Justin

Congratulations Kid A! Congratulations to @Kid A for becoming our first Atari 5200 Squad Champion! We played an fun puzzle game that's harder than you'd think, and everyone showed up with scores to be proud of. @Kid A took the top spot in our Final Standings with an insane score of 169,270 points. Way to go Kid A! @Marco1019 comes in 2nd Place in our Final Standings with a very impressive score of 128,840 points. @Atari 5200 Guy made a strong effort to take the 3rd spot in our Final Standings with his score of 95,220 points. @RickR came in 4th Place with his outstanding score of 41,350. The incredible @TrekMD takes 5th Place on the podium, with a score of 31,980 points. @- Ω - joins High Score Squad for his first Squad Challenge with this game, posting a score of 29,520 to take 6th Place in our Final Standings. I wrap things up for this Squad Challenge with a score of 12,180 points. As always I'd like to encourage Squad Legend and our new champion @Kid A to post his high score on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! Congratulations to Kid A, special thanks once again to @RickR @Sabertooth @- Ω - and @Atari 5200 Guy for nominating this game, and a big congratulations to our wonderful little community for being such a great group to spend time with, I hope everybody had fun playing in our first Atari 5200 Squad Challenge! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad is for the Atari 2600. Be there!

I'm sad! I played Pengo using an emulator but it didn't want to cooperate with me. It would allow me to play the first round, sometimes two, but then wouldn't progress to the next board. I thought I'd get this worked out in time to get a better score before the Squad Challenge closed but unfortunately I was stuck not being able to move past the first board or two. This was my best score, achieved on August 13th. I'm sharing this in the spirit of having fun with you guys, and only including this as I'm coming in dead last and this won't affect anybody else's high score. My High Score: 12,180

Keystone Kapers Atari 2600 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST August 31th, 2022 Nominated by @Justin Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between August 15th through August 31st, 2022. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level We are playing Keystone Kapers using the default settings as there are no difficulty settings to select from. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message Welcome to our 133rd Squad Challenge, another stellar Activision classic for Atari 2600! Keystone Kapers was designed by Garry Kitchen and released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1983. This is a very fun platform and elevator game. Do you have what it takes to help Keystone Kelly catch the crook? This Squad Challenge will run through August 31st, 2022. ROM and Instruction Manual are both provided below. Have fun!! Keystone_Kapers.pdf Keystone Kapers.a26

Biff's Gaming Videos has a quick and simple overview of Pengo for the Atari 5200. It's a great place to start if you're new to the game!

Please remember to TYPE OUT YOUR HIGH SCORE when posting to High Score Squad! We want to get your score right, and prevent mistakes. Scores can be blurry in photos, tricky on the eyes, or hidden deep within play-through videos. Claiming your score 100% prevents confusion.

Pengo Atari 5200 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Intermediate Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST August 14th, 2022 Nominated by @RickR @Sabertooth @- Ω - @Atari 5200 Guy Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between August 1st through August 14th, 2022. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level We are playing Pengo using the # button on the Joystick Keypad to select Intermediate difficulty level. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message Welcome to our 132nd Squad Challenge, our first Atari 5200 game and one that has been popularly requested! For this Squad Challenge we're playing one of the greatest little puzzle games to ever come home on an Atari game system: Pengo! This is a very charming and fun block moving game. Pengo is a little penguin! As Pengo you scurry around the ice field rearranging huge blocks of ice. Your objective: Destroy your opponents, the Sno-Bees, before they sting you! Line up three diamond blocks for extra bonus points! This Squad Challenge will run through August 14th, 2022. ROM and Instruction Manual are both provided below. Have fun!! Atari 5200 Pengo.pdf Pengo.bin

