As I did last year, I'll post a quick review of all the games I played in the main tourney. I had no intention of playing the main event until I got talked into it by John. Turned out ok but I missed drinking at the bar on Saturday unfortunately as that was moving day for me.

1. Exerion - At first I disliked the controls, felt like I was playing in water but after a few plays it grew on me and the strategy of staying alive vs trying to control your shots for big points was a fun mix I thought. I think I ended the tourney around 650k on it and would like to roll it next time I get up to FS.

2. Head On - I never could get into this one in the past and was pretty happy that Fred put the score up out of reach. Not my type of game traditionally.

3. Jr. Pac-Man - I'm not a Pac-Man fan but I have enjoyed this game in the past and if one was going in I was glad it was this one as I like this one the best in the series I think (other than Pac-Land). I think I got my PB of 58k and lost all 4 men on the train board. Turbo version is way easier :)

4. Kick Man - I had played this in the past and found it to be difficult on my hands so I was also happy this was clocked by Donald and Jason. I can still say I finished 3rd on it with a whopping 0.63% :)

5. Moon Patrol - One of my favorites. Thought it was a bit of an interesting choice since a few folks can play over an hour but maybe it was just me but the boardset seemed to play a bit tougher than what I am accustomed to. Maybe Irem vs Williams or something along those lines but I was happy it made it in. Such a good game. I wanted to try for a bigger score but time was becoming an issue for me.

6. Night Driver - Interesting game that grew on me a bit the more I played it. I couldn't play it more than a few games at a clip though as it was messing with my eyes. Driving to dinner on Sunday in that rainstorm reminded me of playing this. Props to Dave Nelson on a killer score.

7. Pac & Pal - This one grew on me as well once I started playing it more and more. Different Pac dynamic with the power button and grouping, etc. He's not really much of a pal however, stealing all your junk. Never saw this one before and would totally play it again.

8. Popeye - One of my most disliked games of all-time. I hate running away from things in games, lol. Popeye is a big dude, he should totally crush everything without any aid.

9. Stratovox - I practiced this a bit during the week and the day before the tourney I was able to break 100k one game but averaged around 50k-75k generally. A game of patience of which I have little.

10. The End - I'm not into games that can end without losing all your lives and there were 2 of those in the tourney this year. Once I got into it though it wasn't too bad I thought. Fast paced at a certain point which I like.

11. The Pit - This was in Bill Holmes' crap tourney which I did not play in but I had seen it a bit in the past. Aside from the controls being frustrating within the game it was kinda fun surprisingly. I saw a lot of folks digging this one ;)

12. Xevious - A popular game when I was a lad but one I never got into that much but I never disliked either. I got a PB for myself which I was happy with. Watching Dwayne play it was fun.

13. Zarzon - My most guilty pleasure of the tourney. Super fun, super fast. I'm still mad John beat my score in the last few minutes :) I couldn't figure out what to do with that super fast bug board once I got there but definitely want to try to pass it in the future.

14. Zero Hour - Was 50-50 on it, I didn't dislike it but there was not much variance to it either. In true Universal fashion, very low scoring.

I played a bit in the 30th anniversary and played Wacko and Rally-X of which I had played all those in the past and enjoyed them all except Tapper :) Was neat to watch Greg Erway play it though, seems so easy lol.

I was tied up on Sunday in the main tourney so I was happy I got 90-100k on my first Rally-X game right out of the gate when I was taking a break from the main.

It looks like I had played 7 of the 14 tourney games previously and 7 I had never played before the tourney so that was a cool mix for me and very fun.

Was awesome meeting lots of new folks as well as seeing all my friends again. Congratulations to everyone who upped their own scores each day. Can't wait till next year.

The worst game of course was Popeye. Watching David crush night driver was nice. Got to see Fred smash head on. Saw some of Cram and Donalds games on Kick. Yeah I'd like to kick that game allright.

I'll look forward to your review again next year as you always have a lot of stuff to say about a game.