So apparently I have some catching up to do. There have not been many tournaments; it’s mostly been “normal” trips to the arcade/bar, so I’m going to be posting mainly summaries. Some of them may be out of order, as there are some more recent events I want to give priority.

It is important to recognize that when I am documenting the highlights of one of my arcade visits, it is not necessarily a full-on endorsement of that facility. It’s the same with tournaments and leagues. I hope to organize tournaments and leagues in the near future but may find myself playing in whatever is available as there are only so many venues locally suitable for tournaments.

As much as I wish this were the case, not every establishment with five or more machines is automatically suitable for a tournament. Even then, not every establishment that meets the standards for what I’d consider to be a tournament/league ready venue will necessarily be willing to work with me or my league, or even to have such an event at all under the auspices of any league or tournament director. It’s disappointing but that’s the way it is.

As I get to documenting more recent events, I will have an important viewpoint to post; expect this to drop Wednesday at the latest (more likely Tuesday afternoon to evening) later this week, most likely Saturday (edit: due to some new information I’ve learned which I will need time to investigate). The full piece may not be on this blog; I will post a shorter summary with a link here if that is the case.

This is a very quick summary of what I was able to put up through the last three weeks of January give or take. This includes one post-tournament game on January 24 but the actual tournament will be summarized in a later post. So yes, this will be slightly out of chronological order, something I don’t really like to do but which is unfortunately necessary to get caught up in a timely fashion.

• TMNT normal game, 26.7M+ grand champion and Leonardo champion 1/24
• TMNT final battle challenge, 20.7M+ 1/23
• Iron Maiden, 321.9M+ 1/23 high score #1
• Munsters, 19.1M+ 1/21
• JP normal game, 254.8M+ 1/28
• JP Escape Nubular, 275.0M+ 1/26
• Deadpool, 205.5M+ 1/28
• Super Pac-Man, 76,040 1/15
• Q*Bert, 18,875 1/21
• Millipede, 78,394 1/28
• Track & Field, 96,110 1/23 (game has video issues but score is legible)

All in all I’m pretty happy with most of these, particularly Millipede, TMNT final battle, JP Escape Nubular, and Iron Maiden.

Not one of my better tournaments, so I’m going to go through it very quickly and summarize most of what I remember. TL;DR: I only lasted four rounds, meaning I avoided a strike in only one round; the rest of the tournament also went by fairly quickly.

Round 1 was Charlie’s Angels with Matt Rodon, Holden, and Fred Revnew (I would play first). We were playing this title as a two-player game since there were issues with the fourth player score display. On this game I’ve put up scores well into the hundreds of thousands on this game before, and even rolled over the score counter a couple of times. All of that meant jack spit this evening as I would put up a truly cringeworthy 36,610. Matt would put up a more respectable 205,420. Holden would put up a rather lacking 109,250, and Fred would seal the deal with a 327,910, most of it on one ball. So that’s strike one.

Round 2 would send me over to Star Wars with, Fred Revnew, Kevin Tooley, and Holden (I would be playing third). I never really had much of a chance. I was able to put up 84.7M+ after two balls, but Fred and Kevin signed off with 478.6M+ and 291.0M+, so my third ball would have needed to be a minimum of 207M and change for me to possibly be safe. It wasn’t, in fact, it was a real turd and I’d sign off with 98.4M+ good for third place and strike number two.

Round 3 would finally drop a bit of better luck on me. Holden, Dillon Neal, and Alyssa would be my opponents (I would play second). I was a bit worried at the start of ball 3 as it was a fairly close game. Holden had already wrapped up with 74.1M+, which could be no better than third. Dillon had 89.2M+ for the lead at that point, and Alyssa was way back with 21.0M+, both with a ball still left to play. I would call it a wrap with 132.8M+, Dillon would put a lid on it at 172.4M+, leaving Alyssa, who I had never seen play in a tournament prior to tonight, though to that point she had been the weak link in the group. I got a bit nervous, but finally got to exhale as she signed off with only 49.5M+.

Round 4 would bring on Game of Thrones, with Josh Merlet and Hunter Reed (I would play third). Hunter ran away with it posting a 288.4M+, Josh had put a lid on it with 17.4M+. I would start ball 3 with 7.2M+, not a high score by any means, but it should have been fairly easy for me to dodge a third strike here. Emphasis on “should”. I’d end the night with the third strike here putting up only 15.1M+ and give Josh another round that arguably, he didn’t earn (though he would bust out the following round anyway).

My finish: ninth place of 12 players. You’d think after the previous tournament I would have done better than that against many of the same players.

