UPDATE! “The Nibbler Chronicles”

January 5, 2009 on 2:30 am | In News | No Comments

Okay, the dust has settled on the Nibbler World Championship, one of the biggest things to happen during MAGFest this year. Here’s the short version: Dwayne Richard’s second record attempt (which he began hours after his first game froze) ended at 498 million points, netting him the second-place trophy. Tim McVey’s score of 648 million points got him the gold medal, but neither score is likely to be inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Get ready, because here’s the long, twisted, crazy story.

(From left) Dwayne and Tim

The event was revolutionary from the beginning, as the 2009 Nibbler World Championship was planned to be the first-ever classic game competition to be webcast from start to finish. The video streaming was run by retrothing.com, using a device called a “tricaster” to capture footage. There were producers and documentary crews on call at all times, watching Dwayne and Tim’s every move.
Unfortunately, setting up a film shoot and conducting interviews takes time, and for a marathon like the Nibbler World Championship, every hour lost is another couple million points down the drain. Tim and Dwayne, getting impatient, chose to play a few warm-up games, and Dwayne had some trouble getting a good run started. However, once Dwayne had a decent score of about 10 million and a comfortable buffer of extra lives, he decided not to wait for the film crew and declared the current game as his official world record attempt.

Tim started his run 10 million behind Dwayne (pictured), and this led to a lot of problems.

Tim told me that starting off so far behind Dwayne forced him to play catch-up. “There were people passing by and they said ‘is that the world champion? Why is he so far behind?’” Tim had to push himself past his comfort zone, testing his endurance early on. “I suppose [hearing the audience's comments] shouldn’t have gotten to me, but well, you know.” Tim’s herculean push led him to break 500 million in 19 hours and to pass Dwayne at 465 million, but the extra effort Tim put in catching up likely hurt his game later on. (More on that later.)

Dwayne– feeling the pressure of having to maintain his lead– refused to take breaks for his entire run. However, shortly after hitting 498 million, Dwayne’s machine froze up and his game was over. Check out my previous article for all the details on this pivotal incident. According to my sources, the freeze occurred when Dwayne hit his Nibbler machine out of frustration, causing the hardware in the cabinet to become dislodged.

After the freeze, Tim played for 6 more hours, but eventually he started slipping. A combination of the early scoring sprint, the chaos of Dwayne’s game freezing, and the glare caused by the film crew’s lighting equipment all caused Tim to lose focus. Losing Dwayne as a competitor also took away some of Tim’s motivation, and despite intense urging from the producers to break the 1 billion-point record, Tim knew he was only prolonging the inevitable.

Even though he had a strong buffer of lives and could have gone on for a few more hours, Tim decided to call it quits and went to his room to sleep.

Dwayne, attempting to use his remaining time to beat Tim’s score of 648 million, jumped on Tim’s machine and started a new game. Although Tim was the first person to reach 1 billion points and his 1984 record still stands within the gaming community, his accomplishment was not made official in the Guinness Book of World Records because Tim (16 years old at the time) didn’t take the steps necessary to get it officiated by a Guinness official. (For instance, the 16-year old Tim didn’t take a drug test after finishing his game.)
The winner of the 2009 Nibbler Championship would have his score officially inducted, even if the score was less than 1 billion points. When Dwayne decided to jump on Tim’s machine, he didn’t have enough time to break 1 billion, even under ideal circumstances. By starting a new game, Dwayne hoped not to break a billion, but to beat Tim’s 648 million and take the Championship Title (and the Guinness World Record) for himself.

Here’s where the drama happens.

Tim finds out what Dwayne is up to and confronts him. He’s not mad that Dwayne is trying to steal the title from him, but he is furious that Dwayne would attempt to take the Guinness Record with an “inferior” score of less than 1 billion points (and on his machine, no less!). Both players know that with less than two days remaining at MAGFest, the goal of 1 billion points is mathematically impossible to reach. The film crew gets involved, because they want to film someone breaking the record. Dwayne considers his options and his score of 498 million.

Out of respect for Tim’s original 1984 record, Dwayne decides to call it quits.

During the awards ceremony, referee Walter Day celebrated Tim and Dwayne as “our champions.” Dwayne told the crowd “[I believe I'm] still a winner even though I got second place.” Tim was awarded the gold medal for his score of 648 million and Dwayne got the silver for his 498 million second attempt. Neither score will likely be inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records, because Tim refused to take a drug test for verification. Not because he has taken any drugs (he says all he ever takes is over-the-counter caffeine pills), but because he didn’t want his “inferior” score of 648 million to be published.

Tim poses with a game cabinet he and Dwayne signed.

CLOSING COMMENTS

When I asked Dwayne and Tim if they’d ever try again to break 1 billion, Dwayne said he’d have to wait a while, and maybe he’d focus on the world record for Dig Dug in the meantime. Tim responded, “I’m not touching that stupid thing for a while.”

Dwayne said he was frustrated that his first attempt was ruined by the freeze, but that hardware trouble sometimes comes with the territory. Marathon gaming is tough: Tim’s 1984 record required seven tries, a few of which were cut short due to arcade owners who accidentally cut the cabinet’s breaker during attempts.

Tim was proud of his performance during the beginning of the Championship and proud he broke 500 million in 19 hours, but wished he had paced himself better to break his old record. He was relieved yet disappointed that his record was safe: he got lucky that his machine never broke, but he told me, smiling, that “If [Dwayne] broke the record, I would have been the first to shake his hand…and if someday someone breaks 2 billion, I’ll get down on my knees and kiss their ass.”

~Joe Newman
Once again, a huge thank-you to Tim, Dwayne and Walter for their stories! Thanks guys!