David Palmer:
the lost
scores
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David Palmer: |
It was the summer of 1985, and I was attending my very first 'open' (versus invitational) video gaming contest. Titled the Video Game Masters Tournament (VGMT), it was a great opportunity for me to make my mark on Crystal Castles (the whole story will be up on CAGDC in the future). I had to travel to Bloomington, Illinois, and while I was there, I met a good gaming buddy by the name of Mark Boolman (MDB). He is a master on Star Wars, and did rather well that year. Ultimately, the contest results showed the winner to be someone named David Palmer, and the reason that I paid attention to this player was not only because I was following the Star Wars results because of MDB, but because I also noticed that David made the top score that year on five other titles ! Not only that, but an interview (also soon to be seen on CAGDC) with him in the short-lived Top Score magazine revealed a player that truly was unique. He was both self-assured, and matter-of-fact, about his accomplishments and abilities, yet he was also quite humble and sincere - a quite rare combination. Well, he had my respect, and admiration, from that point forward.
Unfortunately, because of a number of errors on the part of Twin Galaxies, and the APA (Amusement Players Association, run by Steve Harris) during the 80's, and the 90's, David (or, Dave as he likes to be called in casual conversation) did not get due credit (at least, not until 2004) for his incredible Star Wars accomplishments made in the '85, and '86, VGMT's. He was unable to post a good score the first time he played, in 1984, and was topped that tournament by Mike Hewett, who made an excellent 13,990,709 score (which made him the second highest scorer on TGTS, until recently, when Mike was topped by the ever-improving Brandon Erickson). However, his results over the next two years would be quite different...
In the 1985 VGMT, David was fortunate to have the gameroom quite close to his home, unlike the previous year. As a result, he not only set a total of six contest records (all of which also topped any other player's score in the history of those titles !), but he thereby made what is still the best contest performance in the history of gaming. Keep in mind that, in the limited time he had to play over the three days of the contest, he had to fit in a ten hour game on Battlezone, a 3 hour game on Star Wars, and also spend significant time on the four other titles he took first place on (Firefox (9000), Red Baron, Star Rider, The Empire Strikes Back). Truly amazing...
Now, Dave is not one to rest on his laurels, even tho all of these scores (and, his Tron score from the year before) weren't beaten in either of the two subsequent VGMT's. That is, they weren't beaten by anyone, other than him topping his own score on Star Wars in the 1986 tournament. In what many consider to be his (contest) crown jewel, he managed an incredible 31,660,614 points at the extremely difficult TGTS, which only allots you a total of six shields. To last that long, on the hardest setting the game can be put on, is truly a performance that ranks as one of the top ten best in arcade gaming history.
Well, Dave not only topped his score on Star Wars in '86, but also topped (or, more accurately, obliterated) a number of his other '85 Masters Tournament scores in the months previous to, and following, that contest. Indeed, he posted most impressive marks on all of the titles he favored, which are exclusively first-person perspective games. That is, other than Tron. Dave told me that it was the first game he seriously played, and he didn't pursue maxing it out like the others that followed. Still, he managed a very good score, and one that held up throughout the history of the VGMT events.
Dave sent me (along with Walter Day, and Rob Mruczek) an e-mail detailing the above-mentioned accomplishments on a number of games that he made higher scores on than in the Masters Tournaments. I have reproduced it below, and also scanned in his accompanying documentation, which was (originally) mostly sent to Steve Harris. Apparently, Steve didn't keep any of Twin Galaxies or the APA's information or documentation past the late 80's, as his support for classic arcade gaming seemingly lost out to the profitable magazine enterprises he spearheaded. Fortunately, Dave made copies of the forms he sent in all those years ago, and was able to find them, and resubmit everything to the present-day Twin Galaxies, which was generous enough to enter all of his scores (including multi-coin) into the high-score database.
I'm glad I was able to help Dave finally get notice, and scoreboard listings, for all of his great accomplishments. After all, it's not often that a player holds the world record on every game he seriously contested (Tron excluded). Keep in mind that he made all of these scores over 18 years ago (as of 2004, when they were turned in again), and, except for his Star Wars marathon score, they all are still world records, even after almost two decades have passed ! The one score that he feels needs explanation is on Firefox, where he no doubt holds the *true* record (on the 9,000 mile play choice). Dave says that the player who is listed higher no doubt played either a 12,000 mile game, and/or played on a later 'easier' version of the machine, since he feels he almost totally maxed out the score on 9,000 mile. With these slight caveats in mind, you can read thru the interesting details behind his incredible world records, and also get a look at the original verification forms that were filled out in each case (click on the links in the reproduced e-mail, which are on the game names at the head of each explanatory paragraph). Enjoy !
