Hammering Hank Chien Wins The Kong Off 4! Lakeman Defeated In Final Round Grudge Match

Photo: Jeff Harrist

August 3rd, 2015 - Hank Chien tasted sweet revenge on Sunday when the deposed world record holder defeated his usurper, the current King of Kong Robbie Lakeman, in an ultimate final round grudge match at the Kong Off 4.

Chien may no longer be on top of the all-time high score standings, but another Kong Off win (his second after the the inaugural installment in 2011) is a comeback to be proud of.

The always amazing Jeff Willms submitted the event's highest overall score, and if not for the new head-to-head finals, would have successfully defended his Kong Off title once again for an unprecedented three in a row.

The Bracket Tourney

Sunday's single-elimination bracket tournament—consisting of eight players in seven matches and seeded by Friday and Saturday's high score competition—initially met with wide skepticism. Players and observers were unsure whether or not the format could succeed, being so radical a departure from the traditional model.

Scores for this "one-and-done" style were indeed relatively low compared to those attained in isolated, individual sessions, where players can enjoy the luxury of multiple attempts and easily-aborted weak games, with only their very best game ultimately mattering.

But when limited to one game, against a specific player, entirely new dynamics are introduced, and the community at large came away very pleasantly surprised with the excitement, pressure, and novelty of this much more direct form of competition.

Commentary At Last!

Several weeks ago, during Steve Wiebe's appearance at the Mall of America, Mitchell Elliott was a guest on the live stream, and offered superb running commentary on the action, helping viewers to better comprehend what they were watching. It was a taste of what was to come this past weekend.

Donkey Kong live-streamed games and tournaments have always struggled with the problem of a game that is notoriously spectator-unfriendly. For the uninitiated, it's slow, hard to understand, and tactically arcane.

As Jesse Hicks of the Verge described it in his 2013 piece on the Kong Off 3: "To the casual eye it's something less than poetry in motion."

On Sunday, expert players including Wes Copeland, Ethan Daniels, Dean Saglio, as well as Wiebe, Elliot, and others, sat down in the ReplayFX broadcast booth to do their part making Donkey Kong more accessible. For the first time ever, Kong Off matches were streamed with play-by-play announcers, and the results were very well-received.

I've wanted commentary for a long time and it was wonderful to see how strong and professional it turned out to be.

Here is the final Lakeman versus Chien match. If you've ever wanted to understand just what goes into playing this game at a high level, I recommend giving it a listen:

On To Next Year

The Kong Off 5 has already been scheduled for next year, where Hank Chien will defend his title at the same location and on the same weekend at ReplayFX in Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Richie Knucklez for his hard work in making the Kong Offs happen, and to many others who help in so many ways behind the scenes. Photographer William McEvoy deserves special mention for his talents, covering the last three Kong Offs, as well as other classic gaming events around the country. Needless to say, McEvoy's work has been indispensable to my blog posts.

I'd also like to thank renowned gaming journalist and Gamasutra publisher Simon Carless, who over the weekend Tweeted a link to the coverage here and sent some curious traffic in this direction. The gaming and tech press has always been kind to Donkey Blog and it is always appreciated.

And on the subject of traffic...

It's pure serendipity that it would happen within a fortnight or so of a Kong Off coming to a close, but it would seem that my pageview counter's rollover to 1 million is imminent! When I started this blog four years ago, it was a pet project that I never would have foreseen hitting that milestone. My "score" here is higher than my personal best at the game. Much gratitude goes out to the many thousands who have linked, reddited, Tweeted, shared, read, commented, and encouraged.

Congratulations to Hank, Jeff, and all the other competitors for another well-played Kong Off!

Hard at work on Kong Off Row

Ethan Daniels' understated reaction to a Steve Wiebe autograph

Richie Knucklez and Alan Radue with the champion's barstool Radue created for the event

The Kong Off 4 lineup (left to right): Walter Day, Jason Wade, Ethan Daniels, Dean Saglio, Jeff Wolfe, Steve Wiltshire, Wes Copeland, Mike Groesbeck, Daniel Desjardins, Steve Wiebe, Vincent Lemay, Jeff Willms, Hank Chien, Eric Tessler, Jeff Harrist, Robbie Lakeman, Billy Mitchell

All photos: William McEvoy

Day 2 Recap: Willms In Command; Saglio Comes Up Short At World Record Pace

Former world record holder Steve Wiebe alongside current champ Robbie Lakeman on Day 2
Photo: William McEvoy

August 1st, 2015 - The action at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh took a familiar turn today, setting an ominous tone for tomorrow.

