Posted: 5/17/2013 8:56:03 AM
By: Aaron Auzins
When Galloping Ghost Arcade first opened its doors Aug. 14, 2010, it became clear gamers were still attracted to the coin-op titles they grew up with. As gamers come and go, a certain segment of the arcade's player base stays hungry for the pursuit of high scores and is first in line when a new arcade cabinet is installed on the floor. This segment continues to grow each year at the arcade, and with this mind, Galloping Ghost Arcade unveiled its Gamer of the Year Award at its first-anniversary event.
The winners of the award have since been immortalized at the arcade and have received a plaque for their dedication and contributions, but, more importantly, in the most recent year since its introduction, it has arguably brought something more prestigious to the arcade - a chase for the accolade and a tight-knit community that frequents the hobby hotspot.
"The criteria for the award is much more than just setting high scores," said Galloping Ghost Arcade co-owner Doc Mack. "It's all about courtesy, interaction, being involved in events and content streams and more."
The inaugural award was presented to Matt Rocco, who showed his dedication by being the first-ever year pass owner at Galloping Ghost Arcade. By tackling a number of the arcade's scores and being a friendly face at the establishment, Rocco was identified by Mack as "a pretty easy choice" for the first award.
"Originally, when I won the gamer of the year, it was actually a total surprise," Rocco said. "Doc hadn't mentioned there was going to be a gamer of the year award, but he continually asked if I was coming to the one-year anniversary, so I knew something was up. Even though there technically wasn't a chase, I worked my ass off trying my best to attain as many high scores as possible. I spend at least five days a week in the arcade. Thankfully, I've got a cool wife who puts up with it. I'm personally most proud of my Rush'n Attack world record score, but that may have come in my second year of gaming."
Scooping up the award in the second year was James White, who tackled any game possible to rack up a score. Currently, White has more than 1,500 tokens on Aurcade.com based on his score rankings.
"James didn't have the same notoriety (as Rocco in the first year), but we could really see it the next year," said Mack of White's rise in the arcade.
"When I got the Gamer of the Year title in August of 2012, to be honest, I do not think there was a whole lot of people up for the award at the time when I got it," White said. "Almost everybody was saying 'Are you looking forward to your day?' Well, I was humble and said 'You do not know that for sure.' So, back then, I am not so sure if it was a really big chase for it. I was honored to receive the award and showed it off to my family and friends at work. Now I have my own trading card from Twin Galaxies, in which was very exciting indeed."
Now that the award has been established, Rocco, White and Mack all said the pool of contenders is surging in size every year.
"With the new (2013) award, people are really interested in it," Mack said. "All of the regulars are really pushing for it. For example, Matt Walters never played for scores before and is now setting many scores. He never played bullet hell titles and now he has high scores in them. It's impressive how he has grown as a gamer and immersed himself in the community. There is an avalanche of new players each year that are doing their own thing inside the arcade."
Mack said he has given challenges and suggestions to those players who ask, so they can work on certain scores or achievements. He added a collective of players routinely find a game and rotate the high score on the machine.
"There are many good players out there: Matt Walters, Fred DeHart, Chris Teter, to name a few," said Rocco. "Of course, you have James White, but I don't think he can win since he won last year. You also have to consider all of the members that are selected for Team GGA. These guys travel all over the United States representing the arcade and continually bringing back win after win in Mortal Kombat. Anyone Doc chooses will be well deserving. I know all these guys spend hours working on games."
"In my opinion, whoever gets the title this August is going to be a mystery to me," White said. "I wish I could say who gets in, but I would rather not. It will be very exciting and close and it's going to be a huge decision by Doc and Gerry this year."
Mack wouldn't divulge any leads on a frontrunner for the 2013 Gamer of the Year at Galloping Ghost Arcade, but he made it clear that the spotlight is on a select group of regulars.
"Easily six to seven people come to mind this year, who fit what we look for in a Gamer of the Year," Mack said. "Right now we're actually leaning toward one, but, by next year, it's going to be such a difficult choice with all of the new players. We're getting so many high score players coming in just to set scores on our machines. We even had one come from Canada for a week and set nine different world records. So far, our locals haven't touched one. That's an impressive feat."
Photo: Matt Rocco (right) receives the inaugural Galloping Ghost Arcade Gamer of the Year Award from Doc Mack in 2011; photo from the Galloping Ghost Productions Facebook account.