ABBUC Highscore Chat

Since three months ago we have organized a monthly highscore competition via the internet. That sounds easy? It is easy! So far we only have a highscore chat for Atari 8-bit games, but it's a good idea to also organize one for other Atari systems.

Overview
We simply use the ABBUC forum. First we arrange a date, then we post proposals for games, and finally we vote for the proposals. When the game is chosen, we have some time to practice, and at the arranged date we have a lot of fun during two hours of highscore competition.

The competition
The chat normally starts at 21:00 (Middle-European summer time), so it's usual to start a quarter of an hour before the chat starts and post a score at the beginning, so the first classification can be published quickly. The classification is managed by one of the players. The scores are not checked, we trust each other. Then each player posts a new highscore or anything else in the chat, and two hours later we know the winner.

What happened so far
After the funny gaming competitions at the Unconventionals in the past four years, for a long time I had the idea to organize a more regular competition. But to realize it you need a good platform. Some months ago the ABBUC got a new forum with chat-room functionality. So the suitable platform was there, and I announced the first highscore chat.

I had a conversation with TWH (Foundation Two) about it and we agreed that we wanted to play Flak, an old Atari 8-bit classic shoot 'em up. Maybe you know Xevious, which is the same style of game. So I posted an invitation to the ABBUC forum with the date of the highscore chat. To be sure to have at least more than TWH and I in the chat, the monthly WGL meeting also participated. So we were four people plus TWH. I was really surprised, when we started the chat, there were some more people in the chat. At the end we were ten people, a big success.

Flak is a great game, and it is really hard. So we had a challenging competition, until Dietrich appeared, and told us that he has played through the whole game more than five times in a row and reached more than 500,000 points. At that time our highscore was about 50,000 points.

We thought about the difference, but Dietrich was right, the game has an end and it starts from the beginning if you reach the end. So we tried hard to reach the end, but none of us succeeded. So Dietrich finally won.

The next days we discussed the chat and agreed to make a poll for the next game. The result of the poll with about 20 games was Gyruss.

Gyruss is also a shoot 'em up for the Atari 8-bit. You control a starship that circles around a planet, and shoot at everything that moves. The game has a lot of levels, which are separated by flying from one planet to another until you reach the earth.

We also arranged a WGL meeting at the appointed date, so we were seven people in the end who participated in the competition. After an early highscore of mine, I was for a long time the leader until Schmutzpuppe overtook me. To make a new highscore I knew that I had to reach the earth, which I never did before. Luckily I found a trick half an hour before the competition ended. In the last game I really reached the earth and won in the last minute.

After our usual voting, the next game was Dropzone. Dropzone is a great shoot 'em up for the Atari 8-bit which was influenced by Defender. In my opinion the game is technically one of the best games for the Atari 8-bit ever made.

This time all of us sat in front of our own computers, because we wanted to separate the highscore chat from the monthly WGL meeting. When we wanted to start the chat, the server was down for half an hour, so unfortunately we lost Wizard of the WGL. The rest also seemed to share the highscore chat with the football match "Germany - Scotland". But despite these problems, we had a funny competition. Again, I started with a great highscore, but close to the end Schmutzpuppe overtook me. In the end we found out, that Uncle Harry of RAF also participated in the chat, but he wasn't able to get into the chat-room. So he sent his final score via e-mail. I think this is really Atari spirit.

Side effects
Beside the funny competitions, I found out that it is also interesting to test the proposals for the poll. I also noticed that I have played some games years ago, but didn't like them. But now when somebody advertises the game, and you give it another chance, because you know there must be more in that game, you are often positively surprised.

Unfortunately we only played shoot 'em ups so far. That's democracy. I hope that in the next competitions we can also play jump and run games (That's Euro-speak for platform games - Ed) or other funny games. It would also be fine, if people could prove before they vote, whether their favorite is a really good competition-ready game and don't vote for their favorites which aren't that suitable for competitions.

Participation
If you like Atari games you are the right person to participate. Simply go to the ABBUC forum at http://www.abbuc.de and look for the  "Highscore Chat" thread. If you don't find one, open a new one. We have the competition every month, so maybe you just entered the forum right after we had a competition, so there is some time until the next one.

So far the communication is in German, but if there are English-speaking players who are interested, we could communicate in English as well, it's no problem.

thorsten@myatari.net

MyAtari magazine - Feature #8, October 2003