Q*bert Record Attempt Scuttled After Machine Unplugged

[gyruss]

Q*bert Record Attempt Scuttled After Machine UnpluggedThirty-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.

http://kotaku.com/#!5792711/qbert-record-attempt-scuttled-after-machine-unplugged

[DarthNuno]

Oouuuch   

[level42]

I still can NOT believe that they do not do the small investment of one of these at world record attempts like that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

[Q*ris]

Wooot?
That's even dumber than that missile command guy who had a non-reliable cab (teamed with a non-reliable "technician") for his world record attempt...

[Muerto]

auch! 60 hours for nothing!!! hmmm, i would have been PISSED!
how can someone accidentally unplug a game thats being used for a WR??

And good point Andre! - but maby thats illegal?? (sometimes STUPID TG-WR Settings!)

[level42]

No no, they didn't unplug the Q*bert machine but another one in the arcade. Doing so can cause a surge on the mains that influences other devices. (Esp. when both devices are on the same group).

A (good) UPS would have filtered that out. Also, indeed suppose when the mains fails (more common in the US than in north-west Europe) you'd have at least some time extra...depending on the capacity of the UPS.

Impossible that regulations would not allow this, there is no "modification" to the machine, this is put between the mains outlet and the machine itself. It doesn't change anything on the game itself.

[gyruss]

From Kotaku:

Some Dude’s Trying to Play Q*Bert for a Ridiculously Long Time. Again.

OK, well, not just "some dude." The record-seeker is Ed Heemskerk, who set the marathon record for Q*Bert at 68.5 hours back in March, and now is bidding for a 100-hour stretch on a single quarter. He started yesterday morning at 8 a.m. EDT, meaning that, by now, he's a little more than a quarter of the way toward his goal.

Heemskerk's last bid set a time record but failed to eclipse the overall high score mark which, at 28 years old, has moved out of the house, gotten a good paying job and is getting serious about a Ladybug high score it met at a wedding. Rob Gerhardt's mark of 33,273,520 has, since last year, survived five attempts to beat it.

One hundred hours is not fooling around. The most I have ever done without sleep was probably 41 covering a Marine Corps training exercise. The only time I went 100 hours straight without doing something was when I won a fraternity bet going that long without taking a dump. That was before I became a coffee drinker, obviously.

If Heemskerk hits 100 hours, that'll be at noon EDT on Tuesday. If he beats his old mark, that'll happen sometime around 5:30 a.m. EDT on Monday. You can check on Heemskerk's progress at the link below.

http://www.patrickscottpatterson.com/Ed

[level42]

Very Dutch sounding name

I that standard Q*bert going there ? It looks like Q*bert is jumping very fast....another speed-up hack ? Whenever I see world record attempts with hacked software it feels like a complete disappointment to me, just like the Asteroids one...