A way to solve a better Arcade gamer dispute.

[homerwannabee]

Of course my idea doesn't really solve anything, but it would be an interesting competition none the less.  Say for instance Matt Hall decided to challenge Donald Hayes to best Arcade/MAME gamer out there.  I have an interesting way to settle it.  Have a game off challenge.

Here is how this would work.
Each person has the choice of a game they are great at, and the competition goes until one person beats the other person in their choice of game.
So an example
Donald Hayes would pick Centipede.  He, and Matt Hall play one game of Centipede, and if Donald Hayes wins then Matt has to respond with his choice.  Most likely Matt would choose Shock Troopers, and if Matt wins, then Don has to pick another game.   Most likely for Don he's picking something like dig dug, or Super Zaxxon.   This would go over, and over, and over again until one person picks a game, and loses to their competitor.  Then that person would be declared to be the better player.
I don't know if anyone will actually use this idea, but I do think it's a good way to settle whose the better gamer.

[TheSunshineFund]

I think Replay F/X does a similar type of thing but from a limited pool of games.  But they bracket seed and the higher seed picks the game they have to play vs.  It's an interesting concept for sure.

[timhett]

Sounds like a good competition to me too.  Though, as you say, it probably wouldn't solve much.  Declare a competition winner, but hard to say who is the "best gamer."  IMHO to call someone the best as a blanket statement, I'd look for a pattern.  It's possible to have a good or bad day, even for a really good player and not everyone can know all the games.  I also think competitions with unknown games are good.  Maybe Don has a bunch of patterns for Dig Dug, but a test to see who can learn and master a game quickly may be indicative of innate talent/ skill.