Eventually, Fred and Jack Revnew would agree to split first place after eight rounds, as it was getting late and they were the only two players left. I’d hang around and put in a few more games. Quick summary of the (better) non-tournament games that night:

• Frogger: 17,290
• Charlie’s Angels: 1,441,590 (where was this during the tourney?!)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: 109.7M+
• Centipede: 34,857
• Twilight Zone: 291.7M+
• Tri Zone: 212,960

Once again, most of these will be a bit light on detail but there will be a few highlights to comment on.

The Game Preserve (The Woodlands), January 1:

• Star Trek (Stern): 8.49M+
• Twilight Zone: 66.4M+
• Dancing Lady: 416
• Spy Hunter (pinball): 1.83M+
• White Water: 228.2M+
• Star Wars (Stern): 280.6M+
• Game of Thrones (Pro): 97.49M+
• Q*Bert (video): 29,835
• Charlie’s Angels: 392,380
• Rollergames: 2.23M+ (slightly blurry, but this game does not show previous scores easily)
• The Simpsons (pinball): 739,040
• Lord of the Rings: 6.10M+
• Metallica: 4.40M+
• Guardians of the Galaxy: 561.9M+, high score #4
• Marble Madness: 19,630
• Tri Zone: 347,050
• Arkanoid: 17,230
• Nibbler: 51,630
• Flying Carpet: 3,689 (may not be accurate, scoring reels are having issues on this game lately)
• NBA Fastbreak: 57
• Doctor Who: 428.4M+

The main highlights here were White Water, Spy Hunter, Doctor Who, and Guardians of the Galaxy. On White Water, I had a pretty good multiball run as well as getting a high bonus multiplier early on (and on this game, the bonus multiplier is automatically held for each succeeding ball). Spy Hunter was another case of getting key features lit and a high end of ball bonus to boot. Doctor Who, if I remember right, I had at least one good multiball, possibly two, with the jackpots helping immensely (it also helps that the bonus multiplier shot in this game is always lit and relatively easy to keep hitting). Guardians of the Galaxy, I remember having a good Groot Multiball run or two, possibly an Orb Multiball as well. All in all a pretty good evening.

Speedy’s, January 3:

• Quick & Crash: 7.735 sec (started off great but had a lousy stage 3 and 4)
• Iron Maiden: 102.8M+
• Deadpool: 21.15M+
• The Munsters: 13.22M+
• Jurassic Park: 108.7M+

The Game Preserve, January 8:

• The Simpsons (pinball): 1.76M+
• Paragon: 96,640
• Guardians of the Galaxy: 620.9M+, high score #2
• Star Wars (Stern): 100.3M+
• NBA Fastbreak: 31
• Tri Zone: 351,730
• No Fear: 276.0M+
• Charlie’s Angels: 896,750
• Back to the Future: 1.87M+
• Q*Bert (video): 32,845
• Revenge From Mars: 11.41M+
• Doctor Who: 262.6M+
• Twilight Zone: 283.2M+
• Centipede: 45,006
• Star Trek: 68.98M+
• Frogger: 13,700
• Flying Carpet: 2,129 (again, may or may not be accurate)

Guardians of the Galaxy, I remember starting Groot Multiball twice, Orb Multiball once, and Cherry Bomb Multiball (after getting four modes) which is a six-ball multiball with continuous ball save until the mode is over (60 seconds I think?).

Speedy’s, January 9:

• The Munsters: 8.7M+
• TMNT Final Battle: 7.58M+ (Final Battle champion at the time)
• Batman 66: 41.7M+
• Star Wars: 161.2M+
• Q*Bert: 31,600
• Super Pac-Man: 110,090
• TMNT (normal game): 22.34M+, high score #3
• Iron Maiden: 199.4M+, high score #3 (Hallowed Be Thy Name Champion 85.5M+)
• Airline Pilots: 64 points, 7:47 beginner; 74 points, 6:12 intermediate

I am way behind on these, so these will be a bit light on detail and picture heavy. The good news is the next two from January will be more recent.

Speedy’s on 12/22, highest scores on the day (with one non-high score where a record was set):

• JP: 43.9M+
• Batman 66: 639.6M+, Bat Phone champion 18M, Penguin 95 champion 246.1M+, Shame 115/116 champion 74.3M+
• Iron Maiden: 76.4M+
• Deadpool: 28.3M+
• TMNT: 25.0M+, Donatello champion, grand champion
• The Munsters: Zap champion 880K (in a game with a 20.0M+ score), 90.7M+, high score #1, Munster Madness champion 21.8M+, Bonus champion 12.1M+
• Super Pac-Man: 110,340

Speedy’s on 12/24, high scores on the day (apologies for the reflections on some of these, they are the best quality pictures I could get):

• Batman 66: 30.5M+
• TMNT: 10.4M+
• JP: 131.8M+
• Iron Maiden: 267.1M+, high score #1, Trooper Multiball champion 39.33M, Spinner master 315, Bonus Meltdown master 26.656M
• Deadpool: 169.6M+
• The Munsters: Herman champion 6.9M+, (in 32.9M+ game) 36.4M+
• Quick & Crash: 5.325 seconds, 6th place
• Star Wars: 165.3M+
• Millipede: 72,573

