Dan Coogan - Gravitar World Record
d...@cooganphoto.com
Well I finally did it -- 8,029,450 points on Gravitar -- a new world
record. 23 hours and 15 minutes -- unbelievable. I don't know where
the effort came from -- but I've been trying to break the record for
over 3 years with multiple attempts.
Ray Mueller set the bar so very high (4,722,200 points on 12/4/82) and
I will always honor that --- 24 years and nobody even came close. I
didn't even think I could until the moment it happened.
best,
Dan
visit my Gravitar site
http://www.cooganphoto.com/gravitar/
- dedicated to the 1982 Atari classic video arcade game Gravitar.
Hints and playing tips with screen captures, etc. included...
My Gravitar high score 8,029,450 World Record
Walt
I'm surprised the monitor and boardset held out that long! :-)
Happy Holidays,
Walt
Scott Caldwell
Let us know if they accept it. This begs the questions...
Did you put a pause on the game, so you could eat, sleep,
go other necessary things, etc.? After playing that long,
my mind would be numb and my hands and arms unusable.
Scott C.
phoenixarcade.com
Truly a great arcade accomplishment Dan. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy
or someone more deserving than you.
I tip my hat my good man.
darin
drago...@comcast.net
Awesome score for a real awesome game.
Congrats
Marcel
d...@cooganphoto.com
dvd and submit to Twin Galaxies -- though Brien King watched me play,
so he may be able to get the score in as a game that was Refereed --
either way it will happen.
best,
Dan
Defender
Darryl Pike
cnlmoore
I've always wondered how people take breaks during such marathon game plays.
Do you just build up enough extra lives and then run to the bathroom while
you loose a few? I guess that's one way to trim off the extra lives the
game cannot handle/recognize.
Chris
<d...@CooganPhoto.com> wrote in message
news:1166927929.7...@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com...
d...@cooganphoto.com
Well there is no pause in Gravitar -- those 2 ships keep coming at you
from the Red Planet about every 5-10 seconds. The key to taking a
break is:
1. Either have enough ships in reserve that you can afford to lose a
bunch (I don't recommend that, though I did have to destroy 122 ships
on purpose (20 at a time or so) to keep the "life maintenance" below
128, cause the game's memory will cause it to reset to "game over" --
which happened to me 3 times in past attempts). I did keep a tally
sheet of ship losses, so at the end of each game I could tally up the
number of ships I lost and subtract from the total earned. You earn a
ship every 10,000 points, so for a million points that's 100 ships +
the 4 you start with - ships lost. Keep the total ships in your
reserve under 128 and the game will not reset -- so if you lose a few
extras while taking a bathroom break, it dosen't really matter,
especialy if you have 80 in reserve.
or...
2. When you need a break, go into the Red Planet (preferably in the
visible landscape -- though the timer will be at 9 seconds) and shoot
the reactor, but don't exit the Red Planet, let it explode, then you
are free to hover around the Death Star for as long as you can keep a
decent hover pattern -- usually long enough to quickly use the
restroom, get a quick bite to eat or some water, stretch, etc... -- I
had to adjust the orbit, and I would ask my wife or Brien King to
monitor the hover pattern and call me back if it looked like I was
going to crash -- it's not like you can leave the game for an extended
period of time, but maybe a couple of minutes up to 5, but
eventually gravity will start to pull the ships orbit an it will crash
into the Death Star.
Another interesting thing about the Red Planet, on the 16th or 17th
time through, it reset back to 21 seconds for a couple of the Red
Planets, and then by the 18th time through it was back to 9 seconds --
I may be the only person who has experienced that specifically. And
yes, I was pretty numb, even with the 5 minute breaks every hour. My
hands, shoulders, etc... all needed a break as well as the mind being a
bit "punchy."
All in all, I'm very happy with the performance. Breaking the world
record has been a goal since I got the game in 2002, and it finally all
came together.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
best, Dan
r....@comcast.net
I can't imagine giving up my world record to a nicer guy.
....but 23 hours! Just thinking about it makes my back ache. I think
I will wait a few years before trying to get it back. :-)
~Ray
buzzardbait
Gamer2006
connection to the original record. It seems Twin Galaxies is being exposed
as somewhat of a sham in the face of a few records being removed for reasons
that have nothing to do with the skill or score of the player.
It's happening on a forum at allgames radio station
http://digg.com/podcasts/All_Games_Interactive/111059
http://www.allgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17349
"Defender" <darry...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1166972701.9...@48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com...
> Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... Congrats Dan.
>
> Darryl Pike
>
goo...@brentradio.com
it 24 hours straight.
