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)

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!

Ross Benziger Grabs Second After Last Quarter!

November 17th, 2013, 6:24 PM MST - When "last quarter" was called at 6:00, Ross Benziger was working on a huge game.

He has just completed it, taking second place (and a big jump in prize money) from Dr. Hank Chien, with a massive 1,067,100! With that, Ross leaps from dead last into the winner's circle.

Dr. Kong, however, still has a live game going...

The Kong Off 3 is Set!

November 11th, 2013 - The October 25th deadline to crack the Twin Galaxies Top 12 has come and gone, and the three Wildcard Qualifier tournaments are in the books.

After months of spirited action, 22 players—12 for coveted "dedicated machine" honors, and 10 online pre-qualifiers for the Wildcard Division (who will play on shared machines)—are headed for Denver and their chance at a share of the Kong Off 3 prize purse of over $5,000.

The battle begins in just four days.

Saglio and Benziger: The Ladder's Final Rung

"We started off on this march pretty much at the same time. Glad you could be here."

     - Dean Saglio to Ross Benziger, October 4th, 2013

Within a single week of one another, the two pioneers of extreme Donkey Kong point-pressing have at last plucked the fruit that has been growing and ripening for over five years with two history-making scores.

On Thursday, September 26th, live at the Kencade in Hillsboro, Oregon, Ross Benziger scored 1,136,500 on a Donkey Kong arcade machine, a performance that not only more than qualifies him to be in the main lineup at this year's Kong Off 3, but came just short of beating Hank Chien's reigning world record.

Only one week later, in the early morning hours of October 4th, Dean Saglio forever shut the door on Donkey Kong on the MAME platform, rolling the score to "1.2" for the first (and very probably last) time.

"Back-to-Back Benziger" Snatches Another Last-Minute Victory

March 24th, 2013 - The win was narrower this time around, but Donkey Kong phenom Ross Benziger cut through the field for the second time in a row to successfully defend his title as the king of the Kong Off wildcard division in the second installment of Eric Tessler and John Salter's Wildcard Rematch tournament.

Ross Benziger Clobbers The Wildcard Rematch Tournament

January 21st 2013 - Ross "Von Dummpenstein" Benziger didn't even sit down for his first game of Saturday's online-only Wildcard Rematch Tournament until the 22nd hour of the 24-hour competition.

With only enough time for a single full game, Benziger had his work cut out for him: after the day's play, Jeff Wolfe's strong top score of 869,700 was the mark to beat, nobody had yet claimed the "first kill screen" bounty, and Eric Tessler's "beat my 900,500" bounty was still on the table as well.

Two hours? No problem! Ross got to work.

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.