For the third consecutive Kong Off, Jeff Willms has emerged with the event's highest score. If the format were the same as in previous years, the brilliant Canadian phenom would now be celebrating a three-peat.

However, the Kong Off 4 is a whole new game. Just hours from now, the players will meet for the final day, a single-elimination bracketed standoff between the 8 highest-scoring players from these first two days.

The format will entail a major change in strategy—one that emphasizes safety and survival over scoring pace—and has never been so much as tested before. Can Willms master it on the fly? Or will the Kong Off finally have a new reigning champion?

Jeff Willms (right) taking a chess break with Ethan Daniels, Steve Wiebe, and Mitchell Elliott
Photo: William McEvoy

Here is the final leaderboard for the high score segment:

Rank	Player	Best Score
1	Jeff Willms	1,093,000
2	Robbie Lakeman	1,069,700
3	Wes Copeland	1,060,900
4	Dean Saglio	1,060,800
5	Mike Groesbeck	1,028,600
6	Hank Chien	1,010,800
7	Ethan Daniels	1,009,400
8	Vincent Lemay	1,009,000
9	Steve Wiltshire	1,005,900
10	Jeff Wolfe	991,800
11	Dan Desjardins	869,700
12	Shaun Boyd	857,700
13	Steve Wiebe	842,800
14	Eric Tessler	821,100
15	Jason Wade	787,700
16	Mick Winzeler	784,400

Giving us these matches for Sunday's first round:

Willms vs. Lemay
Lakeman vs. Daniels
Copeland vs. Chien
Saglio vs. Groesbeck

Wiltshire Bubbled On Last Quarter

There is never a shortage of "last quarter drop" drama in Donkey Kong tournaments, as veterans of past Kong Offs and Donkey Kong Online Opens will be quick to recall. Today's action stayed true to form, with not one but two players pushing through their hail-mary games to wrest their way into the finals.

After Hank Chien and Mike Groesbeck secured 5th and 6th, Steve Wiltshire sat in 7th, with Vincent Lemay rounding out the top 8.

Then, after last quarter was called, Ethan Daniels came alive to push Wiltshire to the edge of the bubble and Lemay out into 9th.

Time to take off the shirt.

Lemay, on his final game, had only one shot to retake top 8 standing... and the shot hit its target, beating Wiltshire by just 3,100 points.

"I might cry" Wiltshire said with a smile on his face, watching the action from directly behind Lemay's machine. They shook hands, Wiltshire departed in 9th, and a white-suited Billy Mitchell joined the shirtless French-Canadian bodybuilder in his obligatory celebration pose.

Photo: Hank Chien

Saglio Almost Breaks The World Record

Every ill-fated Donkey Kong world record attempt will fail for one of two reasons: either because the player reached the game's kill screen without maintaining the pace needed to earn enough points, or because he lost all four lives along the way.

Earlier today, Dean Saglio had the pace, but his four lives weren't enough. We came very close to seeing the Donkey Kong world record broken this afternoon, when the grandmaster unexpectedly succumbed on board 94 (of 117) with 960,300 points.

Taken to the end, the game would have beaten Robbie Lakeman's score, and to an extent that would likely have closed the book on the world record chase. Saglio already did the deed on the MAME emulator almost two years ago with a virtually unbeatable score, and many believe that he will ultimately be the last to hold the record on the arcade platform when he finally attains one similar to it on original hardware. But today would not be the day.

The Grand Finale

Action is scheduled to begin at 9 AM Eastern, and will be streamed at http://www.twitch.tv/richieknucklez. Join us then to see who will take home the belt, the barstool, and $4,000 cash!

Day 1 Recap: Copeland Leads the Field

Wes Copeland (center) filters out the noise of Kong Off Row

July 31st, 2015 - Day 1 of the Kong Off 4 has come to an end, and the young gun is out front.

Wes Copeland, who has only been playing Donkey Kong for less than two years, came to Pittsburgh this weekend to prove himself in his first Kong Off against a lineup of veterans—some of whom are old enough to be his father—and he's looking pretty convincing so far.

The leaderboard at the end of the first of two eight-hour days of high score competition is as follows:

Rank	Player	Best Score
1	Wes Copeland	1,060,900
2	Dean Saglio	1,060,800
3	Jeff Willms	1,060,800
4	Robbie Lakeman	1,059,700
5	Steve Wiltshire	1,005,900
6	Vincent Lemay	1,005,600
7	Shaun Boyd	857,700
8	Hank Chien	818,000
9	Jason Wade	787,700
10	Eric Tessler	767,200
11	Steve Wiebe	765,900
12	Mick Winzeler	688,600

You read those top 3 scores right: the tie for second place between Dean Saglio and defending Kong Off champion Jeff Willms was a total accident, and Copeland's 100-point squeaker to edge them out for first place is not the taunt that I initially suspected it to be. Donkey Kong world record holder Robbie Lakeman, in fourth, is only 1,100 points below them.

