Sat. March 17th, 2018
Dear Diary,
Today I participated in my first Kong Off - KO6. I count myself as very fortunate, and a little bit lucky, to have had this opportunity and experience. It was great meeting others in the community, although I wish I could have met all of the players and participants. It's a funny thing, this passion of ours. We often play, practice, grind, in a vacuum so to speak. Most interactions with the rest of the community takes place from behind a computer or mobile phone screen. Most of us play in the comfort of our own homes for the most part. Playing live, at a bustling event, is for sure a whole different animal.
Rolled into KO6 on Saturday right at 11 a.m. Nervous, for sure. Met Jeff Harrist, shook hands with Dan Desjardins, Billy Mitchell. Jeff kindly gave me the quick run-down, I grabbed an open cab, got down to business.
Started out with some absolutely terrible runs. The jitters were getting the best of me. I swear the board in the cab I was playing on, was harder than the board I'm used to playing on. Is my board somehow faulty? Are my scores not truly worthy, and should be stricken entirely from any leaderboard. 2 runs - 150k max. 3rd run - 200k max. I don't deserve to be here. Sandwiched between Jason Wade and Jeff Wolfe, do I even deserve to be sitting at a machine in the presence of these guys? 4th run - 150k and on my last life. So much noise, distractions, granted this is truly how the game was meant to be played - like an early-80s arcade. Last life, pull it together, deep breath, time to step up. L6...L7....L8...L9....over 400k later, 565,400 final score. Okay, not bad. I can live with that for starters. I can definitely not be disappointed with 400k+ on a single life. Confidence regained.
What time is it? 1:15 p.m. Crap, the street fighter tournament is in less than 2 hours. What if get that monster run going...not enough time between now and the start of the tourney. In hindsight, I should've gone for another run, and asked my buddy Josh to get me at 2:50. If it turned out to be that monster run, well, a decision would have to be made. Hindsight is always 20-20. Made some rounds on other games, re-upped on some liquid energy, competed in the SF tourney. I even donated the SF game board I brought just in case, and as it turned, it was needed. 3rd place, could've done better, the jitters got me. But, no excuses. Those that won deserved to win, and were the better players.
Back to DK.
The arcade is hopping, now. Lots of folks gathered around the DK play. All machines in use. Met JRY, chatted for a minute. A wild card machine opened up, I jumped on it.
400k+ first man. Usual DK shenanigans for first death around 430k - wild barrel or trapped by firefoxes on riviots....don't exactly remember the details. Pushed another 100k, back-to-back deaths around 550k. Pretty happy with how I'm playing, staying focused, starting to do some more advanced groupings on barrels, that I don't normally do. Man, back is aching. These stools sit lower than I'm used to sitting at my machine. That body english I'm throwing in is all transferring to my mid and lower back. Folks walking up regularly and watching for a bit, can see them in the bezel reflection. Excited to be doing something worth watching. Pushing, grinding - 600k....700k. Is this the one, could I break that 1M barrier here at KO6? How cool would that be. 750k. There sure are a lot of announcements on the loud speaker. 760k. One of those barrel boards that more crap is flying all over the screen than usual. It's funny how the difficulty seems to come in waves. You'll get 5-8 levels of typical stuff, nothing that isn't manageable, and then you'll get 2 or 3 barrel boards in a row that there's wild barrels everywhere, the barrels and fireballs aren't cooperating. or you get that one riviot board out of 10 that the firefoxes seem bound and determined to give no outs. 769,600, a wild barrel and a couple regular rollers that wouldn't steer. Mis-jumped while running in the direction of a rolling barrel, with a small window to potentially land then jump the next two hot on its tail...landed on barrel, game over.
That ended up being my best for the day. Another 500k run after that, and beyond that, I just didn't have any more to give. 4 hours of sleep the night before and the long day of heavy physical and mental investment had caught up.
What a thrill! Wish I could have met more players, but again, it's a funny thing. Everyone's locked into putting up their best score. You don't interrupt others playing, not even between boards for a moment. That courtesy is extended all around. Said hello to Richie Knuckles, and thanked him for all his hard work.
All in all, I'm happy with my performance. Would I have liked to have put up an 800k, 900k, or even broken that 1M mark finally? Absolutely. But for a first timer, I've got no complaints. And, I've actually got a renewed excitement for the game. Re-committing and going for that 1M. All other score pursuits can wait.
Congrats to all the finalists, and again, big thanks to those who keep the engine running and the event running seamlessly. And extra big thanks to my good friend Josh Lennard, who was there in support. I hope to be on the short list again next year.
And what better way to commemorate than a couple pictures of the back of one's head?
