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New Book Features Official Video Game and Pinball World Records
When did Walter "The Wizard" Day become a Wizard? It started in Ottumwa at his Twin Galaxies video game arcade in 1983. He suspected that one of his regular players held the high score in pinball, and called around to find out if this was true. He contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, but they no longer kept track of video game records because it was too hard to keep accurate proof of the winners.
So Day, fascinated by people using their optimum performance levels, began keeping a log of players' high scores on his travels. Then he called the video game manufacturers and declared himself the official score-keeper. They didn't have one and certainly needed one, so they gladly agreed that he would be the pinball and video game wizard.
The Official Book of Records
Day has been keeping track of video game records for the last 16 years and now he's written his own Guinness Book of World Records for the video game industry: Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records (Sunstar Publishing, 1998). It's a compilation of all of the top scores throughout the world. Day is now recognized as the number one person for score-keeping in the video game pop culture that sprouted up in the '80s.
Day's two-inch thick, thousand-page book is a compilation of his research on electric game and pinball winners. It logs almost every type of game: Sega, Atari, Nintendo, and many other home game consoles, computer games, and all sorts of arcade games. Remember Frogger, Donkey Kong, Mrs. Pac-Man, and all the golden oldies? They're all in here. If you're curious about the Pac-Man record, Chris Ayra had 3,324,730 points on June 29, 1986. You can look it up.
People contact Day from New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries, and he has acted as the organizer-referee for all of the top scores. The book explains the rules for being a winner, lists the records of previous top score winners, and includes a calendar of future competitions. The last part of the book is a 200-page autobiographical story about Day's experiences being the Wizard and how this privileged duty came about. He tells of appearing on talk shows, dealing with the media, and handling unruly star video-game kids.
And he describes how he played his last game of Centipede ten years ago, turning his back on video-games forever. Why? Because he had achieved his goal and realized that it just takes too much time and practice to be a number one player.
A Warm Worldwide Reception
The book has received extensive publicity. World records are always inherently interesting, and the video game phenomenon has been somewhat of a craze. Day's been everywhere--on television talk shows, in magazine and newspaper articles, and in book reviews. In addition, Day is hosting world competitions among the top players and recording their scores.
Kids love the book for verifying their scores and fostering competitions among themselves--with the added possibility of competing worldwide and getting in future editions of the book. Twin Galaxies just held a big tournament in 1997 in many different cities and all of the new winners were compiled into the 1998 edition.
The Future of Video Games
Day is a sensitive man, and conscious of the violent nature of many video games, the Wizard is concerned about children's well-being. He doesn't support destructive games; on the contrary, he holds a high vision of what the games could be. He wants them to uplift the spirit of young people.
"Video games do not need to be dark and violent in order to be fun," he says. "The video game manufacturers have the ability at this point in time to lead the kids of America away from destructive tendencies. Unfortunately, video games that are dark and ominous with evil themes can have a bad effect on the younger generation."
He wants to prevent this and is seeking people to work with him in creating more positive games. The potential is there, he believes, to have games that develop intelligence, happiness, security, faith, and other virtues. Video games could just as easily shift from a fear-based mission to a more cosmic life-saving one. Then when the kids turn off the screen they have a higher ambition in life, and something more positive is filling their minds. Why not a game, for example, that focuses on who can grow the most trees to save the planet earth?
Day tugs on his black-and-silver beard. "Unfortunately, video games are going in the same direction as television and Hollywood. If video games don't change now, they'll be worse than television." Day feels that it's the parents' duty to monitor what their children play. He advises parents to write letters to the manufacturers and demand that video games be improved. However, the video game manufacturers are not completely to blame, he says. "They are just responding to the needs of the time. If the parents vote with their dollars, the manufacturers will sit up and listen."
He wants parents to know that even though an official world record book has come out, this doesn't mean that kids should double or triple the amount of time they're playing video games. "Kids are already playing too many video games," the Wizard says. "It would be good to take regular breaks and go for a walk in the park or play sports. In fact, if they take a rest from playing the video games, when they become refreshed, they'll probably get higher scores."
Sounds like sage advice from a true wizard.
