Thirty-six hours into what was expected to be a 70-hour assault on an all-time world record, and with hundreds of lives to spare, someone unplugged a cabinet elsewhere in the arcade, resetting the Q*bert George Leutz was playing.
We’re not sure what Leutz said, but it probably sounded like @!#?@!
Playing at Richie Knucklez in Flemington, N.J., Leutz had rolled up a reported 16.8 million points, about halfway short of the 33,273,520 set in 1983 by Canada’s Rob Gerhardt. Leutz was looking strong to take down the record, getting a note of encouragement from Warren Davis, the designer and programmer of the arcade classic. “I’m in his corner all the way,” Davis told Arcade Game Examiner. “Thanks, George, for keeping the spirit of Q*bert alive!”
And he did, until someone pulled the plug.
Q*bert creator gives his support, but New Jersey record attempt ends [Examiner]
Mr Waffle
Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 6:14 PMMaybe I’m crazy, but wouldn’t one of the first things you’d do before attending to play a game for 70 hours is fork out for a UPS, just in case…?!
Dissection
Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 10:45 PMConsidering it was caused by the unplugging of a nearby machine a UPS would have been a silly idea from a logical standpoint. The poor bastard would’ve assumed that the arcade had not skimped on their power setup and had every machine individually powered. But no, they went cheap and cost him a chance at a world record and recognition as a good arcade. From now on people will know the arcade as those cheap bastards who screwed up the Qbert record.
dzc12
Monday, April 18, 2011 at 9:11 AMWithout looking at the story again, what’s the name of the arcade?
Scott
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 4:38 AMVideo of the moment here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glQohHMo3kE