News Release

Contact: Walter Day, Twin Galaxies (515)472-3882, http://www.twingalaxies.com Email: twingalaxies@lisco.com Contact: Gary Vincent or Ken Sweet, Funspot Family Fun Center (603)366-4377 Email: info@funspotnh.com

For immediate release : December 9, 1999

Legendary Video Game Contest Resurrected by TwinGalaxies.Com to Celebrate the End of the Century

WEIRS BEACH, NH  The Coronation Day Championshipwhose first edition was televised by ABC-TV9s That9s Incredible on February 21, 1983 under the name "The North American Video Game Olympics,"will be conducted by Twin Galaxies for the first time since 1986, accompanied by an awards ceremony that will commemorate the greatest video-game playing accomplishments of the 20th Century.

Scheduled for January 8-9, 2000 at the famous Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, NH, the event will crown the final video game champions of the century as well as hand out awards to the players, magazines, manufacturers and arcades of the year.

Though originally created as an invitational-only 3player-of-the-year2tournament that admitted only players who had achieved major scores or world records, this year9s event is open to the public and, for the first time, unites home game consoles with arcade coin-op titles. 3This contest is breaking down the old barriers between the arcade and home games,2 say Ken Sweet and David Nelson, co-captains of the New Hampshire Pro Video Game Team, which is co-hosting the event with TwinGalaxies.Com, the Internet web site of the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard. 3We will have the older arcade fanatics going head-to-head against the younger home console players. And, not surprisingly, the younger players are excited about meeting the many famous video game players from the early 1980s who are coming to compete and receive certificates for feats they accomplished nearly 20 years ago.2

One of these expected superstars of the past is Dwayne Richard, 31, of Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada, who will be there with a squadron of Canadian players. Some players think Richard can beat any of the newer, younger players on any game he choosesmainly because he won the last Coronation Day Championship 14 years ago. 3Dwayne may be one of the few players who can stop the young wizkids in their tracks,2 says Ron Corcoran, 34, a Phoenix player who plans on traveling from Arizona to compete against Richard and these other legendary players from the golden age. 3Dwayne has held the champion9s belt for these 14 years, and, now, even though there9s quite a few young, hotshot players around, he9s probably still one of the bestit will be a great battle.2

The tournament is expected to draw top players from Canada, Europe, the U.S., and South America for head-to-head play on ten different games, including Playstation9s Pac-Man World and Tony Hawk9s Proskater, Dreamcast9s Ready to Rumble Boxing and Sega Rally 2 and N649s Star Fox. The arcade titles are Sega9s Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, Namco9s Time Crisis I, Sega9s Top Skater, Atari9s California Speed and Midway9s Hydro Thunder, which was selected 3Game of the Year2 during a ceremony at the recent Tokyo Game Show. Gary Vincent, Operations Manager for Funspot, says: 3In response to the trends of the times, we have added home consoles to the main event, mainly in recognition of the fact that most players now play at home as well as in the arcades. We feel this will make it a true world championship.2

In addition to honoring the players, the Coronation Day Championshipwhich was equally famous for its awards ceremonies back in the 80swill also crown the magazines, manufacturers and arcades of the year. Past award recipients include games like Midway9s Spy Hunter, Atari9s Pole Position and Exidy9s Crossbow and magazines such as Computer Games and Video Game Magazine. 3Because we are celebrating the end of the century,2 explains David Nelson of the NH Pro Video Game Team, 3we will be commemorating 20 years of video game playing history, noting achievements dating back to the early 80slike Billy Mitchell9s five world records in the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records. Other significant presentations will include awards honoring the 20th anniversaries of Taito9s Space Invaders and Atari9s Asteroids.2

Walter Day, the editor of Twin Galaxies9 Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Recordsthe industry9s official book of records and originator of the contestsays that the first edition of this contest, which appeared on That9s Incredible, is regarded by video game historians as the first authentic video game 3world2 championship. 3The prestige of this contest was unmatched,2 recalls Day. 3The players, who came from every corner of the U.S. and Canada, became overnight media sensations and even had fan clubs of female admirers.2 Among these early superstars was Ben Gold, a 16-year-old Dallas, Texas native who won the first event. Gold, who still remembers the glamour surrounding the first tournament, plans on coming to this year9s edition of the contestthat is, if his current obligations as a business consultant in Romania don9t stop him.

Though the original event lasted only four years, it was a public relations bonanza for the entire coin-op industry, garnering headlines around the world. In spite of its growing popularity, the contest was canceled after the 1986 edition, another victim of the economic bust that depressed the coin-op industry in the mid-80s. Still, each year had attracted more and more media coverage. For example, the second year was attended by National CBS-TV News, Video Games Magazine, and Italy's Video Giochi Magazine. The third year, which was conducted at Captain Video in Los Angeles, was covered by ABC-TV News, USA Today and ABC-TV's Entertainment Tonight and the results were featured in the 1985 Guinness Book of Sports Records. The final year, in 1986, was covered by six different TV stations representing all three networks.

As the final Coronation Day Championship of the 20th Century, this year9s event hopes to unite the players and different game platforms into one organized front, committed to raising electronic game playing to the level of a true sport. Among the players who wish to bring this vision into reality is Cristiano Assumpgco, team captain of Brazil9s official video game team, The Metroid Team. Assumpgco says, 3We hope to find sponsors to send us to this year9s Coronation Day Championship, not only to win the tournament on behalf of all of South America, but to establish relations between our two continents and begin something very good.2

Twin Galaxies has been keeping score for the world of video game and pinball playing since 1982 and publishes world records at its Internet web site at TwinGalaxies.Com. Its most well known product is the Twin Galaxies9 Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records (ISBN 1887472-25-8), which is a 984-page book containing scores from players in 31 different countries compiled since 1981. The Funspot Family Fun Centerwhich is an award candidate for 3Arcade of the Century2is the second largest arcade in the world and is famous for owning the world9s largest collection of early 80s vintage video games. For more information on Coronation Day, contact Gary Vincent at Funspot at (603)366-4377. Or, contact Twin Galaxies at (515)472-3882 or go to . ###

From Walter Day fowarded by Stephen Krogman

-- stephen krogman (skrogman@bellsouth.net), December 09, 1999

Answers

me and my frieds are a team and will beat everyone

-- ERVIN JOHNSON (ervintaichi@msn.com...), September 16, 2003.