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EspañolTWIN GALAXIES
'Twin Galaxies' is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. Twin Galaxies operates a website at www.twingalaxies.com and publishes Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.
During the summer of 1981, Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies, visited more than 100 video game arcades over four months, recording the high scores that he found on each game. On November 10, he opened his own arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa, naming it Twin Galaxies. On February 9, 1982, his database of records was released publicly as the Twin Galaxies National Scoreboard.
Twin Galaxies became known as the official scoreboard, arranging contests between top players. Twin Galaxies' first event attracted international media attention for gathering the first teams of video-game stars. Top players in North Carolina and California were formed into state teams that faced off in a "California Challenges North Carolina All-Star Playoff", playing on 17 different games in Lakewood, California, and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. California defeated North Carolina 10–7 over the weekend of August 27-30, 1982.
Similar competitions were also conducted during the summers of 1983 and 1984 when Day organized the players in many U.S. states to form teams and compete in high score contests for the ''Guinness Book of World Records''. The states included California, North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan, Idaho, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, Alaska, Iowa and Kansas.
On November 30, 1982, Ottumwa mayor Jerry Parker declared the town "Video Game Capital of the World", a claim that was backed up by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Atari and the Amusement Game Manufacturers Association in a ceremony at Twin Galaxies on March 19, 1983.
Twin Galaxies' status as the official scorekeeper was further enhanced by support from the major video-game publications of the early 1980s. Beginning in the summer of 1982, ''Video Games'' magazine and ''Joystik'' magazine published full-page high-score charts taken from Twin Galaxies' data. These high-score tables were published during the entire lives of these magazines. Additional high-score charts also appeared in ''Videogiochi'' (Milan, Italy), ''Computer Games'', ''Video Game Player'' magazine and ''Electronic Fun'' magazine. Twin Galaxies' high-score charts also appeared in ''USA Today'' (April 22, 1983), ''Games'' magazine and was distributed sporadically in 1982 and 1983 by the Knight-Ridder news service as an occasional news feature, originating from the ''Charlotte Observer''.
Twin Galaxies brought top players together on November 7, 1982, to be photographed by ''Life'' magazine. On January 8-9, 1983, Twin Galaxies organized the first significant video-game championship, to crown a world champion. This event was filmed in Ottumwa by ABC-TV's ''That's Incredible!'' and was aired on the night of February 21, 1983.
In March 1983, Twin Galaxies was contracted by The Electronic Circus to assemble a professional troupe of video game superstars who would travel with the Circus as an "act." With Walter Day hired as the "Circus Ringmaster", Twin Galaxies supplied a squad of 15 world-record holders on Twin Galaxies' high-score tables. Though the Circus was scheduled to visit 40 cities in North America, its Boston inaugural performance, opening in the Bayside Exposition Ctr. on July 15, 1983, lasted only five days, closing on July 19. The players selected by Twin Galaxies for the Circus are believed to be history's first professionally contracted video game players.
On July 25, 1983, Twin Galaxies established the professional U.S. National Video Game Team, the first such, with Walter Day as team captain. The USNVGT toured the United States during the summer of 1983 in a 44-foot GMC bus filled with arcade games, appearing at arcades around the nation and conducting the 1983 Video Game Masters Tournament, the results of which were published in the 1984 U.S. edition of the ''Guinness Book of World Records''. Under the direction of Day, functioning as an assistant editor for the ''Guinness Book'' in charge of video-game scores, the USNVGT gathered annual contest results that were published in the 1984—1986 U.S. editions. In September 1983, the USNVGT visited the Italian and Japanese Embassies in Washington D.C. to issue challenges for an international video game championship. In 1987, the USNVGT toured Europe where it defeated a team of UK video game superstars. Every month between 1991 and 1994, the U.S. publication ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM''), published a full-page high-score table titled "The U.S. National Video Game Team's International Scoreboard".
On February 8, 1998, ''Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records'' (ISBN 1-887472-25-8) was published. It is a 984-page book containing scores compiled since 1981. The second edition, planned as a three-volume set, will be released one volume at a time throughout 2007 and 2008 and will contain records for PC games as well as modern console games such as the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360.
