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

Robbie Lakeman Wins DKO#3, Closes In On World Record

Robbie Lakeman (right) with Steve Wiebe at the Kong Off 2

July 1st, 2014 - He wasn't able to make it happen earlier this month during the most recent Donkey Kong Online Open, but he came close... and even closer this past Sunday.

Robbie Lakeman buried the needle for tournament first place with 1,086,700, but victory for the weekend was almost an afterthought. Lakeman's real ambition—as with all of his runs for the past several weeks—was to dethrone Hank Chien as the King of Kong. It was not to be. "Some games are world record games and that just wasn't gonna be one," Lakeman commented afterwards.

Just seven days later, in the dead of night on June 29th, I was on hand (and on the edge of my seat) to witness Lakeman join Ross Benziger and Vincent Lemay in the "near miss" club. Lakeman's score, 1,131,500, came only 7,100 points shy of the ultimate prize. If the final board had played out more cooperatively, the record would have fallen.

"I still have to keep playing this game," Lakeman said. "I can't be like Vincent and Ross and stop playing. I can't do it."

With Robbie in top form and pushing with all of his strength, he could (and likely will) take the record any day now.

Ethan Daniels at the Kong Off 3
Photo: William McEvoy

And he's not the only one with a chance: Ethan Daniels, a bit of a dark horse since he does not yet have a score in the top 20, is nonetheless playing at world record pace and has gone quite deep on several occasions. Steve Wiltshire and Dave McCrary are also currently active and capable.

In other words, if Robbie doesn't do it soon, somebody else just might.

The fourth Donkey Kong Online Open has not yet been scheduled, but organizers are aiming for sometime in August.

Will we have a new champion by then? I would say, with confidence, that it's more likely than not.

If you want to be sure you're on hand to witness history, follow Robbie Lakeman's Twitch TV channel at http://www.twitch.tv/lakeman421/.

Final Scoreboard and Prizes: Donkey Kong Online Open 2014, #3

Rank	Player	Score	Gap
1	Robbie Lakeman	1,086,700	0
2	Eric Tessler	922,200	164,500
3	Ben Falls	912,700	9,500
4	Jeff Willms	894,400	18,300
5	Martin Laing	894,100	300
6	Dave McCrary	859,500	34,600
7	Jeff Wolfe	815,400	44,100
8	Steve Wiltshire	809,800	5,600
9	Andrew Barrow	785,600	24,200
10	Jason Brittain	730,200	55,400
11	Adam Mon	714,100	16,100
12	Mick Winzeler	703,500	10,600
13	Craig Gallant	690,800	12,700
14	Daniel Desjardins	633,600	57,200
15	Jeff Harrist	603,700	29,900
16	Chris Psaros	529,500	74,200
17	Scott Cunningham	518,000	11,500
18	Graham Hawkins	488,000	30,000
19	Brian Allen	447,700	40,300
20	Johnny Bonde	435,700	12,000
21	Tanner Fokkens	417,000	18,700
22	Jonathon McCourt	402,000	15,000
23	Allen Staal	386,100	15,900
24	John Salter	358,700	27,400
25	Kristian Telschow	239,200	119,500
26	John McNeill	224,500	14,700
27	Steve Grunberger	207,100	17,400
28	Emil Thomsen	87,300	119,800
29	Don Rubin	86,200	1,100
30	Katherine Williams	59,100	27,100
31	Edward Dietman	22,900	36,200
32	Chuck Vess	2,200	20,700

Total Entrants: 65
Total Entrants With A Score Submission: 32

Prizes:
$200 1st - Ben Falls (912,700)
$150 2nd - Jeff Willms (894,400)
$100 3rd - Martin Laing (894,100)
(Robbie Lakeman was not eligible for first place money since he took 2nd in DKO#1—contestants who win a place-prize can't win another for the next two tournaments, but can still win bounties. Second place Eric Tessler is the tournament organizer and does not compete for the prize pool.)

Bounties:
$50 Longest First Man - Robbie Lakeman (81 boards)
$50 Longest Last Man - Jeff Wolfe (33 boards)
$20 Most Improved Score - Andrew Barrow (301,900)
$50 Mystery Bounty #1 (12th place) - Mick Winzeler
$50 Mystery Bounty #2 (32nd place) - Chuck Vess

DK Open #3 This Weekend: Will Robbie Lakeman Break The World Record?

