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 S 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 S 253 lbs 2nd place: Scott Z 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 R 82,700 2nd place: Steve S 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 N 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 N 2820 2nd place: George 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 S 64 2nd place: Eric R 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 594,200 2nd place: George 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 F was broken-hearted (reported heard crying in the bathroom) when Mike Bl edged him out by a mere 290 points.

1st place: Mike B 31,500 2nd place: Mike F 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 B showed them all who was boss.
1st place: Mike B 14,900 2nd place: Eric R 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 F 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 59,965 2nd place: Jonathan 47,225

Centipede (Arcade 1980)
Mike F'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 F 47,900 2nd place: Scott Z 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 55,400 2nd place: George 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 Z 57,726 2nd place: Unknown

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Steve N George	Steve N	Joe X	* Eric R *
Joe X Mike F	Joe X
Jonathan Scott Z	Jonathan	Eric R
Eric R Mike B	Eric R

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Dean Keith	Dean	Eric S	* Eric S *
Marc Eric S	Eric S
Eric R George	George	Steve N
Steve N Steve S	Steve N

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Eric R & Mike F Joe X & Jonathan	Joe X & Jonathan Dean & Steve S	* Joe X & Jonathan *
Dean & Steve S Steve N & Mike B

First Round	Finals	Winner
Mike F Scott Z Eric S Marc	Scott Z	* Scott Z *
Steve N Eric R George Dean	Eric R

First Round	Finals	Winner
Jonathan Eric R Mike B Dean	Jonathan	* Jonathan *
Steve S Marc Mike F Joe X	Joe X

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Eric R & Marc Eric S & Dean	Eric S & Dean George & Steve S	* Eric S & Dean *
Steve N & Mike B George & Steve S

First Round	Finals	Winner
Eric R Mike F Joe X Mike B	Eric R	* Eric R *
Steve N Jonathan George Steve S	Jonathan

First Round	Finals	Winner
George Eric S Joe X Dean	George	* Jonathan *
Steve S Jonathan Mike F Mike B	Jonathan

First Round	Finals	Winning Team
Marc & Steve N Joe X & Mike B	Marc & Steve N Dean & Eric S	* Marc & Steve N *
Dean & Eric S Mike F & George

First Round	Finals	Winner
Jon Steve S Dean Eric R	Steve S	* Mike F *
George Mike F Mike B Eric S	Mike F

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Marc Dean	Dean	Dean	* Dean *
Mike F Eric R	Mike F
Jonathan Steve N	Steve N	Steve N
George Steve S	Steve S

These totals were used to seed the playoff round.

1. Jonthan - 14
2. Dean - 11
3. Eric S - 10
4. Eric R - 10
5. Scott Z - 10 * not present for playoffs
6. Mike F - 10
7. Steve N - 9
8. George - 8
9. Joe X - 7
10. Steve S - 7
11. Mike B - 6
12. Marc - 3
13. Keith - 0
14. Jon - 0
15. Jacob - 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 (Clubber Lang) and Eric R (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 R played and defeated Steve N in a consolation game.

Quarter Finals	Semi Finals	Finals		Semi Finals	Quarter Finals
1. Jonathan Jack Reid	1. Jonathan Clubber Lang	1. Jonathan Rocky I	7. George Apollo Creed I	7. George Apollo Creed I	2. Dean Joe Czak
7. Joe X Joe Chang					7. George Big Chuck Smith
4. Eric R Dipper Brown	4. Eric R Ivan Drago			6. Steve N Clubber Lang	3. Eric S Dipper Brown
5. Mike F Big Yank Ball					6. Steve N Spider Rico

VIDEO GAME MANIA 7 CHAMPION: JONATHAN HAWK

SECOND PLACE: GEORGE COUTROS

THIRD PLACE: ERIC ROBBINS

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