Brent
On Dec 24, 1:50 pm, "Gamer2006" <g...@gmail.com> wrote:
> you better hope that Billy Mitchell doesn't dislike you or have some
> connection to the original record. It seems Twin Galaxies is being exposed
> as somewhat of a sham in the face of a few records being removed for reasons
> that have nothing to do with the skill or score of the player.
>
> It's happening on a forum at allgames radio stationhttp://digg.com/podcasts/All_Games_Interactive/111059
>
> http://www.allgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17349
>
> "Defender" <darrylp...@yahoo.ca> wrote in messagenews:1166972701.9...@48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... Congrats Dan.
>
> > Darryl Pike- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -
Tec-9
Congrats!! I've been following you and the Gravitar WR attempt
since the beginining. Glad to see you MORE than exceeded your goal.
What a great acheivement!!
-Mark
Tim O
I nearly missed this thread in the Christmas hustle. I love this kind
of stuff. Congrats, and it's great the original record holder is still
around and interested 20+ years later.
Tim
Joe M
on Gravitar. I'd sure like to see a clip of one of the tapes of your game
play.
Joe (joeameritech at ameritech dot net)
joema...@ameritech.net
<d...@CooganPhoto.com> wrote in message
news:1166927929.7...@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com...
Steve Prendergast
--
-Steve P.
All messages are scanned with Norton Anti-Virus
"Joe M" <joema...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:9xKjh.37226$wc5....@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net...
super_...@yahoo.com
Gamer2006 wrote:
> It seems Twin Galaxies is being exposed
> as somewhat of a sham in the face of a few records being removed for reasons
> that have nothing to do with the skill or score of the player.
>
You don't know the half of it...
Chuk
are you concerned that having someone watch the game for you, and tell you
when to come back could be construed as "assistance"? I don't know how anal
they are, but could they argue that you might not have been able to
successfully take breaks if someone wasn't with you?
<d...@CooganPhoto.com> wrote in message
news:1166951596.5...@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Scott,
>
> Well there is no pause in Gravitar -- those 2 ships keep coming at you
> from the Red Planet about every 5-10 seconds. The key to taking a
> break is:
>
> 1. Either have enough ships in reserve that you can afford to lose a
> bunch (I don't recommend that, though I did have to destroy 122 ships
> on purpose (20 at a time or so) to keep the "life maintenance" below
> 128, cause the game's memory will cause it to reset to "game over" --
> which happened to me 3 times) or...
>
> 2. When you need a break, go into the Red Planet (preferably in the
> visible landscape -- though the timer will be at 9 seconds) and shoot
> the reactor, but don't exit the Red Planet, let it explode, then you
> are free to hover around the Death Star for as long as you can keep a
> decent hover pattern -- usually long enough to quickly use the
> restroom, get a quick bite to eat or some water, stretch, etc... -- I
> had to adjust the orbit, and I would ask my wife or Brien King to
> monitor the hover patter and call me back if it looked like I was going
> to crash -- it's not like you can leave the game for an extended period
> of time, but maybe a couple of minutes up to 5, but eventually gravity
> will start to pull the ships orbit an it will crash into the Death
> Star.
>
> Another interesting thing about the death star, on the 16th or 17th
> time through, it reset back to 21 seconds for a couple of the Red
> Planets, and then by the 18th time through it was back to 9 seconds --
> I may be the only person who has experienced that specifically.
>
> And yes, I was pretty numb, even with the 5 minute breaks every hour.
> My hands, shoulders, etc... all needed a break as well as the mind
> being a bit "punchy."
>
> All in all, I'm very happy with the performance. Breaking the world
> record has been a goal since I got the game in 2002, and it finally all
> came together.
>
> Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
>
> best,
> Dan
>
>
> Scott Caldwell wrote:
>> Very cool! Congratulations!
>>
>> Let us know if they accept it. This begs the questions...
>>
>> Did you put a pause on the game, so you could eat, sleep,
>> go other necessary things, etc.? After playing that long,
>> my mind would be numb and my hands and arms unusable.
>>
>> Scott C.
>>
Isaac W.
Isaac W.
> My Gravitar high score 8,029,450 World Record
Congrats man! This makes me feel guilty about slacking off on my AD
practice :P
super_...@yahoo.com
Chuk wrote:
> Very impressive Dan. I don't know any of the rules of twin galaxies, but
> are you concerned that having someone watch the game for you, and tell you
> when to come back could be construed as "assistance"? I don't know how anal
> they are, but could they argue that you might not have been able to
> successfully take breaks if someone wasn't with you?
