But that game was my thing back in the eighties. And I wad good at it. Maybe not national best tier, and definitely not world tier, but it was not unusual for me to keep high scores on it that never got beat. The one actual arcade in town, I was never bumped off at all, nobody in town came close. I can’t recall the gap but it was enough higher that there was an extra digit between me and the next highest.
The arcade over in the nearest city, the gap was nowhere near as big, but it was there.
Even when I visited my cousin in Charlotte one summer, I took top spot on the machine there, though it did get beat later on. But I never went below third, at least at the time my cousin stopped going there.
There wasn’t much I was good at that was showy back then. I wrecked shit in spelling bees, and was a decent beatbox (though only decent). Nobody gave a shit about those. I’d play pacman and have a crowd watching. It was fucking awesome for my confidence at the time.
Wasn’t too bad at centipede either, but I would hover up and down in top ten at the two arcades I could visit regular, which isn’t that impressive if you know the game.
So, yeah, I’d go and watch pacman players if the event was close enough. I’d even try my hand at it if I didn’t have to go up against kids with their rassafrassin better reflexes lol.