| Tim Balderramos |
| The Perfect Game: Confessions of a Pac-Man Junkie by Tim Balderramos With recent successful events like the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship and the release of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, the return to video game yesteryear is more apparent than ever. More and more modern consoles feature the classics like Xbox Live Arcade, Game Room, and even Google itself has gotten into the mix. The Perfect Game: Confessions of a Pac-Man Junkie not only highlights the history of one of the most iconic games of all time, and the quest for high score supremacy of the same, but also includes strategies on how to play like the pros – strategies that can be learned and put to work in a matter of days... just in time for Pac- Man’s 30th Anniversary. This book will appeal to anyone that remembers the days of arcade yesteryear. Said persons remember hanging out in the arcade, at 7- 11, the pizza parlor, etc. playing Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc. in a time when scoring a million points actually meant something, versus whether you can simply “finish” a game like with a modern console title. That said, the appeal of the classic games like Pac- Man lure young gamers as well – intrigued by the approachability and the “easy to understand, yet hard to master” air of classic titles.... evident by the scores of young players at a Pac-Man 30th Anniversary celebration held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The author is recognized by a number of classic arcade gaming communities such as ClassicArcadeGaming.com and TwinGalaxies.com. He was also one of the finalists in the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship in New York in 2007. On August 6-7, 2010, the author attended a kickoff event at the International Video Game Hall of Fame in Ottumwa, Iowa as a guest of honor, along with other Pac-Masters like Billy Mitchell, David Race and Eric Akeson; as Pac-Man was the first game inducted into the hall. |
| At 15, Tim Balderramos first grabbed media attention by laying claim to the Pac-Man World Title in 1983. He has remained among the top five Pac-Man players in the world ever since. Tim’s affinity for video games led him to his choice of Computer Science for a major at the University of South Dakota, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1993. He completed his Master's degree at the University of Minnesota in 1998. Tim now works as a software consultant/engineer. He later became only the fourth player in history to get a perfect score on the Arcade version of Pac-Man in 2004 and the first to do so on the PC-based Arcade Emulator platform. Tim’s Pac-Man high scores are noted in both the Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records and in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2008. Tim in effect came out of retirement to compete in the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship in 2007. On June 19, 2008, Tim formally announced his retirement from competitive gaming. Tim currently resides in the Twin Cities with his wife, Candice and children Jared and Dia – with whom Tim still enjoys an occasional game or two. His interests include running, wrestling, hockey, and (of course) Pac-Man. |