Let me start out by asking you a quick question: How much would you suffer to get your name printed in a record book somewhere?
I mean, this is the day and age of the Internet where any average Tom, Dick or Harry can get their name, opinions and picture pinned up on some virtual wall for all of eternity. (I mean, you are reading this, after all.) So in that light, does anyone even care about records and achievements anymore?
Well, if you ask George Leutz, he’d say: “You bet!”
George recently established a new record for playing the old, circa-1980s video game Q*bert on a single game credit for 84 hours and 48 minutes in a New Jersey arcade. That’s closing in on four straight days playing a video game.
How is he still living, you ask? Is he still able to actually form cohesive thoughts? Truth is, he picked Q*bert to set the record because of the game’s record-friendly characteristics. For instance: “It’s just one control, no buttons, so I can eat and play,” he reported to Time. And he reportedly took regular breaks. But before you start crying “cheater!” keep in mind that the Q*bert game can’t be paused. In order to work up to a toilet break or take a 10-minute nap, George would have to earn enough extra “lives” so that the game would keep beeping along while he was away.
Now, being a gamer myself, I understand the lure of a classic arcade title. I even understand the joy of having a top score on a game. (George beat the machine’s former record holder, by the way. His 37,163,080 points beat out a score of 33,272,520 that held the top slot for almost three decades.)
But, sorry, I’m having a tough time understanding why anybody would want to endure 84-plus hours of play. That’s got to be something akin to torture. I mean that even beats sticking it out through the whole Academy Awards presentation.
All I can say is you’re a stronger man that I am, George-ga Din. Of course I am currently letting my fingernails grow so that I can beat out that particular Guinness record. It makes life so much more difficult (I’m typing this with my nose), but it’s worth it.
Recent Comments