This year I kept the game list a complete secret, despite being bribed thousands of dollars to reveal it. As usual, I wanted a good mix of new and old school games. They needed to be easy to learn, but hard enough that people wouldn't be sitting there playing the same one for hours on end. Also, they needed to display a score at the end so the player could record it. Finding games that meet this criteria isn't as easy as you might think. I also deliberately avoided certain games that I knew some of the guys were particularly good at. That explains why Strawberry Shortcake Musical Matchups was not included (sorry Marc)!

Video Game Mania consists of two types of events that run in parallel: multi-player and single-player. A first-place finish in any game earns three points, with a second-place finish earning one point. I keep track of the point on a "leadboard" in the center of the room. Multi-player games are single-elimination tournaments run by me. Single-player games are set up around the room and available for all to play as many times as they want, starting at noon. At exactly 4:15PM, the high scores for the single-player games are added in, and the top eight players are seeded for the all-important playoff round.

Marine Fishing (Dreamcast, 2000)
These fishing games always go over big. I just set the thing up in "free fishing" mode and simply challenge the players to catch the biggest fish. Steve See has a real knack for this game, pulling in a 126-pound swordfish right off the bat. After being edged out by Scott, he went right back to work and immediately pulled in a 253-pound monster. That proved insurmountable.

1st place: Steve See 253 lbs 2nd place: Scott Zimmerman 155 lbs

Ghosts 'N Goblins (NES, 1986)
I wanted at least one classic side-scroller for VGM7, and I knew the high difficulty of Ghosts 'N Goblins would give the guys fits. Several players racked up impressive scores, but in the end Eric and Steve stood head and shoulders above the rest.

1st place: Eric Robbins 82,700 2nd place: Steve See 75,500

Spiderman (Atari 2600, 1983)
This game was actually a last-minute substitute. I really wanted to use Tutankham for the Colecovision, but my Colecovision console was giving me trouble. Since the new Spiderman movie is out, I figured the timing was pretty good for this one. Despite being an Atari 2600 game, Spiderman befuddled the hell out of most who attempted it. Steve Newcomb must have owned this cartridge as a kid, because he absolutely mopped up the competition. George came in with a well-deserved second place as one of the few people to actually manage to get the hang of this.

1st place: Steve Newcomb 2820 2nd place: George Coutros 510

Choplifter (Atari 7800, 1987)
The inclusion of this game was largely due to a no-show by the name of Matt Hoffman, who always bugged me about including the Atari 7800 in the festivities. Indeed, this was the first appearance of this system at a VGM. There are better titles for the 7800, but most allow the player to fiddle around with difficulty settings, which I wanted to avoid. Chopterlifter has one setting: HARD AS ALL HELL. A lot of players wrestled with this one, making it one of the more competitive titles.

1st place: Eric Schrott 64 2nd place: Eric Robbins 56

Dead Moon (Turbografx-16, 1991)
Every VGM needs at least one old-school shooter, and Dead Moon for the Turbografx-16 really kicks ass. With great graphics (parallax scrolling!), simple controls, and crazy firepower, you can't go wrong with this one. Jonathan dominated early on, but several players achieved impressive scores in an attempt to snag second place.

1st place: Jonathan Hawk 594,200 2nd place: George Coutros 141,600

Pole Position (Arcade/Playstation 2, 1982)
When it comes to racers, it doesn't get any more "classic" than the original Pole Position. I ran this arcade-perfect version off my Namco Museum disk on a Playstation 2. Both Mike's finished way ahead of the field, and Mike Fleming was broken-hearted (reported heard crying in the bathroom) when Mike Brockell edged him out by a mere 290 points.

