Galaga champ shoots for the sky at Denton's Cool Beans

Chance meetings are always fun.  In the world of video gaming they can sometimes result in an event.

Of course, as most reading my column may know, in addition to my writing here on the Examiner and running my own arcade and console repair business, I am a high-ranking official with scorekeeping organization Twin Galaxies, the only officially recognized organization in the world for video game records and rankings.

Imagine my surprise on the night of March 27 when me and the better half got a rare night out on the streets of Denton and hit Cool Beans (1210 West Hickory Street) for some cold beverages and a chance to unwind.

This is where I met fellow Denton resident Brendan Byrne, who was looking determined as could be while playing the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga - Class of 1981 in the back corner of the bar.  As someone who was once a high-level Galaga player, I had to go see if he was any good.  It didn't take long to see that he was when I noticed him on Stage 107.

Turns out that Brendan hits Cool Beans to play Galaga on this very machine on a regular basis.  On this particular evening he managed to hit 2,387,480 points, a new Twin Galaxies World Record score on the Class of 1981 machine (due to hardware differences, this is tracked in a category seperate from the original 1981 release of Galaga).

It was fun to see, and I hope to head back up there soon to see Brendan beat his own record score.  If anyone else wants to see the classic game you've spent countless quarters on played at a high level you can head up to Cool Beans as well and see him at play!