Day 2 Recap: Saglio Takes First (By 300 Points!) On Last Quarter; Chien Will Not Repeat As Kong Off Champion

Dean Saglio and Hank Chien

July 30th, 2016 - Kong Offs 1 through 4 have been a Hank Chien and Jeff Willms dynasty - with Chien winning the first and fourth, and Willms going back-to-back in the second and third.

We can't be sure whether or not Willms will emerge with another victory tomorrow, but he is still in contention.

Chien, though, is not, having finished the high score portion of the tournament outside of the top 8, and thus eliminated from Sunday's head-to-head finals.

Copeland In! Lemay Survives!

Early in the day, current world record holder Wes Copeland finally found his bearings and pushed his way from the bottom of the leaderboard into 4th place, ensuring himself a place on Sunday.

Then, as Day 2 drew toward "last quarter", all eyes turned to the low-hanging fruit.

The players in the top 7 spots were secure with scores well over a million points. But Vincent Lemay's 993,500 from Day 1 (over 50,000 points below the 7th place score) was still clinging to 8th... with a bright red target on its back.

Players still outside of the bubble (namely Chien, Ethan Daniels, and Daniel Desjardins) all set out on a last-quarter hunt for their tournament lives, with Lemay himself alongside them mounting a defense, trying to increase the score they were trying to beat.

One by one they fell (Daniels coming closest about 60,000 points short), but Kong managed to stave them all off, leaving Vincent alive to fight the final day, surprised but happy.

Earlier, Lemay had a little Facebook fun with the situation:

Nobody, including Lemay, expected his score to hold, but "Lemay math" prevailed. Let us never doubt it again.

That left just one last piece of business to be decided.

Saglio Snatches First Place From Lakeman

It's almost a rule in Donkey Kong tournaments that last-quarter will bring drama, and often a stunning upset. Dean Saglio did the honors this time. Having already secured a top 8 spot earlier in the tournament, Saglio was free to spend Day 2 playing at a higher pace in pursuit of Lakeman's Day 1 best.

He did it by a hair, a single barrel smash on the kill screen bridging the gap.

Saglio, who has experienced much disappointment in tournaments - Kong Offs in particular - was thrilled.

"Fifth time's the charm for being at the top of the high score competition. It took until Kong Off 5 to get to the top of the leaderboard. So, psyched about that. It took every barrel to get there."

In one fell swoop, Saglio earned tournament vindication, the high score first place prize money, and extracted a little payback from Lakeman, who just last month eclipsed 1.2 million and beat Saglio's personal best, pushing Saglio into third on the all-time scoreboard.

Tonight must have felt good.

Lakeman and Copeland at the announcer table

Here are the full standings as of the end of Day 2:

Rank	Player	Best Score
1	Dean Saglio	1,135,600
2	Robbie Lakeman	1,135,300
3	Jeff Willms	1,071,200
4	Wes Copeland	1,061,200
5	Steve Wiltshire	1,054,400
6	Jeff Wolfe	1,049,700
7	Jason Wade	1,046,900
8	Vincent Lemay	993,500
9	Ethan Daniels	933,900
10	Hank Chien	885,000
11	Tanner Fokkens	884,100
12	Mick Winzeler	778,600
13	Daniel Desjardins	727,300
14	Eric Tessler	581,200

Meanwhile this very day, in an adjacent section of the (massive) David L. Lawrence Convention Center removed from the ReplayFX/Kong Off event, a rally was held for and presided over by none other than candidate Hillary Clinton herself!

Did they stop by to check out the action at the Kong Off? We will never know, but the ReplayFX staff commented on the situation by offering up a candidate of their own:

Whether you're planning to vote for Trump, Clinton, or Kong, be sure to watch the Kong Off 5 live stream starting at 9 AM Eastern for the final head-to-head matchups!

Day 1 Recap: Lakeman In Control

July 30th, 2016 - The phenomenal Robbie Lakeman wasted no time on the first day of Kong Off competition in securing his place in Sunday's bracketed finals.

On the very first quarter-drop of the tournament, Lakeman scored 1,135,300, not merely guaranteeing that he would make the cut (while putting heavy pressure on his world-record rival Wes Copeland), but in doing so, managed to pull off the highest score ever achieved at a Kong Off.