★ July 25, 1983 - Founded by Walter Day and Twin Galaxies
★ August 11, 1983 - USNVGT embarked on tour of the United States
★ September 15, 1983 - USNVGT conducted first score-checking survey
★ September 24, 1983 - USNVGT presented challenges to Italian and Japanese Embassies in Washington, D.C.
★ January 14, 1984 - USNVGT presented the 2nd Coronation Day Championship to crown the video game champions of the world
Twin Galaxies organized the first Video Game Film Festival on June 2, 2001, at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, NH as a vehicle to document the cultural impact that video games have exerted on today's society. A second festival is planned for the end of 2006.[1] [2]
Twin Galaxies conducted the first Console Video Game World Championship during Twin Galaxies' 1st Annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival at the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota, on the weekend of July 20–22, 2001. This event is also known as the Console Game World Championship and had originally been planned for March 24–25, 2001 at the Sheraton Dallas Brookhollow Hotel in Dallas, Texas, but was moved forward to the Mall of America event.
The second Console Video Game World Championship was held the weekend of July 12–14, 2002, at the 2nd Annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival at the Mall of America.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Twin Galaxies conducted the first "Classic Video Game World Championship" on June 2–4, 2001 at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. This event was descended from the Coronation Day Championships that were conducted by Twin Galaxies in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 2000. The 2nd "Classic Video Game World Championship" was conducted on the weekend of June 30–July 2, 2002.[8] [9]
In July of 2001 and 2002, Twin Galaxies conducted the annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festivals at the Mall of America, attracting approximately 50,000–75,000 attendees each year.
On August 15, 2005, Walter Day and the staff of Twin Galaxies led a contingent of USA and UK video game players to Paris, France, where they delivered an eight-foot (2.4 meter) tall Proclamation which proposed a "London vs. Paris" Video Game Championship.
On September 24, 2005, The U.S. National Video Game Team revived and formed a New England Chapter with Walter Day as the national team captain and David Nelson of Derry, New Hampshire, as the chapter captain.
In 2007, a film about Twin Galaxies and video game champions in the 1980s, '', was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. ''The King of Kong'', a feature documentary about retro arcade gamers, featuring Twin Galaxies, was released for theatrical release August 24, 2007.
★ Time attack
★ Speedrun
★ High score
1. "History's First Video Game Film Festival To Celebrate Gaming's Impact on Media and Culture", May 18, 2001
2. "Twin Galaxies Planning 2nd Video Game Film Festival", May 15, 2006
3. PlanetGameCube.com, January 21, 2001
4. Gaming-Age.com, February 16, 2001
5. XGR.com, February 16, 2001
6. Video Game Festival at Mall of America, July 1, 2001
7. Geek.com, November 11, 2002
8. Classic Video Game World Championship Set for New Hampshire May 8, 2001
9. Classic Video Game World Championship Attracts the World's Best, May 26, 2002
★ Twin Galaxies
★ National High Scores Now Can be Verified, PlayMeter Magazine, May 1, 1982
★ Seek Individual Excellence - Associated Press Wire Story in Miami Herald, August 21, 1982
★ California Tops Carolina in Video Challenge - RePlay Magazine, October, 1982
★ Video Hall of Fame - Blip Magazine, February 1, 1983
★ The King of the Video Game Addicts - Toronto Sunday Star, March 27, 1983
★ What is the Video Game Capital of the World? - Cashbox Magazine, April 2, 1983
★ Video Game Records - USA Today, April 22, 1983
★ Pac-Man Record? - Washington Post, May 26, 1983
★ Records, like promises, are not always meant to be broken - USA Today, July 7, 1983
★ They're Masters of Video Games - Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, August 24, 1983
★ U.S. vs. Japan Video Tournament? - CashBox Magazine, August 27, 1983
★ Video Game Hall of Fame Planned - CashBox Magazine, October 8, 1983
★ Video Game Capital Lies Amid Iowa Cornfields - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 9, 1983
★ U.S. Video Team Holds Tourney - CashBox Magazine, October 22, 1983
★ Twin Galaxies' Coronation Day Crowns Video's Best of '83 - RePlay Magazine, February 1, 1984
★ COIN-OP TV interview with Walter Day and other champs!
| Contents |
| History |
| U.S. National Video Game Team |
| Video Game Film Festival |
| Console (Video) Game World Championships |
| Classic Video Game World Championship |
| See also |
| Footnotes |
| References |
History
During the summer of 1981, Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies, visited more than 100 video game arcades over four months, recording the high scores that he found on each game. On November 10, he opened his own arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa, naming it Twin Galaxies. On February 9, 1982, his database of records was released publicly as the Twin Galaxies National Scoreboard.