Robbie Lakeman at Funspot, 2013

June 19th, 2014 - It's beginning to feel inevitable. Robbie Lakeman, who put world champion Dr. Hank Chien on notice at around this time last year, has been slowly but steadily edging his high score upward, most recently eclipsing the "1.1" mark near the end of May.

With his personal best now standing at 1,113,400 points (the fourth-highest arcade machine score of all time), Lakeman is poised just behind Ross Benziger and Vincent Lemay, determined to end Chien's unbroken three-and-a-half year reign as the King of Kong.

Lakeman has been "going deep" for the past several weeks, coming just a few levels short in attempts that are easily maintaining world record pace. Sentiment around the community is that if Lakeman stays hungry and keeps pushing, the record will fall soon.

Lakeman's most recent leaderboard jump actually netted him a cool $50 from none other than Tim Sczerby (the eccentric and irascible former world champion snubbed by The King of Kong producers from inclusion in the film... and who'll be damned if he lets anyone forget it). Lakeman challenged Sczerby to a $50 bet that he'd beat him to "1.1". May's game did the deed, and Sczerby, true to his word, paid up.

The Donkey Kong Online Open #3 kicks off this Friday at 9 PM Pacific and runs all weekend. With a world record cash bounty of $1,100 up for grabs for the duration of the tournament, and with all eyes on Lakeman as the successor to the throne, there's no better moment than this one.

No-Hammer Time!

It's been a busy few months for competitive Kongers, with two tournaments having come and gone, a bit of history made, and another missed by an inch.

The second annual No-Hammer March Madness—a bracket-style elimination tourney—crowned Jon "Fast Eddie" McKinnell of Edinburgh, Scotland the champ for the second year in a row.

The devilishly challenging no-hammer variant, feared and despised by many of Donkey Kong's top competitors, forces the player to make his way through the chaos without using his one and only defensive weapon. Mandatory risk-taking greatly steepens the luck factor relative to standard play, while still demanding that the player recognize and maximize favorable situations.

Or, in the pithier words of Hank Chien, "no-hammer is 90% luck and 90% skill."

As the tournament progressed over several weeks, McKinnell stunned his already-intimidated opponents by crossing one of the final pieces of unfinished business from the Donkey Kong community's collective "to do" list: on April 20th, during a tournament practice game, he finessed his way through all 117 boards to became the first player ever to reach a no-hammer kill screen.

That performance, followed shortly thereafter with his repeat victory in the March Madness tournament, cemented McKinnell as the unrivaled no-hammer master.

Benziger In DKO #2: "You Deprived Me of History!"

Ross Benziger, no stranger to first place in online Donkey Kong tournaments (having won two in a row last year), took down the Online Open #2, held May 2nd through the 4th... but in the process managed to snatch a nasty defeat from the jaws of victory.

Benziger at the Kong Off 3 (Photo: William McEvoy)

Benziger was ripping through the game that would win him the tournament, cruising at over 980,000 points and still on his first man, when, just minutes from becoming the first Donkey Kong player to ever achieve a million points on a single life, calamity struck.

Several weeks of concentrated no-hammer practice for the March Madness tournament, combined with the shower of nerves erupting from what he was about to accomplish in this tournament, threw him into a moment of confusion. He began the rivet board on level 20-6 on autopilot, going into a pattern known as the "reverse weave"—a no-hammer only strategy rarely used in standard play due to its higher risk. "Oh my God, what am I doing?" he said. "No hammer, I hate you so bad!"

One agonizing thing led to another, Benziger lost a life, then launched into a tirade as profane as it was understandable:

"I just spaced out, forgot that I was playing regular... no hammer's taught me so many bad habits... Oh God, that's painful... I will never play no-hammer again! No-hammer, you deprived me of history! Never again, that is a promise!"

Minutes later, Benziger reached the kill screen and turned in the weekend's top score. The "first-man million" would have to wait for another day, but the $200 first-place prize was a nice salve on the wound.