Mirroring the Day 1 results from last year's Kong Off 4, 2nd and 3rd place were held by the always-reliable Dean Saglio and Jeff Willms, followed by strong showings from Jason Wade and a focused Steve Wiltshire, who came determined not to repeat history. He ended up on the wrong side of the bubble in 9th place at the very end of Day 2 of the Kong Off 4. His 1,043,600 is not a lock, but is likely to hold up.

The million mark has yet to be breached by anyone else in the field, but rest assured, it will be. Vincent Lemay came the closest with 993,500.

Billy "USA" Mitchell honoring his long-running tradition - taunting Canadians - while Jeff Willms (right) works to cover the exchange rate

Tanner Fokkens who became the youngest Donkey Kong kill-screener in the game's history last year at the tender age of 16, holds 7th position.

Ending the day in 8th place, defending Kong Off champion Hank Chien managed 851,000, but will have his work cut out for him if he wants to survive to Sunday.

Here are the full standings as of the end of Day 1:

Rank	Player	Best Score
1	Robbie Lakeman	1,135,300
2	Dean Saglio	1,084,100
3	Jeff Willms	1,071,200
4	Jason Wade	1,046,900
5	Steve Wiltshire	1,043,600
6	Vincent Lemay	993,500
7	Tanner Fokkens	884,100
8	Hank Chien	851,000
9	Ethan Daniels	824,800
10	Wes Copeland	815,100
11	Mick Winzeler	778,600
12	Eric Tessler	581,200

Sadly, Steve Wiebe, whose role in The King of Kong is one of the reasons we're all here in the first place, encountered a last-minute family emergency and was unable to attend this year's event. His presence is missed, but the show must go on.

Will Copeland pull ahead of Lakeman? Will Chien have the opportunity to defend his title? Might the great Saglio finally get a chance to walk away from a Kong Off with the belt?

Stay tuned to Kong Off 5 live stream and the official scoreboard to find out, and thanks to Polygon for sending viewers our way!

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.

Kong Off 3 Tournament In Review

The third Kong Off proved to be the biggest and best yet, with more competitors, much bigger scores, and suspense right up until the last minute. Donkey Kong's finest "brought it" last weekend, putting on a show for which Twin Galaxies and the gaming community should be beaming with pride.

Robbie Lakeman, Shaun Boyd, and Jeff Willms on "Kong Off Row" (Photo: Dave Danzara)

Within hours of the first quarter drop on Day 1, former Top 12 competitor Kyle Goewert asserted his place among the big boys—despite his demotion to the Wildcard Division—by turning in the first million-point game of the weekend. With Corey Chambers already having taken an early lead with almost 900,000 points, it was clear that the wildcards had stepped up to give the Top 12 lineup a run for their money.

By evening, Goewert had slipped, finding himself in the middle of a "Steve sandwich" as Steve Wiltshire grabbed first place ("I just took the lead. Holy crap, I'm winning!" Wiltshire told Facebook), and Steve Wiebe rounded out the top 3 just 800 points shy of Goewert.

Ross Benziger struggles on Day 1 (Photo: William McEvoy)

Before the day was out though, world champion Hank Chien had pushed ahead of the field with 1,056,900, and less than twenty minutes later, Jeff Willms realized everyone's worst nightmare: an enormous 1,096,200.

With first place now higher than the all-time personal bests of all but five of the competitors, the field groaned at the imposing task before it. It felt to many that this year's title would go to Willms again, with Billy Mitchell himself declaring "nobody's going to beat that score."

In reality, Willms was not actually as safe as he might have seemed. The defending champ even admitted that he had "gotten lucky" and would have to remain so to hold the lead. With such a high mark established at the end of Day 1, it was no longer "anyone's tournament", but by no means was a Willms victory a foregone conclusion.

Indeed, Chien and Saglio showed up for Day 2 ready for war, and both pushed deep into games that could have taken first had they reached the kill screen.

Willms (left) discreetly checks in on Saglio (right) via one of the overhead TVs

Saglio had the closest call, reaching 1,033,000 in a game that ended on the last board of Level 20. If Saglio had cleared that board, he would have needed a Level 21 worth about 60,000 points in order to bridge the gap. Considering that Saglio's level averages have routinely exceeded 61,000 in his "1.2" runs (with level maximums often close to 70,000), Willms was likely only minutes away from losing first place if bad luck hadn't gotten in Saglio's way.

Meanwhile on Day 2, Dave McCrary (who, like Goewert, was another former Top 12er pushed into the Wildcard Division for this year's installment) had the game of his life, turning in 1,032,000 which earned him first place for the division (a $250 prize), a new personal best, as well as a bump up to 13th place on the all time scoreboard.

