ABOUT THE AUTHOR .... AND
OTHERS
As you might guess, I
like video games. Crystal Castles (or Crystal, as I call it) is
the only game I have a world's record on, but it's also the only
one I've played, and liked, for so long. I've been playing it for
over three years, and have logged in around 5000 games!! Most
have been serious games where I've played for a good score, but
some have been 'fun' games, where I would try something
unusual, like trying to play without using the hat, or trying to
go from beginning to end without dying. These type of games help
when you're frustrated, or bored.
I was anything but bored when I started playing the game.
I averaged 30 plays a week for 2 months! In actuality, I first
saw the game on the now defunct TV show Starcade in the
Fall of 1983. I had to wait three months until it arrived at a
local arcade, but once I tried it, I was hooked.
The first game I played, I only managed to get onto the
3rd screen of level 1 (or 1/3, for short), but I kept going, and soon, with the
help of a magazine article by Tad Perry, I was using the 3 warps
to get to the high levels on every game. (Note that throughout this booklet, I
will most often list which board I'm referring to by the level and screen number
it occupies in the game; I use the form x/y, for level x, screen y, and the way
to say it is "x y" (or, "one three" in the above example).)
It took 300 games until I finally completed level 10, and
that was a happy occasion. My score was 734,688, and my time
bonus was 104,000. This seems awful by my standards now! I
continued to play, and slowly improve both my score, and my
patterns. That is the primary reason that I have continued to
play the game for so long - I keep making improvements. If you
don't, you soon grow tired and quit a game.
I crossed the 800,000 'barrier' after 500 games,
and then accomplished my goal of beating the game designer's high
of 828,000 about 300 games later. The designer, Franz X.
Lanzinger (FXL), has
helped me with information a number of times, and through talking
with him, I found out his best score. (Note that his high score
is now over 831,000.)
I kept improving my patterns, and set my sights on Eric
Ginner's (EDG) high score of 857,689. I finally got in the 850's,
and I checked with Steve Harris of the (then) Twin Galaxies
International Scoreboard. He told me that someone had an 869,884
score, which then seemed impossible to me. His name was Ali
Nodjoumi (ALI). Steve told me that his 'secret' was to
eliminate gemeaters, which I had thought of doing long ago. The
thing was that I thought that they moved too fast to make it
feasible to have good patterns using the gemeater elimination
method. But, the first two games I tried actually doing it, I was
able to eliminate almost all of the ones I tried for. Needless to
say, I changed my patterns to incorporate this method.
I finally beat EDG's score after 1,100 games, but I still
thought ALI's score was impossible to beat. The main problem was,
as with a lot of games, I didn't have adequate patterns. I
received some help from Phil Britt, and Mike Quarles (MQ), both
of Riverside, CA, that helped me improve some, but not enough.
One day in March, 1985, I had taken up a game that would have
been an 870's score, but I lost one of my lives near the end.
Unbelievably enough, I still set a record for myself, even with a
50,000 life bonus. And then, the very next day, I got 868,609.
But, I still couldn't seem to crack ALI's score, or 870,000. I
soon 'gave up', and concentrated on other games,
including my second favorite of all time, Marble Madness.
The 1985 Video Game Masters Tournament rolled around, and
I had my chance to get a good score, and have it published. I
'only' had to beat an 845,832 score by EDG. I did that,
with 861,159, but MQ beat me with 864,782. Little did I know that
I'd have over 20,000 more than my score for the next year's
tournament!
After my 'failure' at the summer contest, I was
really frustrated on Crystal, and I probably would never have
played it much again, except for one thing - a friend of mine,
Frank Seay (FGS), got interested in the game, and asked me for
help since he knew I was good. I taught him all of my patterns,
and he quickly improved. As a matter of fact, he improved so much
that after a few months, he topped my score, and soon after that,
ALI's! Needless to say, I was mad at myself, as someone who had
worked and practiced far less at the game had beaten me, the very
person who taught him how to play! At that point, in late 1985, I
started playing the game seriously again.
I soon also beat ALI, but couldn't beat FGS's world record
of 873,549. However, I slowly improved. Since I was newly
interested in the game, I decided to buy it when a local
Aladdin's Castle arcade had one for $300. That was, of course,
the turning point. Since I now had free access to the game, I
could improve more quickly, and try out different patterns.
Finally, in May, 1986, I beat FGS with 874,168. Because of
our competition for score, we were playing a lot during this
time. In addition, we were also trying to practice for the 1986
Masters Tournament, to be held in late June.
Well, the night before the tournament began, Frank topped
my score again, with just over 877,000. Needless to say, I wasn't
happy, as I wanted to keep the record. But, I still concentrated
on the contest.
The first day of the contest, I got a great 876,133 score,
but then FGS beat me, a few games later, by less than 100 points.
Fortunately, I beat him back the next day, again by a small
amount. He wasn't able to play that day or the next, so I was
glad to be able to stay in the lead. However, he still held the
TRUE world's record. So, I went back the final day, and on only
my 7th game, made an incredible 881,306, which was of course the
contest high. I was about as happy on that game as when I first
completed "The End".
Well, FGS was the first to crack 870,000, and I had the
honor of breaking 880,000. But, was 890,000 possible? Probably, I
thought, but it wouldn't be easy. I still had to improve my
patterns more. Unbelievably, on my 881,306 game, I didn't
eliminate gemeaters on 8/1; I was still using an
'antique' pattern. I also didn't get any on 8/3. So,
there were two areas to improve on. I set to work, and devised
the patterns that I still use today. Finally, I broke into the
890's, with 890,469, set 09-20-86. I've broken 890,000 31 more
times, and my record now is 898,815, a score that I finally
consider to be a pretty good feat. Still, I know 900,000 to be
quite possible, though VERY difficult. To get it, I'll probably
have to play almost 1000 times, and have a game where the random
elements on each board work in my favor.
Well, back to reality. On my 898,815 game, I had a 60,000
life bonus (of course), and an incredibly fast 135,000 time
bonus. I eliminated both witches, and got all last gem bonuses.
In addition, I didn't die even once! I eliminated a total of 23
gemeaters, including 4 on both 8/3 and 9/2.
As far as my best 'minor' records to date, I
have a best time bonus of 136,000. My best score before bonuses,
when starting on level 8, is 705,508, and with the maximum number
of lives left. My best first game of the day is an 891,815. My
best day was 06-01-87, where I made three 890's scores in the
span of about ten games! First, I got 890,063. Then, the very
next game, I made 893,538!! Then, about eight games later, I made
one of my best scores ever, an 894,251! Plus, I have all of these
last three games on videotape, as an added bonus.
Well, enough about me. Read on, and enjoy the information
that follows. Hopefully you will soon have some great scores to
write about too. Good luck!