Twin Galaxies became known as the official scoreboard, arranging contests between top players. Twin Galaxies' first event attracted international media attention for gathering the first teams of video-game stars. Top players in North Carolina and California were formed into state teams that faced off in a "California Challenges North Carolina All-Star Playoff", playing on 17 different games in Lakewood, California, and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. California defeated North Carolina 10–7 over the weekend of August 27-30, 1982.
Similar competitions were also conducted during the summers of 1983 and 1984 when Day organized the players in many U.S. states to form teams and compete in high score contests for the ''Guinness Book of World Records''. The states included California, North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan, Idaho, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, Alaska, Iowa and Kansas.
On November 30, 1982, Ottumwa mayor Jerry Parker declared the town "Video Game Capital of the World", a claim that was backed up by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Atari and the Amusement Game Manufacturers Association in a ceremony at Twin Galaxies on March 19, 1983.
Twin Galaxies' status as the official scorekeeper was further enhanced by support from the major video-game publications of the early 1980s. Beginning in the summer of 1982, ''Video Games'' magazine and ''Joystik'' magazine published full-page high-score charts taken from Twin Galaxies' data. These high-score tables were published during the entire lives of these magazines. Additional high-score charts also appeared in ''Videogiochi'' (Milan, Italy), ''Computer Games'', ''Video Game Player'' magazine and ''Electronic Fun'' magazine. Twin Galaxies' high-score charts also appeared in ''USA Today'' (April 22, 1983), ''Games'' magazine and was distributed sporadically in 1982 and 1983 by the Knight-Ridder news service as an occasional news feature, originating from the ''Charlotte Observer''.
Twin Galaxies brought top players together on November 7, 1982, to be photographed by ''Life'' magazine. On January 8-9, 1983, Twin Galaxies organized the first significant video-game championship, to crown a world champion. This event was filmed in Ottumwa by ABC-TV's ''That's Incredible!'' and was aired on the night of February 21, 1983.
In March 1983, Twin Galaxies was contracted by The Electronic Circus to assemble a professional troupe of video game superstars who would travel with the Circus as an "act." With Walter Day hired as the "Circus Ringmaster", Twin Galaxies supplied a squad of 15 world-record holders on Twin Galaxies' high-score tables. Though the Circus was scheduled to visit 40 cities in North America, its Boston inaugural performance, opening in the Bayside Exposition Ctr. on July 15, 1983, lasted only five days, closing on July 19. The players selected by Twin Galaxies for the Circus are believed to be history's first professionally contracted video game players.
On July 25, 1983, Twin Galaxies established the professional U.S. National Video Game Team, the first such, with Walter Day as team captain. The USNVGT toured the United States during the summer of 1983 in a 44-foot GMC bus filled with arcade games, appearing at arcades around the nation and conducting the 1983 Video Game Masters Tournament, the results of which were published in the 1984 U.S. edition of the ''Guinness Book of World Records''. Under the direction of Day, functioning as an assistant editor for the ''Guinness Book'' in charge of video-game scores, the USNVGT gathered annual contest results that were published in the 1984—1986 U.S. editions. In September 1983, the USNVGT visited the Italian and Japanese Embassies in Washington D.C. to issue challenges for an international video game championship. In 1987, the USNVGT toured Europe where it defeated a team of UK video game superstars. Every month between 1991 and 1994, the U.S. publication ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM''), published a full-page high-score table titled "The U.S. National Video Game Team's International Scoreboard".
On February 8, 1998, ''Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records'' (ISBN 1-887472-25-8) was published. It is a 984-page book containing scores compiled since 1981. The second edition, planned as a three-volume set, will be released one volume at a time throughout 2007 and 2008 and will contain records for PC games as well as modern console games such as the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360.
