In game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

s, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties. Most games with score use it as a quantitative indicator of success in the game, and in competitive games, a goal is often made of attaining a better score than one's opponents in order to win.

Sport

In team sport

Team sport

A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...

s, points are most commonly achieved through obtaining "goal

Goal (sport)

Goal refers to a method of scoring in many sports. It can also refer to the physical structure or area of the playing surface where scoring occurs....

s" or "scores." For example, in soccer, hockey

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

, and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 goals are achieved by putting the ball in the opposing team's net. Other team sports like rugby

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 and cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 have more complicated scoring procedures. Individual-based sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s like golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 have points-based scoring as well.

Most sports have time limits, which means point-based victories are usually the result of obtaining more points than one's opponent. In others, the winner

Champion

A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition.There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions...

 must achieve a fixed number of points sooner than the rival.

Auto racing

Each motor racing series has their own points system. In turn, each series have their own rules and regulations in terms of what pays points and how much. First of all, practically all series award points according to the finishing position of each race

Racing

A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...

. Some series only award points for a certain number of finishing positions. In Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

, for example, only the top ten finishers get points. Drivers may be forced to finish the race or complete a certain amount of the laps in order to score points.

In some series, points are also awarded based on lap leading, lap times, overtaking

Overtaking

Overtaking or passing is the act of one vehicle going past another slower moving vehicle, travelling in the same direction, on a road. The lane used for overtaking another vehicle is almost always a lane further from the road shoulder — that is, to the left in places that drive on the right,...

 and qualifying positions (in particular by achieving pole position

Pole position

The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

s and fastest lap

Fastest lap

In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some series, like A1 Grand Prix and the GP2 series, award bonus points to the driver/team with the fastest lap...

s). In the NASCAR Cup Series, for example, besides receiving points depending on the final standings, five points are awarded for leading a lap and five additional points for leading the most laps in the race. In other series, such as NHRA, points are awarded for just making the field, as an incentive to have drivers come out week after week to race.

Video games

In video games, points are usually an optional, side component of gaming. Players may achieve points through normal gameplay, but their score will often not have an immediate relevance to the game itself. Instead, achieving a "high score" and then trying to beat that score in subsequent play becomes an extra challenge to offer replay value.

Arguments that points in video games are somewhat of an anachronism

Anachronism

An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...

 in modern gaming. During the era of arcade games, when games could not be "won" or "completed," but were instead endless cycles of continuous gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

, points had a much greater relevance. Many modern games no longer even keep track of score, and many that do no longer feature an option to save or record high scores. However, some games (particularly role-playing games

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

) have experience point

Experience point

An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...

s, skill points, and use money

Money

Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

 (or treasure

Treasure

Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...

) which can all be used to buy/upgrade

Upgrade

The term upgrade refers to the replacement of a product with a newer version of the same product. It is most often used in computing and consumer electronics, generally meaning a replacement of hardware, software or firmware with a newer or better version, in order to bring the system up to date...

 skills/objects.

Sometimes the score of a game can have relevance to gameplay. In fighting game

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

s, for example, scoring a very high number of points could result in unlockable

Unlockable (gaming)

Unlockable content refers to content that is available in video games but not accessible unless something is performed by the player to get access to it. Different genres of games have different styles and options of unlockable content that is standard among their games...

 players or modes. In arcade games or certain platformers, high scores could result in an extra life.

Scoring

In puzzle games, scores are usually gained by solving the puzzles quickly. Higher scores can be gained by performing combos of puzzle solving. There is often a time bonus which can add extra points. The level number is often a multiplier on the points, so higher scores are possible on harder levels. Level multipliers can also be picked up in some games, to further multiply your points bonus.

In other games, points are typically gained from defeating monsters and enemies. When defeating a boss

Boss (video games)

A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

, a proportionally large number of points is usually rewarded. Extra points can be gained from gathering items, such as power-ups or other pick-ups.

Usually, when a player gets a certain number of points, they may get an extra life

1-up

1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...

 or go on to a higher level

Level Up

Level Up was a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on the 3rd April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show was an hour long and during the school year broadcasting from 7:30am until 8:30am...

. Points can be often used as currency which can redeemed for rewards and player upgrades.

High score

The high score of a video game, arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

, or computer game is usually the highest logged point value. Many times a game will have a list of several high scores, called the high score table.