Congratulations Everyone! Congratulations to everyone who joined in our Pinball Squad Challenge!! We played an incredibly challenging game with some interesting pinball mechanics like paddles that turn invisible at 100,000 points, and everyone showed up with scores to be proud of. I took the top spot in our Final Standings with a score of 736,650. @RickR came in 2nd Place with his outstanding score of 225,400. The incredible @Marco1019 taked 3rd Place on the podium, with a score of 137,260. Legendary Squad Member @Atari 5200 Guy was on his game, posting a score of 132,550 to take 4th Place in our Final Standings. "The Mayor" @greenween was hot on Atari 5200 Guy's tail, less than 200 points behind, taking 5th with 132,260 points. @Gianna came in with a strong effort to take 6rd Place with her score of 109,870. @TrekMD rounds things out for us in 7th Place with his score of 69,100. As I always encourage others to do, I'll be posting my new high score on the Scoreboard to make sure this Challenge continues on! Did you enjoy this NES Pinball Squad Challenge? It's one of the earliest "black box" NES games, and one that has always been my favorite, especially the Bonus Mini Game with Mario. I hope everybody had a great time! That's a wrap for Pizza Party Summer! We'll return next summer with more fun events and High Score Squad Challenges to keep the party going! See you next summer! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad is for the Atari 5200 Super System. Be there!

My High Score: 158,432,040

I WANT YOU TO WIN!!

This was super helpful to me This is a great strategy! YES!!

First attempt: 28,235,360

Tried again today but didn't break 350,000. Will try again.

Once you get past 150,000 it feels like the game gets easier. The paddles come back from being invisible and you get into a flow. It feels hard to get to 50,000. Once you break past a certain point you just keep going.

Somebody please beat this score, I don't want to have to be the one who wins this. Going to give this another shot just for fun. Looking for someone here to break one million. My New High Score: 736,650

My High Score: 80,340

Classic Game Room has an excellent overview of Nintendo's Pinball for the NES. It's a great place to start if you're new to the game!

Please remember to TYPE OUT YOUR HIGH SCORE when posting to High Score Squad! We want to get your score right, and prevent mistakes. Scores can be blurry in photos, tricky on the eyes, or hidden deep within play-through videos. Claiming your score 100% prevents confusion.

Congratulations Greenween! Congratulations once again to "The Mayor" @greenween on becoming Atari I/O High Score Squad champ twice in a row!! We played an incredibly challenging shoot-'em-up game and everyone showed up with scores to be proud of. @greenween came in 1st Place with his outstanding score of 119,400 played on real hardware. I was hot on @greenween's tail, posting a score of 93,300 to take 2nd Place in the Final Standings. Legendary Squad Member @Atari 5200 Guy came in strong to take 3rd Place with his score of 51,000 even. "The Don" @RickR was not far behind and posts a heafty score of 43,100 points, taking 4th Place in our Final Standings. @Gianna gave it her all in her first time playing this game to post a score of 34,800 taking 5th Place. As I always, I'd like to encourage @greenween to post his new high score on the Scoreboard to make sure this Challenge continues! We'll be seeing you in the next event as Pizza Party Summer marches on all summer long! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad is Pinball for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Be there!

Let's get the word out about Pizza Party Summer! The more people participating the more fun the challenge! Spread the word and invite friends all summer long!

Congratulations Atari 5200 Guy! Congratulations to @Atari 5200 Guy on his big pinball win!! This was our second pinball tournament using Legends Pinball and it was a blast! Turnout will of course be limited as not everyone has access to Legends Pinball, but for those of us who do it's super awesome getting to play against other people in the forums! @Atari 5200 Guy came in 1st Place with his score of 738,370 played on xBox to take the top spot in our Final Standings. My score of 428,900 takes 2nd, @btbfilms76 takes 3rd Place in our Final Standings with his incredible score of 403,240 played on a real Legends Pinball machine, and @Gianna rounds things out in 4th with her stellar showing of 225,170 points, also performed on a real Legends Pinball machine. Incredible scores all around, and I hope all of you enjoyed getting to play in a real Pinball Tournament Challenge! We'll be seeing you in the next event as Pizza Party Summer marches on all summer long! NOTE: Our next Legends Pinball Tournament is for Blackbelt 2018. Be there!

