Arcade Madness Tournament...Please Critique the Idea...

[stu33]

So, I'm considering hosting an arcade tournament on my MAME machine for some buddies of mine.  Basically an excuse to ditch the wives/girlfriends/domestic partner for a night, get drunk, and do some gambling (if that were legal).  I'd like to get some critiques, I'm sure someone here has done something like this before, as well as any tips for making this more fun.

Here's the format:
Single elimination brackets (think March Madness)
Each round will consist of 3 games, played head-to-head.  Best 2 out of 3 scores takes it.  Each player plays each game twice, and the higher of the 2 scores is used.  So for round 1, Player 1 will play each of these games twice, taking the higher score for each.  Same with player 2.  Player 2 has higher scores on both Ms PacMan and BurgerTime, so Player 2 moves on.

Each player will put in 5 or 10 bucks, winner take all (if gambling were legal).

Here are the games:
Round 1: Classics:
Ms PacMan
Donkey Kong
BurgerTime

Round 2: Trackball:
Missile Command
Marble Madness
Centipede

Round 3: Shooters (Only if we get 16):
Galaga
Asteroids
Space Invaders

Final Round, Head to Head:
Joust
Track and Field
Dig Dug


So, any ideas anyone?  I've thrown some really good parties, I'd like this one to be the best.

[Nephasth]

Hook up a second monitor/tv mounted above the cabinet or off to the side so people can watch without crowding the players.

[Donkbaca]

I think it would be better if you had 2 player simultaneous games, otherwise, that is a LOT of sitting around...

I was thinking about gambling but my idea is different.

I have a working coin door that takes tokens, so I was thinking about selling tokens, say a buck a piece.  That way, people put in as much money as they want.  I was thinking about picking just one game and then people could play throughout the night as they wanted,  person with high score at the end of the night gets the cash.  But in my situation this is probably going to be going on while there is a UFC or something else on for people to do.

[stu33]

There's going to be at least one card game going on at the same time.  Plus plenty of alcohol and wings.  I figure once the first round is done, it'll move along pretty quickly.  None of these guys are seasoned arcade vets, and I'm going to sit out the arcade portion, as it wouldn't be fair.


Great idea with the second screen, btw.  I'll have that one going on top of the cabinet.

[yotsuya]

I think it would be better if you had 2 player simultaneous games, otherwise, that is a LOT of sitting around...

I was thinking about gambling but my idea is different.

I have a working coin door that takes tokens, so I was thinking about selling tokens, say a buck a piece.  That way, people put in as much money as they want.  I was thinking about picking just one game and then people could play throughout the night as they wanted,  person with high score at the end of the night gets the cash.  But in my situation this is probably going to be going on while there is a UFC or something else on for people to do.

That's a cool idea, Donk. That way, it's up to the player how invested they want to be. Nice!

[stu33]

You guys might be right on the timing.  Maybe 1 game per round might be better.

[Gray_Area]

In reverse order, I suggest:

Track and Field (the only real 'head-to-head' game there)

Galaga (better than Galaxian; Asteroids is only sort of a shooter)

Missile Command (Centiped is basically a shooter, and Marble Madness is a special kind of game)

DK (in the spirit of recent events)