High scores - when someone is BSing

[Gray_Area]

I really wonder how this Pac-Man score came about.....

http://www.smalltalksystems.com/clayberg/arcade/ElectronicGamesMagScoresFeb83.jpg

[Savannan]

I know what you mean....

one of the records that Ive always wondered about was robotron .. 300+million according to TG. getting a million if a feat its self let alone 300+ million! would love to see a video on how they did it.

Cant remember where I heard it...perhaps KING OF KONG...but a bunch of the top players back in the early 80's got together...had some photo shoot and one of the top players them called out another for fraud and he couldnt deliver.

photos can be doctored, videos can be too.  ..its hard to tell nowadays

[opt2not]

I've watched John Mcallister's internet streams twice for his world record breaking scores -- Joust and Asteroids. Believe me, they're real.

Once you've completely figure out a game, patterns to use or tricks to maximize your score, it turns more into a question of endurance than skill. Anyone can learn how to play a game and train your muscles to react quickly enough, but the real question is, can you play that game for 50+ hours straight to achieve a world record.  Would you want to?

I surely don't have the mental capacity to stay awake for that long. I get loopy by the 30th hour. 

[Osirus23]

It seems fake scores were somewhat common back then. Steve Sanders admits to it and discusses it in King of Kong and Chasing Ghosts.

[opt2not]

One person makes it common?

[D_Harris]

One person makes it common?

No, not one person. But it was common.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[leapinlew]

I've watched John Mcallister's internet streams twice for his world record breaking scores -- Joust and Asteroids. Believe me, they're real.

Once you've completely figure out a game, patterns to use or tricks to maximize your score, it turns more into a question of endurance than skill. Anyone can learn how to play a game and train your muscles to react quickly enough, but the real question is, can you play that game for 50+ hours straight to achieve a world record.  Would you want to?

I surely don't have the mental capacity to stay awake for that long. I get loopy by the 30th hour.  

I'd say lying about a hiscore is more common than those willing to play 50+ hours. You tell me, which is easier?

Whats interesting about the screenshot in the original post is that it lists pacman with an insanely hi-score. Pacman isn't an endurance game, it has a final level. So the question of "How is this score possible?" is a valid one. Taken from the Pac-Man Wiki:

Perfect play
A perfect Pac-Man game occurs when the player achieves the maximum possible score on the first 255 levels (by eating every possible dot, power pellet, fruit, and enemy) without losing a single life, and then scoring as many points as possible in the last level.[27][28] As verified by the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard on July 3, 1999, the first person to achieve this maximum possible score (3,333,360 points) was Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida, who performed the feat in about six hours.[28][29]
In September 2009, David Race of Beavercreek, Ohio, became the sixth person to achieve a perfect score. His time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds set a new record for the fastest time to obtain a perfect score.[30]
In December 1982, an 8-year-old boy, Jeffrey R. Yee, supposedly received a letter from U.S. President Ronald Reagan congratulating him on a worldwide record of 6,131,940 points, a score only possible if he had passed the Split-Screen Level.[28] Whether or not this event happened as described has remained in heated debate among video-game circles since its supposed occurrence. In September 1983, Walter Day, chief scorekeeper at Twin Galaxies, took the US National Video Game Team on a tour of the East Coast to visit video game players who claimed they could get through the Split-Screen. No video game player could demonstrate this ability. In 1999, Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 to anyone who could provably pass through the Split-Screen Level before January 1, 2000; the prize went unclaimed.[28]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man

[Cakemeister]

Maybe a patched ROM.

[RayB]

Maybe a patched ROM.

In 1981?
Back then scores in magazines just relied on people sending them a letter claiming it. TG and Walter Day didn't start official regulated score tracking until around 1983.

There will always be people who just want to see their name in print or as #1 using the easy way. Today, check any online leaderboard and chances are the top score is an impossible number (entered in via hacking the submission URL)

[Gray_Area]

I know what you mean....

one of the records that Ive always wondered about was robotron .. 300+million according to TG. getting a million if a feat its self let alone 300+ million! would love to see a video on how they did it.

I've scored over two million on level 5 difficulty. But yes it was hard. I watched a MARP record score of Robotron, and while I did pick up some of the technique, there was something magical about how the player moved and kept enemies in the line of fire. The score was at least seven million....or was it seventeen?

[(+_+)]

Many of the world records boil down to who can endure playing the game for 2 days straight without passing out from exhaustion. If I had a few days to waste, the ability to stay awake for those few days and not have the stupid thing snow screen on me I'd beat the Robotron record without problem. But then again, I really enjoy my sleep.

What impresses me more is a really skilled player. I've watched people who have the ability to roll the game and have not been impressed by their playing style at all.