Miss Golden
08-08-2005, 11:59 PM
Gaming granny eyes record
NEIL DAVIDSON, CP 2005-08-08 01:33:53
Doris Self is used to turning heads when she plays video games.
"To find an 80-year-old white-haired woman sitting at an arcade game, it amazes them," she said.
Self's expertise is more remarkable. The Florida resident is headed to Croydon, England, this month in search of a record Qbert score at the Classic Gaming Expo-UK.
Self first tried her hand at video games about 22 years ago in Plantation, Fla. Her husband had just died and she had time on her hands. That changed one day when her daughter took her to the movies and a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.
"After she ordered, she went over and started playing this game. I had never seen an arcade game before," Self said. "And she said, 'Mom, come over here. I think you'll get a kick out of it.' Well, mom got a kick of it. And mom started going to the arcade."
It was 10 minutes from her house and open 24 hours a day, and soon Self became hooked on Qbert. The arcade was too busy during the daytime so she went at night.
"I remember the first morning I came in at 7 o'clock and my daughter was just going out to work. . . . She said, 'I don't believe it.' I said, 'Well it's your fault, you showed me.' "
Billy Mitchell, 40, a champion gamer, met Self in 1983 at the Florida arcade.
"She was 58 years old, she was full of spunk," he said.
Mitchell helped Self get back in the gaming saddle several years ago after a break, lending her a version of Qbert.
And when a 72-year-old New Hampshire man dethroned her as world champion, Mitchell convinced her to try again.
"I play every day," Self says. "If it's 3 o'clock in the morning, I just play until I feel like I can go to sleep and then I go to bed."
NEIL DAVIDSON, CP 2005-08-08 01:33:53
Doris Self is used to turning heads when she plays video games.
"To find an 80-year-old white-haired woman sitting at an arcade game, it amazes them," she said.
Self's expertise is more remarkable. The Florida resident is headed to Croydon, England, this month in search of a record Qbert score at the Classic Gaming Expo-UK.
Self first tried her hand at video games about 22 years ago in Plantation, Fla. Her husband had just died and she had time on her hands. That changed one day when her daughter took her to the movies and a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.
"After she ordered, she went over and started playing this game. I had never seen an arcade game before," Self said. "And she said, 'Mom, come over here. I think you'll get a kick out of it.' Well, mom got a kick of it. And mom started going to the arcade."
It was 10 minutes from her house and open 24 hours a day, and soon Self became hooked on Qbert. The arcade was too busy during the daytime so she went at night.
"I remember the first morning I came in at 7 o'clock and my daughter was just going out to work. . . . She said, 'I don't believe it.' I said, 'Well it's your fault, you showed me.' "
Billy Mitchell, 40, a champion gamer, met Self in 1983 at the Florida arcade.
"She was 58 years old, she was full of spunk," he said.
Mitchell helped Self get back in the gaming saddle several years ago after a break, lending her a version of Qbert.
And when a 72-year-old New Hampshire man dethroned her as world champion, Mitchell convinced her to try again.
"I play every day," Self says. "If it's 3 o'clock in the morning, I just play until I feel like I can go to sleep and then I go to bed."