EinStein’s in Richmond, 12/30 (pardon the holiday lights in some of the pictures, that’s just how the arcade was decorated for the season):

• • Wizard of Oz: 44,341
  • Total Nuclear Annihilation: 599k+; Reactor 2 Speed Run, 42 seconds (yes, I “SKQuashed” the previous record)
  • Sorcerer: 569k+
  • Batman 66: 133.4M+
  • Stranger Things: 173.5M+
  • Paragon: 101k+
  • TMNT: 6.3M+

Speedy’s on 12/31:

• TMNT: 18.0M+, high score #4
• The Munsters: 4.3M+
• JP: 79.5M+
• Iron Maiden: 23.3M+
• Star Wars: 39.5M+
• Quick & Crash: 6.197 sec (place unknown, didn’t take)
• Some flight sim game I don’t recall the name of: 74 points, 3:41 flight time
• Deadpool: 111.0M+

Primarily from about 1998 to early 2002 and sporadically after that, I took an interest in laser tag, particularly (at the time) the Laser Quest just down the road (13711 Westheimer Road, between Eldridge Parkway and Texas Highway 6) from where I was working at the time (Westheimer Road at what was at the time called Old Westheimer, Road now called West Houston Center Boulevard). I did also play at many of the other laser tag centers that had existed in the area, including the two other Laser Quests we had (6560 FM 1960 West (long before it was known as Cypress Creek Parkway) and the one in Clear Lake/Webster, which I cannot remember the address of right now), all three locations of LazerRage (Spring, Humble, and Stafford), as well as Space City Laser Tag (using Lasertron equipment), Laserzone using Laser Force equipment (not Zone Empire/Ultrazone equipment as one might think!), and Track 21 (one of the later versions of Zone Empire gear, long after Ultrazone’s competitive scene took a dive).

I had planned a return trip to the nearest Laser Quest for a few last sentimental games, though this was after Houston’s centers had shuttered. At first that was going to be a road trip to San Antonio (we unfortunately lost Austin’s center much earlier than the two remaining in Houston) or North Richland Hills (the sole DFW area center remaining in Texas). Then, it turned into a planned trip to Tulsa, not necessarily even a road trip at this point as I was open to flying up there.

And then, as luck would have it, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

And then in September, Versent Corporation (the operator/franchisor of Laser Quest centers in North America) decided to throw in the towel, yet another casualty of the raging pandemic. The home page was changed to read “Thanks For The Memories – We Are Now Closed” and went on to thank everyone for their patronage over the previous 27 years.

I only ever got to play in one real Laser Quest tournament, the second and final year of the iNAC (Individual North American Challenge–remember, this predated Apple’s iThings by several years). I was able to walk over to the Austin Laser Quest center from the back room of the motel room I was in (I was with my mom). I did horribly, nowhere near enough to qualify, but all the smack talk about how I wasn’t good enough to actually play in tournaments died down a bit, as at least I got my ass out there and tried.

Other fond memories, which unfortunately I have no documentation of, include many rounds of pinball on a Revenge From Mars at the Champions Village Laser Quest center (6560 FM 1960 West), as well as many games of Point Blank and Police Trainer, including a time during which I had all six slots on the board for beating the game at commissioner level (leading the next guy to sign it “NO DUALIST” (sic) to contrast with the five other “DUELIST” entries).

I can see laser tag being problematic in something like the COVID-19 pandemic. To their credit, Versent did try to diversify and catch a piece of the escape room action, presumably re-purposing the party rooms (or perhaps other parts of the LQ centers) as escape rooms when not being used for parties. That too was going to be problematic in a pandemic of this sort, though, with a lot of location-based entertainment taking a huge hit. Even Chuck E. Cheese’s had to resort to selling take-out pizza at some locations to try to stay afloat, and will probably lose a fair number (but not all) locations before it’s all said and done.

Nevertheless, it’s upsetting to me to see an institution like Laser Quest take a fall in such a brutal manner. No word yet on what’s going to become of all the remaining Laser Quest gear; I will admit the technology is a bit old, but it’s not like Darklight or other systems are that much newer.

I’m going to attach a fair number of surviving Laser Quest scorecards, mostly from around 2000 (“100”) or 2001 (“101”). While I did try to save a complete collection early on, I’m pretty sure almost everything from 1999 and earlier was a casualty of Tropical Storm Allison, or has been otherwise lost since. I will be coming back to this post and adding more as I find them and/or have time to scan them in. (I had hoped to have everything scanned in before the end of the year but that just didn’t happen…)

[Edit 2023-09-11: Fix typos/writing errors]