There's no conspiracy or skulduggery afoot on Kong Off Row engineering this strangely tight point spread. It's just the way today's cards fell.

Lakeman's 4th place run made history, with the world champion cracking one million points on his first man. The closest anyone had come before today was Ross Benziger's attempt in an online tournament last year that infamously came to an end when Benziger accidentally employed the "reverse weave" pattern on the 20th rivet board, dying just a few thousand points away from the one-man million. Lakeman now holds the distinction, and it's a sobering reminder to the rest of the field of what they're up against.

The fight for Sunday's bracket spots has been made much more intense by a surprise annoucement that came down late yesterday evening. Time constraints have forced a major last-minute change. The first round of the bracket competition is being eliminated entirely, meaning that rather than 16 players going on to Sunday's 4 rounds, there will only be 8 players and 3 rounds.

At this point, only Copeland, Saglio, Willms and Lakeman have a position that could be considered secure. It's unlikely that even the lowest of those scores (Lakeman's) will be in 9th place by the end of Saturday's play.

Below the top 4, though, things are more questionable. A low million, like Steve Wiltshire and Vincent currently have, is tenuous. At this point, it's anyone's game for the remaining 4 spots.

Saturday's action begins soon. And to reiterate a point from the previous post, official streaming of the event will not begin until Sunday. Bandwidth availability at the convention center is a problem during the ReplayFX event, and the Kong Off 4 has only been greenlit for streaming on the final day. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.

Photos: William McEvoy. Thanks to Jeff Harrist and Daniel Desjardins for updates and score data.

The Kong Off 4 Is Here!

Steve Wiebe samples machines along 2015's "Kong Off Row"
Photo: William McEvoy

July 30th, 2015 - Donkey Kong's greatest have arrived at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA and will soon take their battle stations on Kong Off Row.

The 4th installment of Richie Knucklez' Kong Off, hosted by the ReplayFX Arcade & Gaming Festival, begins Friday at noon, with the first of two days of high score competition.

On Sunday (day 3), the 16 players with the highest scores from Friday and Saturday's action will go on to play in a single-elimination head-to-head bracket-style competition.

This segment was devised by Richie Knucklez and Steve Wiebe to throw a twist into the contest. The traditional high score competition of years prior will still be integral to the tournament, but the elimination portion is new, and Sunday will put the viability of the concept to the test.

16 players in 8 simultaneous matchups will constitute the first round, with 8 players proceeding to the second round, followed by a 4-way semi-final.

The semi-final victors will then head to the 2 final round cabinets decked out in "Steelers gold", and (after the bracket players have signed their names to the custom side art) will duke it out for the win, the belt, the $4,000 grand prize, and the title of Kong Off champion.

The final round gold cabinets
Photo: Derek Sorrels

Following The Action

There is some question at this point as to whether the first two days of competition will be live-streamed to Twitch TV. Bandwidth is an issue at the convention center, and with multiple events taking place there, only Sunday's bracket portion has been given the green light.

Stay tuned to Richie Knucklez' Twitch channel at http://www.twitch.tv/richieknucklez for the latest developments.

Also check out KongOff.com for more information on the event.

The highlight of today's practice session was former world champion Billy Mitchell making his presence known with a 930,000 kill screen game. Richie Knucklez snapped this photo afterwards, capturing Billy in a victory pose (and a bit of accidental red-eye that does little to mitigate Mitchell's devilish reputation!)

33 Years Ago, In Movie-Land...

It is an interesting semi-coincidence that the opening scenes of Pixels—last weekend's major Holywood release about a team of classic gamers tasked with saving the Earth from an alien invasion—depicted a final round head-to-head Donkey Kong competition (emceed by Dan Aykroyd himself) in a fictitious "1982 Worldwide Video Arcade Championships."

A number of classic gamers from around the community were asked by the producers for video of their gameplay, and our own world champion Robbie Lakeman provided the Donkey Kong footage featured in the film.

It's a fun, if inadvertent, tie-in to the action about to unfold at the Kong Off 4, and a reminder that classic gaming is still alive and well in the public consciousness.

Good luck to all competing this weekend! The blog will be inactive Friday, but I will do my best to update the action throughout the rest of the tournament.