The other big surprise of the weekend was the emergence of relative newcomer Wes Copeland, who has only been playing Donkey Kong for 9 months but managed to take second place in the tournament (and jump from 31st place in the all-time standings all the way up to 17th) with a huge 1,028,200. Jeff Willms is the only other Donkey Kong player to have ever made such lightning-quick progress from zero to a million, a journey that for most players is measured in years.

Wes is a 23-year-old software engineer from Arkansas, currently in the midst of a project attempting to "completely rewrite the Donkey Kong arcade engine in a modern multi-platform language: in this case JavaScript." You can follow Wes's work on "DKCore" through his progress thread at Donkey Kong Forum.

Other top finishers in May's tournament included Eric Tessler, Tim Sczerby, and Jeff Harrist.

I personally ended up on the prize money bubble, but was happy that this tourney allowed me to (just barely) keep "the streak" alive—I'd kill screened in each of the prior three online tournaments and wanted to make it four in a row. 5 minutes before the last quarter deadline, I abandoned a weak game in progress, threw in another quarter, went for the hail-mary, and managed to go all the way through to a simple, low-pace kill screen. Not quite good enough for the winner's circle, but I'm pleased with my consistency at landing just outside it!

Sign Up for #3!

Join us for the third DK Open this weekend! As always, entry is free, there are cash prizes for top scores, plus random "mystery bounties" that players of all skill levels can win. And with Robbie Lakeman in the hunt for the world record, it should be an exciting two days.

Finally, a quick "welcome back" to Twin Galaxies. After months of limbo, the new site went live as promised near the end of April. Based on what I've seen so far, the future looks bright, and Jace Hall truly seems to be a custodian we can all get behind.

Final Scoreboard and Prizes: Donkey Kong Online Open 2014, #2

Rank	Player	Score	Gap
1	Ross Benziger	1,067,700	0
2	Wes Copeland	1,028,200	39,500
3	Eric Tessler	968,700	59,500
4	Timothy Sczerby	941,500	27,200
5	Jeff Harrist	868,900	72,600
6	Chris Psaros	863,500	5,400
7	Aaron Rounsaville	817,000	46,500
8	Mike Groesbeck	793,000	24,000
9	Steve Wiltshire	733,600	59,400
10	Ben Falls	732,200	1,400
11	Martin Laing	729,800	2,400
12	Graham Hawkins	655,100	74,700
13	Mick Winzeler	631,200	23,900
14	Estel Goffinet	625,500	5,700
15	Daniel Dock	618,100	7,400
16	Robbie Lakeman	607,700	10,400
17	Jason Brittain	601,800	5,900
18	Ethan Daniels	575,200	26,600
19	Craig Gallant	532,500	42,700
20	Scott Cunningham	531,000	1,500
21	Shawn Robinson	492,200	38,800
22	Jon Shear	484,500	7,700
23	Andrew Barrow	483,700	800
24	Johhny Bonde	417,500	66,200
25	Brian Allen	385,500	32,000
26	Daniel Desjardins	370,500	15,000
27	Rick Fothergill	368,600	1,900
28	Fred DeHart	347,500	21,100
29	Nick Sheils	286,100	61,400
30	Victor Sandberg	284,100	2,000
31	Anthony Trujillo	274,800	9,300
32	Thomas Høgsberg	238,100	36,700
33	Mitchell Meerman	235,600	2,500
34	Steve Grunberger	185,800	49,800
35	Don Rubin	146,200	39,600
36	Katherine Williams	41,500	104,700
37	Douglas Tessler	26,600	14,900
38	Edward Dietman	18,900	7,700
39	Chuck Vess	2,100	16,800
40	Jessica Tessler	1,000	1,100

Total Entrants: 64
Total Submitting Players: 40

Prizes:
$200 1st - Ross Benziger (1,067,700)
$150 2nd - Wes Copeland (1,028,200)
$100 3rd - Jeff Harrist (868,900)
(3rd place Eric Tessler is the tournament organizer and 4th place Tim Sczerby won a prize in the previous tourney, thus both were ineligible for prize money. Therefore, 3rd prize went to Jeff Harrist in 5th place)

Bounties:
$50 Longest First Man - Graham Hawkins (67 boards)
$50 Longest Last Man - Tim Sczerby (49 boards)
$50 Mystery Bounty #1 (23rd place) - Andrew Barrow
$50 Mystery Bounty #2 (11th place) - Martin Laing
$20 Mystery Bounty #3 (36th place) - Katherine Williams
$30 Top 1-1 High Score - Robbie Lakeman (12,100)
$20 Runner-Up 1-1 High Score - Mitchell Meerman (8,400)

McCrary and Lakeman Dominate 2014's First Donkey Kong Open, KO4 Is On, and Twin Galaxies Is Alive!

