
 |
 |
 |
| An alternate
take on Chase H.Q.
|
Brian poses
with Paperboy, a
game he's really improved on.
|
A second
'delivery' of Paperboy.
|
 |
 |
 |
Driving game
number 7 is up
next - Turbo OutRun.
|
The vertical
shot for
Turbo OutRun.
|
Brian poses
with The Real Ghostbusters.
|
 |
 |
 |
| View 2 of The
Real Ghostbusters.
|
Time for an
alien themed
game - Xenophobe.
|
Brian poses
again with Xenophobe.
|
 |
 |
 |
Time for a potpourri
of
Hot Rod pics.
|
As the Fonz
would say... "sit on it" !
|
Another seated
view.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Brian decides
to stand.
|
How about a
view of the
other side of Hot Rod.
|
Hot Rod,
take 6.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Time to be
seated, again.
|
A final 'take'
on Hot Rod.
|
This mat greets
visitors entering the main arcade area doorway.
|
 |
 |
 |
| As my trip to
Funspot 2006 winds up, I photograph the few remaining tourney players, as they
depart.
|
One last trip
to the gameroom
reveals a newly unveiled
title - Lunar Rescue.
|
A complete view
of Lunar Rescue.
|
 |
 |
 |
A shot of the
modern-looking
cabinet of Ninja Gaiden.
|
A 'primo' Warlords
game wraps up my arcade game picture coverage.
|
The 2005 POTY
poster features
two players - David Nelson and Michael Sao Pedro.
|
 |
 |
 |
Here's a look
at the Funspot
8 Tourney poster.
|
As I went to
leave, I decided to snap some views of Funspot. Here's the main gameroom
area entryway.
|
The middle
level entrance
doors appear here.
|
 |
 |
 |
Another
entryway for the
middle level is in this photo.
|
The fancy
Funspot sign beckons to cars passing by the complex.
|
Another sign
points the way
to gaming nirvana.
|
 |
|
|
After
unexpectedly running into Walter, Rob and Tom at the airport,
I captured this shot of the trio.
|
|
|