The "Team Wiebe Girls" make an appearance (Photo: Westword)

Steve Wiebe, not content with his standard (but frighteningly consistent) "flat million" with which he has been gracing live events for years, decided to push a little harder on Day 2. He got a hold of a strong run that was on pace to beat Chien for second, as well as push past his (now three year old) personal best, but the game, unfortunately, ended prematurely. Wiebe nonetheless pulled back into third position with 1,048,800.

Then, in a game that went into overtime after "last quarter" at 6:00, Kong titan Ross Benziger rose all the way from dead last in the standings to second place (where, incidentally, he also sits on the all-time scoreboard). With the pressure on to prove himself, and despite being "sick as a dog all weekend", Benziger's run was good enough to overtake Chien and the $1,000 second-place prize.

Steve Wiltshire: Last Man Standing

As player after player finished his last run, stepping away from their machines as the live streams went dark, attention turned to Steve Wiltshire—the "last man standing" at the Kong Off 3.

Steve Wiltshire with his wife Jessi. (Photo: Westword)

As he crossed his earlier score of 1,016,700 with only a few boards left to go, it was clear that there were not enough points left between Wiltshire and the kill screen to win the tournament, but if he could hold on to his spare man and cash it in for extra points on the last barrel board, he had an outside shot at Hank Chien (now in third) and Wiebe was well within striking range.

With hundreds of eyes on him, flashes popping, and the crowd on the edge of its seat, Wiltshire's cash-in succeeded. He then pushed through a troublesome final rivet board (one close call in particular eliciting an awed gasp that swept the room), hit the kill screen, and snatched fourth place from Wiebe.

Big, Big, Big

The final leaderboard tells the tale of just how serious these competitions are getting. While no new world record was set over the weekend, this was, by far, the toughest Donkey Kong tournament ever held.

For perspectve:

At the first Kong Off, not a single player broke a million points.

At Kong Off 2, just three players managed to roll the score.

This year though, an unprecendented nine competitors were able to breach seven digits, with two (Wiebe and Wiltshire) doing it twice, for a total of eleven million-point games.

The Kong Off 3 was also a much tighter race than KO2: Willms and Saglio ran away with it in 2012, with Wiebe's third place trailing them by 73,000 points. This year, in contrast, that same gap represented the total span from 1st all the way to 8th.

In the Spotlight

Media interest in the Kong Off 3 was high (and is actually still underway, with two major pieces by Vice Magazine and The Verge expected in the coming weeks).

The tournament was front page news in The Denver Post, Denver's ABC, CBS, and Fox affiliates covered the event, Westword featured a photo gallery, the Lincoln Journal-Star interviewed Steve Wiltshire, major technology websites like Ars Technica followed the action (and were kind enough to link to this blog!), and other gaming/sports outlets such as RetroDomination, Polygon, Kitguru, and One World Sports ran stories as well.

Here's CBS 4 Denver's brief segment (note the anchor introducing the story with the exact same joke that he used last year! We love you, TV news...)

What About Me?

I was one of the Wildcard Division competitors in this year's tournament, having won my spot during the Online Qualifiers this past summer.

Saturday, however, proved to be one of my worst playing-days in a very long time, in terms of luck, energy, focus, mood, and every other factor you can name. I had failed to put in any practice in the lead-up to the tournament, had barely slept the night before, and my head, as they say, "was not in the game." None of this helped.

Only the 10 highest-scoring players in the Wildcard Division would move on to Sunday, and it became clear to me, as evening fell, that it wasn't meant to be. I decided to stop throwing myself and my "F" game at a machine that was refusing to work with me, and instead turn my attention to other things.

The world-famous Allen Staal!
(Photo: William McEvoy)

I quickly made peace with the decision, and it was an easy peace, as I'd actually been feeling for weeks prior that I was going to the event primarily to experience it, with competition being a distant afterthought. I'd cared much more about doing well in the online preliminaries; to prove that I could "make the cut" and earn a place in the big show. I wasn't so concerned about what would happen once I got there.

My real priority in Denver was to spend time with this group of friends who, up to this weekend, I'd only known online. I wanted to have Steve Wiebe autograph my King of Kong DVD, to shake Billy Mitchell's hand, to personally thank Walter Day for his part in creating this strange and amazing world. I also wanted time to get into the trenches and follow the action for the blog.