March 6th, 2014 - Here's a quick overview of the first Donkey Kong Online Open for 2014, along with some updates on recent developments regarding the future of the Kong Off and Twin Galaxies.

Leaderboard Hit By Three Big Scores

November 17th, 2013, 3:45 PM MST - Within minutes of one another, a few game-changing new scores have just come in.

• Dave McCrary kill screened with 1,032,000 for fourth place, a new personal best... and a leap back into the Twin Galaxies Top 12!
• Eric Tessler 883,300, kill screen, taking ninth.
• Mike Groesbeck 859,900, for tenth.

Here is the updated scoreboard:

Rank	Player	Score	Gap	Division
1	Jeff Willms	1,096,200	0	Top 12
2	Hank Chien	1,056,900	39,300	Top 12
3	Steve Wiebe	1,048,800	8,100	Top 12
4	David McCrary	1,032,000	16,800	WC
5	Steve Wiltshire	1,016,700	15,300	Top 12
6	Kyle Goewert	1,006,500	10,200	WC
7	Vincent Lemay	989,700	16,800	Top 12
8	Corey Chambers	893,300	96,400	WC
9	Eric Tessler	883,300	10,000	WC
10	Mike Groesbeck	859,900	23,400	Top 12
11	Robbie Lakeman	840,300	19,600	Top 12
12	Jeff Wolfe	809,200	31,100	Top 12
13	Ben Falls	736,800	72,400	WC
14	Ethan Daniels	711,400	25,400	WC
15	Aaron Rounsaville	703,600	7,800	WC
16	Daniel Desjardins	702,500	1,100	WC
17	Jonathan McCourt	687,400	15,100	WC
18	Daniel Dock	680,000	7,400	WC
19	Mitchell Elliott	666,500	13,500	WC
20	Shaun Boyd	639,300	27,200	Top 12
21	Jeff Harrist	630,600	8,700	WC
22	Dean Saglio	628,700	1,900	Top 12
23	Billy Mitchell	598,800	29,900	Top 12
24	Allen Staal	569,900	28,900	WC
25	Chris Psaros	563,600	6,300	WC
26	Jeremy Young	485,400	78,200	WC
27	Ross Benziger	469,200	16,200	Top 12
28	George Strain	410,100	59,100	WC
29	John Salter	191,700	218,400	WC
30	John Hunter	190,200	1,500	WC
31	Elizabeth Bollinger	136,600	53,600	WC
32	Don Rubin	123,900	12,700	WC

Phil Tudose Wins the Wildcard Online Qualifier #2

August 18th, 2013 - After an intense second day of action which saw an incredible four million point games, Phil Tudose emerged as the winner of the second Wildcard Online Qualifier with a score of 1,020,900... but the margin was razor-thin.

Halfway Point of the Wildcard Qualifier #2: Psaros Leads

Auguust 17th, 2013, 9:05 PM PDT - We are now 24 hours into the 48 hour Wildcard Qualifier Tournament #2, and I am pleased to report that the tournament leader is... me!

Donkey Kong Tournament This Saturday: The Wildcard Rematch #2

The Kong Off 2 Wildcard Rematch... TODAY on Twitch TV!

January 19th, 2013, 12:00 AM PST - Two days... more than a dozen talented Kongers... but only four machines.

It just wasn't enough to go around!

This was the situation last November as an unexpected number of wildcard competitors crowded the 1up to take their crack at the Kong Off 2 leaderboard. With only four machines set aside for them, an elimination format was, by necessity, hastily devised. Only the best scores were able to move on to Day 2.