1st place: Mike Brockel 31,500 2nd place: Mike Fleming 31,210

Paperboy (Super Nintendo, 1991)
This is a really nice version of Paperboy for the Super Nintendo, maintaining the core gameplay of the original while allowing you to toss papers both left and right. A lot of players were very familiar with this game, but Mike Brockel showed them all who was boss.
1st place: Mike Brockel 14,900 2nd place: Eric Robbins 12,200

Donkey Kong (Coleco Portable 2, 1982)
It's convenient to use these little portables for VGM (no TVs required), but most have annoying sound effects that get on your nerves after a while (Pac-Man comes to mind). Donkey Kong isn't one of the better Coleco portables (it's probably the worst), but it's relatively quiet and hard as hell.

1st place: Mike Fleming 10,800 2nd place: George 8000

Mine Storm (Vectrex, 1982)
With its slick vector graphics display, the Vectrex portable system (circa 1983) has aged like a fine wine. Everybody loves playing this thing and its built-in game Mine Storm, which is very similar to Asteroids. George invested a lot of time in this, but it paid off with an astronomical high score that should remain in my record books for some time.

1st place: George Coutros 59,965 2nd place: Jonathan Hawk 47,225

Centipede (Arcade 1980)
Mike Fleming's hatred for bugs is nothing new, evident by the fact that he once worked for Orkin Pest Control as a volunteer. When asked about declining bee population, his only concern is that some might survive. Mike ruled Centipede this year, as he usually does. It might be the last time he does for a while though, because next year I will be implementing new rules that bar players from games they win in three consecutive years.

1st place: Mike Fleming 47,900 2nd place: Scott Zimmerman 33,341

Tapper (Arcade 1983)
Dean is in the same boat as Mike, having extended his domination of Tapper to three straight tournaments. I don't know why Dean likes this game so much, but there has to be something about the subject matter that he finds appealing.

1st place: Deane Turner 55,400 2nd place: George Coutros 31,750

Crystal Castles (Arcade 1983)
Although Scott easily took first place in Crystal Castles, when it came to award the point for second place, no one could figure out who it should go to! Apparently everyone except Scott sucked so bad that they couldn't even get their initials on the high score screen! Hence, the second place point was forever lost, like a tear in the rain...

1st place: Scott Zimmerman 57,726 2nd place: Unknown

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Steve Newcomb George Coutros	Steve Newcomb	Joe X	* Eric Robbins *
Joe X Mike Fleming	Joe X
Jonathan Hawk Scott Zimmerman	Jonathan Hawk	Eric Robbins
Eric Robbins Mike Brockel	Eric Robbins

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Dean Turner Keith McDowell	Dean Turner	Eric Schrott	* Eric Schrott *
Marc Guerrasio Eric Schrott	Eric Schrott
Eric Robbins George Coutros	George Coutros	Steve Newcomb
Steve Newcomb Steve See	Steve Newcomb

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Eric Robbins & Mike Fleming Joe X & Jonathan Hawk	Joe X & Jonathan Hawk Dean Turner & Steve See	* Joe X & Jonathan Hawk *
Dean Turner & Steve See Steve Newcomb & Mike Brockel

First Round	Finals	Winner
Mike Fleming Scott Zimmerman Eric Schrott Marc Guerrasio	Scott Zimmerman	* Scott Zimmerman *
Steve Newcomb Eric Robbins George Coutros Dean Turner	Eric Robbins

First Round	Finals	Winner
Jonathan Hawk Eric Robbins Mike Brockel Dean Turner	Jonathan Hawk	* Jonathan Hawk *
Steve See Marc Guerrasio Mike Fleming Joe X	Joe X

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Eric Robbins & Marc Guerrasio Eric Schrott & Dean Turner	Eric Schrott & Dean Turner George Coutros & Steve See	* Eric Schrott & Dean Turner *
Steve Newcomb & Mike Brockel George Coutros & Steve See

First Round	Finals	Winner
Eric Robbins Mike Fleming Joe X Mike Brockel	Eric Robbins	* Eric Robbins *
Steve Newcomb Jonathan Hawk George Coutros Steve See	Jonathan Hawk