In other words, I wanted to do anything and everything but play Donkey Kong! So my elimination on Saturday ended up being the best thing that could have happened, as I got to check all of the "to do"s off my list, and wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I could not care less that I finished lowest in my "online pre-qualifier" division. I came back from the event with my own trading card, an award certificate recognizing my "tremendous contributions to the world of competitive arcade gaming", and unanimously positive memories.

Certificate Awards (Photo: Cat DeSpira)

I want to extend my thanks to Richie Knucklez, Jourdan Adler, the crew at The 1up, and my fellow players. It was an exceptionally wonderful weekend, and I have a new appreciation for how much blood and sweat go into an event like this. I'm looking forward to doing it again someday!

It's Over! Defending Champion Jeff Willms Wins the Kong Off 3!

November 17th, 2013, 9:22 PM MST - I'll let this picture say a thousand words, for the moment:

(Click to enlarge)

More (much more) later. There will be no further updates for anywhere between 16 and 24 hours as I return home from the tournament.

Congratulations to Jeff Willms for his repeat win!

Now it's time for a beer.

Willms Amazes in Wildcard Qualifier #3

Jeff Willms with the title belt
just after winning the Kong Off 2

October 21st, 2013 - Defending Kong Off 2 champion Jeff Willms easily triumphed last weekend during the most recent "DK Online Open", the final installment in a three-part tournament series designed to pre-qualify 8 players for a spot in the Wildcard Division at the Kong Off 3.

Congratulations Jeff Willms, Kong Off 2 Champion!

Congratulations to Kong Off 2 champion Jeff Willms, who, along with second-place finisher Dean Saglio, proved that MAME players can not only adapt, but dominate utterly!

Willms has, until this weekend, played Donkey Kong exclusively on a PC. If anyone holds any remaining doubts that the game is emulated perfectly by the MAME software, or whether MAME-based players merit the respect of arcade machine players, they've been seriously challenged by this historic performance.

In my pre-event predictions, I had pegged Willms as a contender but not a front-runner, not because of any doubts as to his ability or understanding of the game, but because I had no clue as to how he would cope with the live environment and all the visual and ergonomic differences of an arcade cabinet.

When a contestant is competing at his first arcade event, and has literally never played on a machine before, only a fool or a psychic would venture to say "that's the guy!", no matter how good we know he is on MAME.

The photo above is my favorite image from the tournament, showing Willms at work, honoring the Maple Leaf (thanks to Michael Groesbeck for the pic). He made his country proud, and for that matter, this country too!

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Here is a video of Jeff Willms' achieving the score, securing victory, and a little crowdsurfing for good measure. Thanks to Mario Ruiz for this (and for actually being named Mario!)

 

Jeff Willms Makes History

November 18th 2012, 1:30 PM MST - Jeff Willms has done something never before seen, and that nobody here was expecting: a live score of over 1.1 million points.

In so doing, he takes the lead from Dean Saglio in a staggering reversal with a score of 1,105,400.

At this point, it is hard to imagine a bigger score at this event. Awesome job, Jeff. You've made history, and almost certainly sealed a victory in this year's Kong Off.

Dean Saglio May Have Just Won the Kong Off 2

November 17th 2012, 2:40 PM MST - Dean Saglio has come forth to assert himself as the master of Donkey Kong.

The score to beat is 1,079,400.

You read that right—one million seventy nine thousand four hundred. On his first full game!

Considering that there are only three players all-time who have ever achieved a score that high on an arcade machine, the texture of the tournament has just been defined. Nearly all competitors are now playing for second and third, and they know it.

Second place may already be spoken for, as Jeff Willms (whose gameplay is not being live-streamed at this time) is reported to have put up a mammoth 1,037,200.

In a recent interview, Hank Chien described the field of Donkey Kong competitors as having improved greatly over the past year.

The first three hours of play here in Denver have shown that he wasn't kidding.

The other players now have their work cut out for them, and it is an unenviable task indeed.

The Kong Off 2: Rating the Lineup (and Picking the Winner)

This is risky.

If you're the guy with the Donkey Kong blog, people want to know how you're calling the Kong Off 2 (and will feel cheated if you don't!) But you never know who you might offend.

So at the risk of ruffling feathers, here is how I break down this year's lineup.

Tudose Breaks The 1-1 Record

October 13th, 2012 - With a score unlikely to be beaten for some time, Philip Tudose has extended the stretch for the highest first-screen total, pushing it 200 relatively-massive points further.

Kong Off 2 Player Profile: Jeff Willms