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Robert & Walt, Here are some comments and explanations I have for my individual scores. STAR WARS I am submitting the verification form for my longest marathon game, 155,010,148 (I simply quit at that point). At the time I played this game, this was the highest score on record, however it was subsequently eclipsed by Robert's feat of endurance! As with a lot of my scores, the documentation I originally sent in was either lost or was sent to Steve Harris, never to be seen again. BATTLEZONE I am submitting the documentation for my longest Battlezone game, 23 million even in 23 hours. The score I got in the tournament of 10 million is currently the only one of mine that you list on the scoreboard. Twenty years ago I set out to beat the 21 million which is still the high score in the TG scoreboard, although I believe I had grounds to challenge its legitimacy. I called the player and spoke with him, and he didn't know details about the game that are seen an a high level, such as it turning over at 10 million and awarding two more bonus tanks shortly thereafter. But since I knew I could beat 21 million, I just set out to do it that way and then there wouldn't be any question about it! Unfortunately, it is taking 20 years to get that recognition..... STAR RIDER The situation as regards Star Rider is rather complex. This game offers the option of multiple-credit play, meaning in this case that if you don't win a round, you can put in another quarter and re-do the race, and if you win you keep your score and advance to the next track. However, you say that you are not interested in multiple-credit scores. The score you currently have up for me in the scoreboard (539K), is in fact for a multiple-credit game (although I ultimately ended up getting 3 million on multiple-credit, and sent in a verification form for this 3 million....see enclosed forms). The reason that these multiple-credit scores were submitted around 20 years ago was that, at the time, Steve Harris was the one taking scores and laying out the rules, and he was only interested in cataloging the highest score obtained on Star Rider, by any means....which naturally meant multi-credit play. So I didn't even bother to do verification forms for single-credit play. In the '85 tournament I got 339,015 in Star Rider on single credit play (which was what the tournament rules restricted me to), and this was the score published in the Guinness Book. However, I later got far-higher single-credit scores as I continued to play the game and get better at it, with my all-time single-credit high being 523,870 (which is very close to what was previously my multi-credit high, and what you have up in the scoreboard). But as I said, I unfortunately didn't do a verification form for this score, because there was no demand at the time. RED BARON A few days after the '85 tournament, I got 447,860 in the arcade, playing the same machine on which I had only gotten 214K in the tournament. I did a verification form and sent it in (see enclosed forms). My 214K was sufficient for the Guinness Book listing, but not to have the high score in the current TG scoreboard (the high score listed there is 330K). I subsequently bought the machine and brought it home, where I got far higher scores. The high score list my parents dug out and mailed to me shows a high of 1,219,230 for Red Baron, although I seem to remember having gotten higher scores than that (I don't think that what they found was the most recent high score list, I also see that it doesn't list the highs for a number of home computer games I was playing around that time). FIREFOX (9,000 and 12,000) I am submitting verification forms for my high scores in both the 9,000 and 12,000 mile missions. In my opinion, the scoreboard scores need to be broken down as regards which mission a given score is for. The 9,000 is easier and for most players results in a higher score, however the 12,000 is very difficult and offers a potentially higher score for someone with a lot of experience in the game. My high on the 9,000 is 712,157 and my high on the 12,000 is 800,877 (my high score in the tournament, where play was restricted to the 9,000 mission, was 707,790). Another complication is that there were two programs released, the original and a second easier one when Atari decided they had made the game too hard. All my high scores were obtained on the original, more difficult program. I briefly had access to the second program when I was learning to play the game, but not when I had mastered it (I'm sure my high scores would have been a higher if I'd continued to have access to it). On the TG scoreboard, the high score given is 769,422....but it doesn't say if this was on the 9,000 or 12,000 mile mission, or whether it was with the original or second program. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK I am submitting a verification form that gives my high scores for both single and multiple credit play, 1,556,836 and 2,873,487. These were obtained on the same machine on which I got 1,345,049 in the tournament on single credit play (I wasn't able to do my best performance that day). Although you say you're only interested in single-credit scores, I also consider the multiple-credit high score in this game a test of skill, which is why my high score was limited to 2.8 million (I would have done at least a 3-million-even high if it had been POSSIBLE for me to go any higher on multiple-credit play). SUBROC-3D, TX-1, AND TRON These games require no revision as regards the scoreboard. I didn't get higher scores after the ones you have listed. VERTIGO I don't have any verification form for this game, so I'm simply including this for information purposes. I tried for the high score in the '86 tournament, but the closest machine was over 4 hours away and prior to the tournament I'd only had a couple of days playing the game, and I didn't get the high score in the tournament (Donn Nauert got 595,028). I subsequently went back to the arcade for one day of play and did beat his score by getting 664,871, but I didn't do a verification form because I knew I could do much better and planned on going back to play again, but before I could do so the machine broke down and the arcade got rid of it, and I never again had access to a Vertigo machine. |
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