And you technically finished first on Galaxian!

Enjoying a game will do wonders for your score. Interestingly though, some games don't really start to become fun until you've already put in the hard yards getting over the early learning hump. Somehow even Phoenix had grown on me by the end of the tourney. I absolutely hated Phoenix at first, but just as the contest was coming to an end I learned a few things that made me want to keep playing. The game is still complete shit, but I guess it's my kind of shit 'cause I'm actually looking forward to playing it next time I visit Ken and see if I can't crack 100K.

Point being, I wish I had practiced beforehand because it wasn't until I forced myself to play Phoenix that I learned I actually kind of liked it. Had I not been forced to play it I would have written it off as unplayable garbage.

VonDummpenstein Wrote: And you technically finished first on Galaxian!

I'd like to thank the academy for voting...

Wow what an incredibly nice person you are Duc. The arcade gaming community is lucky to have you.

Happy birthday!

Steve W Wrote: aiw2012 Wrote: Ben Falls' recent Kangaroo one for instance, cracked me the hell up! :) Ben is one of the few people that might actually like Kangaroo more than I do. Actually I probably still like it more.

Ah yes, I recall he mentioning that he had beaten you on that game during a tournament, though I don't remember which one. The game play looks really crude in it, heh. I guess ya just have to adapt and get used to it, eh? Oh, by the way, are you and Bryan Wagner brothers?

-Duc
nowornever12001@yahoo.com
www.canastamusic.com (awesome Chicago band)

VonDummpenstein Wrote: Enjoying a game will do wonders for your score. Interestingly though, some games don't really start to become fun until you've already put in the hard yards getting over the early learning hump.

Wild Western and Arabian are both like this. Steep learning curve for both but the payoff is immensely enjoyable. Phoenix and its sequel, Pleiades, are both like this as well.

VonDummpenstein Wrote: Somehow even Phoenix had grown on me by the end of the tourney. I absolutely hated Phoenix at first, but just as the contest was coming to an end I learned a few things that made me want to keep playing. The game is still complete shit, but I guess it's my kind of shit 'cause I'm actually looking forward to playing it next time I visit Ken and see if I can't crack 100K.

I felt the same way. I never played Phoenix much, and consequently always sucked at it, because I thought it was too hard. But after playing it a bunch at BOTA2, and more than doubling my personal best for my efforts, I'm enjoying it a lot more and I also want to continue playing it. In fact, I'm seriously considering buying a dedicated Phoenix for my game room. There is a nice one for sale for only $200 in my area. And I could pick up a Pleiades board for it at some point. Silly of me, considering Phoenix and Pleiades are both on the 60-in-1, which I already have, but the 60-in-1's emulation isn't all that great, especially in the case of Pleiades which seems to play much harder on the 60-in-1.

I disagree about Phoenix being complete shit. You want complete shit from an early '80s space shooter, play Eagle or Stratovox. :)

VonDummpenstein Wrote: Point being, I wish I had practiced beforehand because it wasn't until I forced myself to play Phoenix that I learned I actually kind of liked it. Had I not been forced to play it I would have written it off as unplayable garbage.

This is part of the beauty of the BOTA, in my opinion. With 12 games in each BOTA event it's a fair bet that some of the games are ones you haven't played much if at all. The BOTA format not only forces you to play those games but the team play aspect gives your teammates incentive to help you learn the games that are new to you and improve on them. The CAG hobby needs more events that encourage people to play a bigger variety of games from the golden era. There were hundreds of great games produced, and many of them are underrated and are virtually ignored today. Who knew that I would like Alpine Ski and Hyper Sports so much? Not me, because I had played only two games of Alpine Ski in my life before BOTA2 and I'd never played Hyper Sports before, ever.

To me, these two features of BOTA highlight a major fundamental flaw in a certain other CAG tournament: out of all of the titles in the event you pick a subset of them -- the games you want to play -- and you ignore the rest. So every player not only is playing only for himself but specialists wind up dominating on several titles and finishing in the top three every year. Completely boring, and even worse there's nothing fun about it. The team play aspect of BOTA makes it a much more social and fun event.

It was a blast to compete. Lucky to live 25 minutes from one of the locations!!! Galaxian ROCKS and those who don't try it ALOT, will never get it.
Bill C