History

The concept of a high score first achieved cultural significance with the rise in popularity of pinball

Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

 machines and electro-mechanical arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

s. Players who achieve a high score are often greeted with a congratulatory message and are able to enter their initials or name into the machine. Their score and name will remain there until someone "knocks" them off the high score list by achieving a higher score. For this reason, high scores are inherently competitive and may sometimes involve one-upmanship

One-upmanship

One-upmanship is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor.The term originated as the title of a book by Stephen Potter, published in 1952 as a follow-up to The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship and Lifemanship titles in his series of tongue-in-cheek self-help books, and film ...

 against other players.

The high score has a close association to the "free game." When in an arcade, many games will offer a player a free chance at another game if they achieve a high score. This has declined in popularity in recent years, as players are often allowed to play for as long as they can without losing, but not given free games even if they achieve a high score.

The first video game to use the term "high score" was Midway

Midway Games

Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...

's Sea Wolf

Sea Wolf (arcade game)

Sea Wolf is an arcade game by Midway, originally released in 1976. It was a video game update of an earlier coin-operated electro-mechanical Midway game, Sea Devil, itself based on Sega's 1966 coin-op electro-mechanical arcade submarine simulator Periscope...

(1976). In these early arcade games, the player would attempt to reach a pre-determined high score within an allotted time period, after which they would win bonus playing time, since it was not possible to save the top score. Though the term "high score" was not used, the concept of reaching pre-determined scores to win bonus playing time was featured in earlier arcade video games such as Taito

Taito Corporation

The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....

's racing game Speed Race (1974).

The high score concept changed in 1978 with the release of Taito's shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 Space Invaders

Space Invaders

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...

, where high scores were determined by gamers playing for as long as they could stay alive as high scores kept rising. This was made possible due to being the first game to save

Saved game

A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...

 the player's score. The astounding popularity of Space Invaders stemmed from players returning to beat the current high score, as players could now compete with each other over who had the highest score. In 1979, Space Invaders Part II and Star Fire

Star Fire

"Star fire" redirects here. For the process by which stars shine see nuclear fusion.Star Fire, released 1979, is considered to be a groundbreaking shoot 'em up arcade game by Exidy that brought a number of new innovations to the market; including being of the first to use a sit-down...

took this concept a step further by allowing players to enter initials next to their score, though unplugging the machine each night cleared this data.

The popularity of the high score has made it nearly ubiquitous among modern video games. In fact, the high score has become a defining feature of many games. Magazines such as Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...

 and Sega Visions

Sega Visions

Sega Visions was a video game magazine focusing on games made for Sega video game machines such as Sega Master System, Game Gear, Genesis, and Sega CD. It was created by Sega and was initially published by The Communique Group. In 1992, Infotainment World took over publishing for the rest of its...

 would often publish high scores submitted by their readers. The high score became most popular when, starting in 1982, the Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. It operates the Twin Galaxies website and publishes the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, with the Arcade Volume released on June...

 Scoreboard began to appear in the pages of Video Games Magazine, Joystik Magazine, Computer Games Magazine, VideoGiochi Magazine (Milano, Italy), Video Games Player Magazine and Electronic Fun Magazine. Later, under Twin Galaxies direction in the 1990s, all performances would have to be videotape

Videotape

A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...

d to verify the achievement.

The high score also exists in online games in various forms. The spread of the Internet has made it possible to compete with the rest of the world, rather than the players of a single machine or game. many modern games have the ability to post his/her high score to a central webpage. Online multiplayer games, especially first person shooters

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

, real time strategies

Real-time strategy

Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

, and RPGs often have ranking systems

Rank up

In video gaming slang, and especially in online multiplayer games, to rank up is to achieve a higher ranking relative to other players...

. These new high score lists and ranking systems often are more complex than conventional high score lists. Some are based on tournaments, while others track game servers continuously, keeping statistics for all players.

Some games include default "high scores" that do not actually represent real players, but are displayed whenever the machine's memory is reset, often with generic initials such as "AAA." These scores often represent certain levels of achievement for a player to aspire to, ensuring that there is always something for players to compete with. Many computer games also have default high scores built in, sometimes attributed to fictitious entities (e.g. Commander Keen

Commander Keen

Commander Keen is a series of video games developed by id Software in the early 1990s. The series focuses on the adventures of Billy Blaze, an 8-year old boy who travels through space and assumes the identity "Commander Keen". The series was successful at replicating the side-scrolling action of...

