Whitey & The Professors’ All-Time Arcade Game Challenge

Well, well, well. Whitey was stirred by the references to the Commodore 64/VIC-20 in my last post to discuss computer/video game systems. Tandy, Odyssey, Colecovision, Intellivision, Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and you get the idea. This conversation quickly moved from computers to video games, on to arcade games and...

So…due to the incessant quest for knowledge that makes Whitey who he is we present for you: Whitey & The Professors’ All-Time Arcade Game Challenge. We have collected a cast of 32 classic arcade games, every one of which saw its inception before 1990. During the ‘90’s video gaming systems advanced to the point where, well, you might as well just play the thing at home.

But before then we had two options: put in a quarter, or go home and play a lame knock-off of your favorite game. Yes kids, there was a time when there were video games and VIDEO GAMES. Sure, you could play Pac-Man or Donkey Kong on your Atari in the basement, but they were terrible. Nintendo made everything much more palatable in 1985, but it would be many years later before home systems matched what you could find at the local 7-11.

SO…here we go. Whitey insisted that every game involved cost a quarter to play in its heyday. We have eliminated games released after 1990 (so sorry Mortal Combat. And NBA Jam, although not so much.) Golden Tee and Dragon's Lair are slight exceptions to this. Golden Tee didn't used to be the money pit it is today, and Dragon's Lair was so revolutionary at the time that it has to be in the tourney. Off to the NIT go Kung-Fu Master, Zaxxon, Breakout, Berzerk, Track & Field, Armor Attack, Battlezone, Vanguard, Lunar Lander, Commando, Phoenix, and the ultimate bubble game on the bubble, Bubbles. We might be willing to have a play-in game if there is significant uproar.

We ranked the 32 games in a painstaking process involving, in no particular order, perusing other websites and beer. Four regions will play off against one another for the chance to be crowned The Best Arcade Game of All-Time.

The four regions are each named for their respective #1 seed: Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pong, and Space Invaders. Each game has an overall seed, but we seed them here in their corresponding regional bracket. Should you wish to see the big picture and where we are going with this it is HERE.

ALL of the brackets can now be found HERE.

Soon to come, Whitey wants board games and pinball!