Tag Archives: arcade

Videogame Battle For The Donkey Kong Crown

July 18, 2024 The Silo 4 Comments

It may be hard for you to believe, but a very passionate group of game players are still contesting video game records, new and old, and vying to become champion in their particular game of skill in order to be immortalized in the on-line video game record bible “Twin Galaxies”.

Go check it out.

Maybe it’s time to limber up those fingers and go for the record. Every great wrestling match is predicated on a simple concept that holds for the ages: A ‘babyface’ (good guy’) with a seemingly overwhelming challenge vs. a ‘heel’ (bad guy), who has the cards stacked, usually unfairly, in his favor. As humans, we have an innate need to create an emotional investment in our favorite character, which in turn makes the outcome of the contest be something that we care about seeing.

That tried and true formula is fully rendered in a great documentary that I regularly watch called “The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters”. Instead of wrestlers though, we’re dealing with elite-level, arcade-version Donkey Kong players facing off for the world record. As well, and unlike a wrestling match, our outcome is not predetermined and this reality adds oh-so deliciously to the drama as it unfolds.

Now, bring in the chief combatants in our story: social pushover Steve Wiebe, a stuck in second place, life-long loser that just can’t seem to get a break in life vs. chicken-wing sauce kingpin Billy Mitchell; he of the hypnotizing mullet and Charlie Sheen-type zeal.

Here we’ve got classic good guy vs. bad guy at its finest!

Watch how Wiebe finds great difficulty becoming accepted into the ranks of high level players even though his skill and scores are right up there with the best of the best. Billy Mitchell and his team of disciples manage to cheapen and disrespect Wiebe throughout, holding him back, and in turn making the viewer desperate for a little ass-kicking payback. Can Wiebe come through? The answer will surprise you. The climax is better than any made for Hollywood movie, and will keep you on the edge of your seats.

It doesn’t matter if you like video games or not, the emotional pull of this story cannot be denied, and I guarantee that you will dig it. “King of Kong” gets my five silo rating. There’s the full movie up above but the DVD has some great extras that get right to the root of some true video game nerd-dom. For the Silo, John McIntosh.

Culture

Fun Late Night Activities To Do after the Bars Close

November 29, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Drinking with friends until late at night is fun, which is why lots of people do it especially on weekends. You get to talk with friends about your romantic problems and work issues, or you may enjoy watching live games in sports bar with other fervent fans. But what can you do after the bars close? Many take things easy and wind down with one of the excellent erotic massages in Montreal. That seems like the perfect way to end a fun night.

However, there are other ways to continue having fun even when the bars all seem closed late at night. Discuss matters with your friends, and see if any of these suggestions suit their fancy:

Drink Coffee

Haven’t you noticed how many of these specialty coffee shops are open 24 hours? That’s because they know that when people are done drinking but they don’t want to go home yet, they get coffee to continue their story-swapping activities.

Coffee is perfect for those who have been drinking, since it can keep people from just sleeping. Your friends will hate you if they have to drag your sleeping body home. So drink some coffee, and afterwards hire a cab back to your place. Just don’t drive! You may be awake, but you’re still drunk!

Eat Something

Lots of people experience the “munchies” when they’ve been drinking. So once the drinking is done, it may be time to continue the night with some fast food treat like a nice juicy burger or some hot pizza. You may also want to try shawarma.

Scientific studies have confirmed that alcohol can really make you feel hungry. It’s been found that alcohol fires up a type of brain cell that’s also active when you’re starving. So when you drink, your brain thinks you haven’t eaten for a long while.

Play Video Games

In some cities like Montreal, you may find arcade places where you can play various video games even at 3:00 AM. You can play Tekken and other fighting games if you’re one of those inclined to violence after a bit of drinking—at least this time, no one gets really hurt!

You can also try any of the racing games, and you may find out why it’s a bad idea to drink and drive. Of course, even if you do well in these games it doesn’t mean you’re ready to drive home for real.

Sing Some Karaoke

You may be a shy wallflower type when you’re sober, but you may be a performer yearning to break free once you’ve imbibed enough alcohol. You’re not alone, so why not join other would-be singers and have some fun belting out your favorite tunes?

The nice thing about being drunk is that it makes you brave enough to try this, and you’re also drunk enough to think you’ve done justice to that Bon Jovi song you’ve always liked. Most people in these places are non-judgmental, so even if you’re off-key they won’t mind. Not that you’d know you were off-key…

Go Bowling

Bowling is another activity that somehow seems a lot more fun when you’ve been drinking. It also shows you exactly how drunk you are—if your bowling ball can’t hit any of the pins every time, then it may be time to call it a night. Bowling is something you can do if the bar you went to closed early at 1AM or so, as some bowling places may close at 3AM.

Try Your Luck at a Casino

You better believe that if you’re a well-behaved drunk, the casino will love you. You get to enjoy yourself playing blackjack, while the casino plies you with drinks as they happily take your money! For the Silo, Dimitry Karloff.

Gaming

Lure Of Pinball

March 7, 2022 The Silo 2 Comments

2john_and_pinballmachine — John and his machine

I’ll never forget the first time.

I was 7 years old in the mid-70’s, and the parents were carting myself and a few rep-team baseball buddies home from a game. They decided to stop at an old bowling alley in Burford, Ontario to get a bite to eat. I don’t remember what I ate, but what I’ll never forget was discovering that large cabinet standing on four metal peg-legs in the corner of the alley. Jutting up from the back was a headboard depicting brilliantly lit cartoon-like women with implausible breasts, silently calling out to me to come closer. My one baseball bud knew what it was all about. “Hey, do you want to play a game?” I most certainly did want to play a game. He dropped a quarter in the machine, pushed the credit button and the machine chugged to life. I’ll never forget my first game of pinball.

That moment started a lifetime love for me.

The number of hours spent chasing the silver ball in arcades, bowling alleys, laundromats and pizza parlours may have cost me a few grade points in school, but I developed into a very skillful player, winning cash prizes, a television, and my greatest tournament victory: a classic pinball machine which I now get to play at home. I even travelled to The World Pinball Championships in Pittsburgh to test my flipper prowess against the best, and found out I still had skills that I needed to work on!

Pinball kept pleasure and solace at never more than 25 cents away.

Nothing could clear my head and put me in the moment like releasing the plunger and sending that silver sphere jetting onto the playfield. What was going to happen this time? The nudge of the machine was its very own dance; enough pushing to alter the path of the ball, yet not so much that you might incur a disqualifying “tilt.” The immense satisfaction of a well-targeted flipper shot hitting the mark, the helpless feeling of a ball heading down the middle with maddening precision. The shrill clang of the bells, the churning of the scoring reels on the way to a free game. Man, there was nothing else like it. For the Silo, John McIntosh.

Have a hankering for some classic silver ball action? Check out these sites:

The Church of the Silver Ball is a warehouse of pinball machines in Mississauga open to the public to play. Check it out at www.thechurchofthesilverball.com

The Toronto Pinball League has game nights all across Southern Ontario in home arcades. Go to www.topl.org for info.

Want to play with the big boys? Check out PAPA, the home of The World Pinball Championships held each year in Pittsburgh www.papa.org/index.php