I know when I did my Asteroids marathon TG's rules forbid anyone
assisting me by keeping track of how many ships I had in reserve (in
order to avoid having too many - if you get 256 in reserve the game
will reset).
d...@cooganphoto.com
I kept track of the ship losses as I was playing -- when I lost a ship,
I would put a hash mark on a sheet -- which has the same configuration
as the planets, so that it will be easy to match up to the video tape
of the game. I had 20 sheets ready (because I figured I would play
through the game 20 times) before the game, so I could mark them as I
played (this was my 6th attempt at the record, I figured out how to do
the accounting part of it after the 2nd attempt -- the 3.2 million game
in Sept. 2003 that is on record at Twin Galaxies:
http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22p=2&gi=5043&vi=1259
At the end of each game (or technically the beginning of a new game) I
would blow up the Red Planet, so that the 2 ships can not chase me
every 10 seconds, which allowed me to get into a hovering pattern
around the Death Star -- then I could safely walk away from the game
for a minute or two (or more) depending on the quality of the hover
pattern. All the person watching the game while I was on a short
minute or two bathroom break did was monitor the hover pattern and tell
me if it was getting close -- if I lost a few ships it didn't really
matter, as I had plenty in reserve.
...so after destroying the Red Planet, I would do the accounting,
adding up the total ships lost for that game and subtract from the
total earned -- you earn a ship every 10,000 points, so for a million
points = 100 ships + 4 that you start with, minus the total lost =
ships in reserve. It makes it very easy to see where you are at and
how many ships you can afford to lose. In fact, when I got close to
100 ships in reserve, I would crash 20 (or so) on purpose to keep that
reserve number down (I had to crash 122 on purpose throughout this
world record game). In 3 previous attempts, I had the game reset on me
because of this issue of too many ships in reserve and the game quit
out or reset if you will -- those 3 games were:
12/11/04, 2,998,450 - 10:22 AM - 6:31 PM = 8 hours 9 minutes
12/16/06, 3,743,000 - 10:08 AM - 8:25 PM = 10 hours 3 minutes
12/17/06, 3,995,700 - 10:08 AM - 9:01 PM = 10 hours 53 minutes
I learned my lesson after the game quit out on me, and putting that
kind of time and energy into playing for so long (you can see I waited
2 years before I was willing to try again), I said I was not going to
play for the record again until we get this issue figures out. Rich
Adam (who worked with Mike Hally, did the coding for Gravitar back in
1982), Brien King, JROK, and Mark Spaeth all came to the same
conclusion, that it is the coding of the game that was the issue
causing the game to reset -- so keep the total ships below 128 and it
should work -- they tested the theory in Mame and replicated the
problem. If I had known about this issue of the game resetting, in
Dec. 2004 when I scored the 2,998,450 points, I was playing was on par
to easily have broken the record then.
Also, Brien King, a Twin Galaxies referee, was one of the two people
that watched me play and helped me change the tapes, write down my
scores, times, etc... but I kept track of the ships earned and lost, so
no, I'm not concerned.
best,
Dan
drago...@comcast.net
Gamer2006 wrote:
> you better hope that Billy Mitchell doesn't dislike you or have some
> connection to the original record. It seems Twin Galaxies is being exposed
> as somewhat of a sham in the face of a few records being removed for reasons
> that have nothing to do with the skill or score of the player.
>
> It's happening on a forum at allgames radio station
> http://digg.com/podcasts/All_Games_Interactive/111059
>
> http://www.allgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17349
>
What does billy mitchell have to do with this? he "ownz" pacman, not
gravitar..
Marcel
super_...@yahoo.com
where Billy Mitchell helped Tom Asaki during his attempt on Nibbler by
warning him when he was getting close to going over the 128 reserve
limit, so I don't think they'd have a problem with your Gravitar
marathon. Then again, you never know with TG these days :) But
regardless, congrats on an amazing achievement!
d...@cooganphoto.com
read about his amazing video gaming acheviements. I hope he has at
least read about my new Gravitar world record and that it brings a
smile to his face. I also hope to meet him some day, and hope he does
not start playing Gravitar ;-)
Gamer2006
score...
Now look at Twin Galaxies site and see who it is.
Billy is the funding of TG and doesnt want his records broken, so he as them
removed.
Steve Weebie broke the record and billy had it removed
<drago...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1167092417....@73g2000cwn.googlegroups.com...
drago...@comcast.net
> I don't know Billy Mitchell, though I obviously know of him and have
> read about his amazing video gaming acheviements. I hope he has at
> least read about my new Gravitar world record and that it brings a
> smile to his face. I also hope to meet him some day, and hope he does
> not start playing Gravitar ;-)
>
He attended a 2004 pinball show I helped host here in Florida. Can't
miss him; tall slender chap with a mullet. Very nice guy.
Marcel