) or to members of the game's development team.

In popular culture

The high score's prominence in video game culture, and even mainstream society has led to various pieces of art and entertainment. There is a cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

 titled High Score. There is also a book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

 entitled High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games is a book published in April 2002 by McGraw-Hill Osborne Media. It was written by Rusel DeMaria and Johnny Lee Wilson...

. A 2007 documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a 2007 American documentary film that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell...

, follows the attempts to beat the high score in Donkey Kong.

In an episode

The Frogger

"The Frogger" is the 174th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 18th episode for the 9th and final season. It first aired on April 23, 1998.-Plot:...

 of the TV series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Seinfeld

Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

, George is astonished to find that the Frogger

Frogger

Frogger is an arcade game introduced in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one. To do this, each frog must avoid cars while crossing a busy road and navigate a river full of...

machine he played as a teen still retains his high score. With the owners wanting to get rid of it, George decides to keep the machine for posterity, the catch being that he has to move the game without unplugging it, because if he unplugs the game the high score will be erased. Unfortunately the machine is destroyed when he unsuccessfully tries to move it across the street in a spoof

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of the gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

.

On September 24, 2005, Twin Galaxies issued Poster #59, which publicized a $1,000 prize to the first gamer who could break George Costanza's fictitious Frogger high score of 863,050 points.

On August 1, 1982, the Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. It operates the Twin Galaxies website and publishes the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, with the Arcade Volume released on June...

 Intergalactic Scoreboard issued a colorful poster that listed the world record high scores for more than two dozen arcade video games. The poster was distributed among arcades in the U.S., Canada and abroad. This was the first poster (#1) in a series of colorful posters that continues today, with poster #131 issued in October, 2008.

In an episode of Friends

Friends

Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

Chandler Bing puts in dirty words on all the high score positions on a PacMan machine. He then finds out that they are not blanked when the machine is reset so he has to break all his high scores to remove the offending words. (This is not possible on an actual PacMan machine; such machines only record one high score and do not allow the winning player to enter initials.)

In the media

According to the Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. It operates the Twin Galaxies website and publishes the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, with the Arcade Volume released on June...

 Intergalactic Scoreboard, "high-score" attempts enjoyed as much press coverage as any other video-game-related topic reported in the media during the 1982-1985 period. Though the media was often focused on the amazing growth of the video game industry, it was equally as fascinated with the human side of gaming, as typified by the "player vs machine" showdowns that led to new world record high scores set on nearly a daily basis. In fact, Twin Galaxies reports that during that early era it was not unusual for there to be multiple new world records reported in the media on a single day.

Score attack

Some games feature a 'score attack' mode, which charges the player with gathering the highest score possible. Games with a mode like this include, for example, Rez

Rez

Rez, developed under the codename K-Project, Project Eden, and Vibes, is a rail shooter video game released by Sega in Japan in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, with a European Dreamcast release and United States PlayStation 2 release in 2002...

and Gradius IV Fukkatsu

Gradius IV Fukkatsu

is the fourth arcade installment in a series of scrolling shooter video games developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It was preceded by Gradius III, released in 1989, although other non-numbered spinoffs had been released such as Gradius Gaiden. This title brings a considerable...

. Some games do not include this mode but keep a record of the score, in which the players can choose whether they score attack the game, or continue normally.

Scoring bugs

In many games, a good player can get the "maximum score" due to a limitation or bug in the game. A typical limit is 999,999 points. In some eight-bit systems and games, getting a score of 255 as the maximum was common.

External links

• High Score Game - Be the number one on Official High Score Game
• Video Games Records - High Scores and competition for over 2,700 games.
• Cyberscore - High score and time attack competition
• High Scores - Flash games high scores
• Collection of high score replays at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  
• MARP - MAME Action Replay Page - high scores charts with replay files for emulator.
• Twin Galaxies' series of Posters
• Video Game Ownage - Speedruns and other game videos
• Twin Galaxies - The closest thing to an official video game world record authority
• Amiga Highscores - High scores from Amiga games
• EliteScores - Super Monkey Ball and Wii game high scores
• Livescore - Livescore, Soccer Live Score, Football fixtures, Football results
• ScoresCentre - Livescores, Soccer Live Scores, Football Fixtures, Football Tables
• Livescore - Free live score service for football, basketball, tennis, baseball, hockey and snooker.