Earlier this evening, I had the privilege and pleasure to witness an attempt by Steve Wiebe to re-claim his Donkey Kong Record. I was a little weary of going. This winter has been absolutely brutal for me, and I received an e-mail from Logan Hardware that sounded kind of like a warning:
Thank you so much for your interest in our grand reopening. Some of you may have seen that earlier this week Twin Galaxies accounted that Hank Chien officially beat Steve's world record. Our phone has been ringing off the hook and the email has been crazy! We want everyone to be able to stop over and see Steve play so we are emailing to let you know how many people have had interest in each record attempt, as well as to ask that if you were hoping to come to mutiple record attempts that we ask you are mindful of the capacity while you are here...That is, if you show up for the first attempt you are coming for and it's crazy packed in here to please only stay for one record attempt and also not hang out for so long that others are not able to stop in. Just please be mindful of others and help us make sure that everyone gets to see a bit of Steve playing...
Also, to reiterate - that for the record attempts your RSVP is not a guarantee, there is no list of names at the door. Unless you are signed up for one of the classes there is no guarantee that there will be room for everyone. All of the record attempts are first come first served and we ask that people respect others and please allow others to come in and enjoy the event as well. This should be fun for all and we look forward to it!
After reading this, I thought, "This is going to be packed. Should I even bother trying to get in?" Unfortunately, I did not have a memory card in my camera when I brought it. I used my terrible-quality camera on my phone, but these photos should give you an idea of the view I had.
There were two rooms with arcade cabinets. Here, I was standing outside of the room that had the Donkey Kong cabinet. I was probably over 20 feet away from it.
Luckily, to the right of me, there was a closer projection. Unfortunately, I came to the realization just how short I am (I really didn't think was that short). About 99% of the people who attended this event were taller than me. (This photo is when the circuit board was being checked.)
I'm in!!! I'm in the room with the Donkey Kong cabinet now!!
This was about as close as I got. Close enough for my neck to start hurting because the screen was pretty close. Close enough to see the back of Steve Weibe's head. Twice. (That was about 10 feet away, by the way).
There were easily over 100 people there. Most were in their 20s and 30s, white, and male. There were a few "nerd couples." There were also a couple of guys who dragged their girlfriends. I overheard one say, "When is this going to be over? I don't know how much more of this I can take!" (This was after 30 minutes.)
It was unfortunate that a few members of the audience were very unruly. One of them (whose name was Chris) smelled foul, and had a flask of whiskey on him. He was already drunk, and was sharing his flask with some others around him. Another one sounded like he was jizzing his pants every time Wiebe got to the end of the level. Some were shouting, "Fuck Billy Mitchell!" In which, I turned around and asked, "I think you mean Hank Chien." Some only saw The King of Kong yesterday, and others had never seen the movie at all.
I spotted a few hipsters. One audience member insisted that his sign be passed around. It read, "1,068,000 or bust"...on the back of a PBR box. Someone in the audience suggested this event be in an auditorium. I thought there should be an announcer (like the way Korea has StarCraft announcers). Serving some nachos and pop wouldn't have hurt either.
The majority of the audience was quiet and respectful, but the unruly members didn't ruin the fact that it was very exciting to watch Wiebe play. How old are Donkey Kong machines? He beat the high score on it after the first stage. I don't think I could get passed the first stage if it were a life or death situation.
I am a sports (mostly baseball) fan, and this was just as exciting as watching any important ball game. I watched Wiebe play for a total of two hours and four minutes. He ended with a high score of 842,600. While the audience proclaimed their disappointment with their chorus of "awwww," they immediately followed it up with clapping and cheering. He did not break his record tonight, but I know he will reclaim his title of King of Kong some day.
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