Let's organize a Raiders of the Lost Ark watch party! Atari I/O Summer Pizza Party is now PIZZA PARTY SUMMER and runs from June 15th through July 31st! During this High Score Squad Challenge, we're going to be watching the original Indiana Jones film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" from 1992 and sharing our thoughts on the movie here. With another Indiana Jones film in production and featuring Harrison Ford, I thought this would be a perfect time for us to have a watch party for the original. Raiders of the Lost Ark is widely available to be streamed on almost any platform, and I don't doubt many of you still have Raiders of the Lost Ark on VHS somewhere 😎 Let's organize a watch party and share thoughts of the original film, as well as the your hopes for the upcoming new Indiana Jones movie. This is also a great time to share your memories of seeing the original Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theater and what was going on when you first saw it. Enjoy!

Blackbelt 2018 (Zaccaria, 2018) Legends Pinball Controller: PINBALL / CONTROL PAD / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default Play on: Legends Pinball / Real Pinball Machine / Nintendo Switch / Other / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST July 31st, 2022 Nominated by @Gianna Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between July 15th through July 31st, 2022. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on any Legends Pinball setup, real pinball machine hardware, Nintendo Switch, any other phone, tablet, console, or emulation, using any controller setup or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level No difficulty settings apply. We are playing Big Shot using default settings. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message Welcome to our 133rd Squad Challenge, the first Zaccaria game in our "Legends Pinball" Challenge series! We're trying something new with some "Legends Pinball" events for this year's Pizza Party Summer! Atari I/O Summer Pizza Party is now PIZZA PARTY SUMMER and runs from June 15th through July 31st! For this Squad Challenge we're playing Blackbelt 2018, a modern interpretation of the classic Blackbelt pinball game from Italian boutique manufacturing house Zaccaria. Blackbelt 2018 features lightning fast gameplay and modern table mechanics with a zen-like oriental theme. You are welcome to play Blackbelt 2018 any way you are able to, including on any Legends Pinball set up, on any phone or tablet, and using the real pinball machine itself. YOU MUST PLAY BLACKBELT 2018, TRADITIONAL VERSIONS OF BLACKBELT ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS EVENT. This Legends Pinball Challenge will run through July 31st, 2022. Good luck!!

Earthbound Super Nintendo Entertainment System Controller: CONTROL PAD / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: LET'S PLAY Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST July 31st, 2022 Nominated by @Justin Objective RELAX AND ENJOY playing one of our favorite games and share hints, tips, and photos of your progress along the way! In this "Let's Play" Challenge, we are not competing for a high score, and there will not be a winner declared at the end. Instead, this is an opportunity to enjoy a gameplay experience together with friends in the forums. Share new secrets, helpful hints, and your overall thoughts on this title as you progress through the game! This "Let's Play" Challenge is a perfect opportunity to livestream your gameplay or share footage on YouTube, Instagram, Twitch or Facebook. Posts must be made between July 15th through July 31st, 2022. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level Start Earthbound at "square one" with a fresh game. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. Message Welcome to our 132nd Squad Challenge, the third "Let's Play" Challenge of the series! We're trying something new with some "Let's Play" events for this year's Pizza Party Summer! Atari I/O Summer Pizza Party is now PIZZA PARTY SUMMER and runs from June 15th through July 31st! For this Let's Play Challenge we're playing one of the greatest cult classic video games of the 16-Bit generation - Earthbound on the Super Nintendo! Did you know Earthbound is now available to play in Nintendo Online on Switch? This Let's Play Challenge will run through July 31st, 2022. Remember, this is just for fun, no winner will be announced, but share your thoughts and photos / videos of your progress along the way! Instruction Manual is provided below. It's dangerous to go alone!! Free Official Earthbound Strategy Guide PDF Download from Nintendo: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clvs/manuals/common/pdf/CLV-P-SAAJE.pdf