Doris Self
Doris Self (September 18, 1925 – October 3, 2006) was an American video game competitor who gained recognition in 1984 as "oldest competitive videogamer", at the age of 58. The documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters detailed Self's quest to recover her standing as the "oldest champion" from John Lawton, the 72-year-old co-founder of the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, who had captured the world title on Depthcharge.
Career
[edit | edit source]On July 1, 1984, Doris Self made video game history when, at the age of 58, she gained recognition as the "world's oldest video game champion". As a competitor on Q*bert at Twin Galaxies' 1984 Video Game Masters Tournament, Self scored a world record mark of 1,112,300 points on Twin Galaxies' Tournament Settings (TGTS) – the most difficult settings that allow for only five men in the game.[1][2][3]
In 2005, Self traveled to London to continue her quest to regain the Q*bert World Record. She was one of the featured stars at the Classic Gaming Expo-UK, held Saturday, August 13, 2005, in Croydon, United Kingdom.[citation needed] As an honorary member of the U.S. National Video Game Team, she was part of a contingent of video gamers who traveled to Paris, France on Napoleon's birthday (August 15, 2005) to hand-deliver an 8-foot (2.4 m) tall proclamation signed by hundreds of British players that challenged Paris to a London vs. Paris video game championship.[4]
During the weekend of April 6 to April 9, 2006, Self faced-off against Kelly Tharp, of Sellersburg, Indiana, in a highly publicized Q*bert contest, held at Apollo Amusements in Pompano Beach, Florida. Titled "The King vs The Queen Q*bert Smackdown," the event was filmed as part of the King of Kong documentary.[5]
Self recorded a world record score on the game Q*Bert on 1 July 1984, at the age of 58.[6] She was subsequently recognised as the "oldest competitive videogamer" by the Guinness World Records.[6]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Self's Q*bert career was preceded by a flight attendant career. At the age of 19, she was among the first female flight attendants at Eastern Air Lines, graduating in 1945 as a member of Eastern Air Lines’ first class of airline stewardesses. And, in 1954, while working with legendary air ace Eddie Rickenbacker, she co-organized "The Silver Liners", the first association for ex-stewardesses. Today, one of the DC-3s she used to fly on in the 1940s is hanging from the ceiling of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.[7]
Self had still been practicing and preparing for her next world record attempt on Q*bert when she died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Plantation, Florida, on October 3, 2006.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Q-Bert Champ Seeks Perfect Score - www.cbsnews.com August 4, 2005
- ^ Women attempts to be Q*bert champion - UPI Wire Story May 29, 2005 [dead link]
- ^ Two legendary video game champs - December 30, 1999 [dead link]
- ^ Self Motivation - RePlay Magazine October 1, 2005 [dead link]
- ^ Q*Bert Smackdown: 80-Year-Old Doris Takes on the Newcomer -- Retrieved from twingalaxies.com, April 6, 2006 Archived November 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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