U.S. National Video Game Team
★ July 25, 1983 - Founded by Walter Day and Twin Galaxies
★ August 11, 1983 - USNVGT embarked on tour of the United States
★ September 15, 1983 - USNVGT conducted first score-checking survey
★ September 24, 1983 - USNVGT presented challenges to Italian and Japanese Embassies in Washington, D.C.
★ January 14, 1984 - USNVGT presented the 2nd Coronation Day Championship to crown the video game champions of the world
Video Game Film Festival
Twin Galaxies organized the first Video Game Film Festival on June 2, 2001, at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, NH as a vehicle to document the cultural impact that video games have exerted on today's society. A second festival is planned for the end of 2006.[1] [2]
Console (Video) Game World Championships
Twin Galaxies conducted the first Console Video Game World Championship during Twin Galaxies' 1st Annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival at the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota, on the weekend of July 20–22, 2001. This event is also known as the Console Game World Championship and had originally been planned for March 24–25, 2001 at the Sheraton Dallas Brookhollow Hotel in Dallas, Texas, but was moved forward to the Mall of America event.
The second Console Video Game World Championship was held the weekend of July 12–14, 2002, at the 2nd Annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival at the Mall of America.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Classic Video Game World Championship
Twin Galaxies conducted the first "Classic Video Game World Championship" on June 2–4, 2001 at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. This event was descended from the Coronation Day Championships that were conducted by Twin Galaxies in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 2000. The 2nd "Classic Video Game World Championship" was conducted on the weekend of June 30–July 2, 2002.[8] [9]
In July of 2001 and 2002, Twin Galaxies conducted the annual Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festivals at the Mall of America, attracting approximately 50,000–75,000 attendees each year.
On August 15, 2005, Walter Day and the staff of Twin Galaxies led a contingent of USA and UK video game players to Paris, France, where they delivered an eight-foot (2.4 meter) tall Proclamation which proposed a "London vs. Paris" Video Game Championship.
On September 24, 2005, The U.S. National Video Game Team revived and formed a New England Chapter with Walter Day as the national team captain and David Nelson of Derry, New Hampshire, as the chapter captain.
In 2007, a film about Twin Galaxies and video game champions in the 1980s, '', was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. ''The King of Kong'', a feature documentary about retro arcade gamers, featuring Twin Galaxies, was released for theatrical release August 24, 2007.
See also
★ Time attack
★ Speedrun
★ High score
Footnotes
1. "History's First Video Game Film Festival To Celebrate Gaming's Impact on Media and Culture", May 18, 2001
2. "Twin Galaxies Planning 2nd Video Game Film Festival", May 15, 2006
3. PlanetGameCube.com, January 21, 2001
4. Gaming-Age.com, February 16, 2001
5. XGR.com, February 16, 2001
6. Video Game Festival at Mall of America, July 1, 2001
7. Geek.com, November 11, 2002
8. Classic Video Game World Championship Set for New Hampshire May 8, 2001
9. Classic Video Game World Championship Attracts the World's Best, May 26, 2002
References
★ Twin Galaxies
★ National High Scores Now Can be Verified, PlayMeter Magazine, May 1, 1982
★ Seek Individual Excellence - Associated Press Wire Story in Miami Herald, August 21, 1982
★ California Tops Carolina in Video Challenge - RePlay Magazine, October, 1982
★ Video Hall of Fame - Blip Magazine, February 1, 1983
★ The King of the Video Game Addicts - Toronto Sunday Star, March 27, 1983
★ What is the Video Game Capital of the World? - Cashbox Magazine, April 2, 1983
★ Video Game Records - USA Today, April 22, 1983
★ Pac-Man Record? - Washington Post, May 26, 1983
★ Records, like promises, are not always meant to be broken - USA Today, July 7, 1983
★ They're Masters of Video Games - Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, August 24, 1983
★ U.S. vs. Japan Video Tournament? - CashBox Magazine, August 27, 1983
★ Video Game Hall of Fame Planned - CashBox Magazine, October 8, 1983
★ Video Game Capital Lies Amid Iowa Cornfields - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 9, 1983
★ U.S. Video Team Holds Tourney - CashBox Magazine, October 22, 1983
★ Twin Galaxies' Coronation Day Crowns Video's Best of '83 - RePlay Magazine, February 1, 1984
★ COIN-OP TV interview with Walter Day and other champs!
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