First Round	Finals	Winner
George Coutros Eric Schrott Joe X Dean Turner	George Coutros	* Jonathan Hawk *
Steve See Jonathan Hawk Mike Fleming Mike Brockel	Jonathan Hawk

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Marc Guerrasio & Steve Newcomb Joe X & Mike Brockel	Marc Guerrasio & Steve Newcomb Dean Turner & Eric Schrott	* Marc Guerrasio & Steve Newcomb *
Dean Turner & Eric Schrott Mike Fleming & George Coutros

First Round	Finals	Winner
Jon Sperka Steve See Dean Turner Eric Robbins	Steve See	* Mike Fleming *
George Coutros Mike Fleming Mike Brockel Eric Schrott	Mike Fleming

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Marc Guerrasio Dean Turner	Dean Turner	Dean Turner	* Dean Turner *
Mike Fleming Eric Robbins	Mike Fleming
Jonathan Hawk Steve Newcomb	Steve Newcomb	Steve Newcomb
George Coutros Steve See	Steve See

These totals were used to seed the playoff round.

1. Jonthan Hawk - 14
2. Dean Turner - 11
3. Eric Schrott - 10
4. Eric Robbins - 10
5. Scott Zimmerman - 10 * not present for playoffs
6. Mike Fleming - 10
7. Steve Newcomb - 9
8. George Coutros - 8
9. Joe X - 7
10. Steve See - 7
11. Mike Brockel - 6
12. Marc Guerrasio - 3
13. Keith McDowell - 0
14. Joe Sperka - 0
15. Jacob Meushaw - 0

Note: In case of tie, head-to-head game points take precedence. If still a tie, order of appearance determines rank.

Originally I was planning to use Fight Night Round Three (Xbox 360), but its control scheme had a bit of a learning curve, and there's no time for practice during the VGM playoffs. Rocky's control scheme is simple, mapping various punches to different buttons. Not only is the game fairly easy to play, but it's a hell of a lot of fun and the contests are crazy intense. It may be a few years old, but Rocky's graphics look great, with fighters that get really banged up and even bleed!

I need to thank my buddy Eric V. in Louisville for suggesting a few rules that really helped build drama. Rocky contains all of the fighters ever to appear in the Rocky films, and in some cases there are multiple versions of some fighters. The first rule was that the higher seed always had the first pick. Next, during the first round, only the "lower-tier" boxers were available. Finally, you could not select the same fighter as your opponent. I did that to avoid the confusion that would result if Rocky 3 was fighting Rocky 4 or something like that.

The matches were absolutely fantastic with everybody standing around cheering while somebody in the back was doing hilarious impressions of Joey ("Get 'em Rock!"). One semi-final contest was particularly brutal, as Jonathan Hawk (Clubber Lang) and Eric Robbins (Drago) engaged in a epic, back-and-forth bout. I wish I would have taped that one. Jonathan rode his number one seed to the championship, although George didn't make it easy. To determine third place, Eric Robbins played and defeated Steve Newcomb in a consolation game.

Quarter Finals	Semi Finals	Finals		Semi Finals	Quarter Finals
1. Jonathan Hawk Jack Reid	1. Jonathan Hawk Clubber Lang	1. Jonathan Hawk Rocky I	7. George Coutros Apollo Creed I	7. George Coutros Apollo Creed I	2. Dean Turner Joe Czak
7. Joe X Joe Chang					7. George Coutros Big Chuck Smith
4. Eric Robbins Dipper Brown	4. Eric Robbins Ivan Drago			6. Steve Newcomb Clubber Lang	3. Eric Schrott Dipper Brown
5. Mike Fleming Big Yank Ball					6. Steve Newcomb Spider Rico

VIDEO GAME MANIA 7 CHAMPION: JONATHAN HAWK

SECOND PLACE: GEORGE COUTROS

THIRD PLACE: ERIC ROBBINS

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