Professional Arcade Golf Gaming Revealed

Thanks to Sunspot/Chicago Tribune for their article discussing the lives of the top Golden Tee Golf arcade game players, and charting the enduring popularity of the trackball-based golf title, which "players [have] spent $400 million playing" over the past few years. Graig Kinzler, the only current pro Golden Tee Golf player, "says he made about $70,000 last year playing Golden Tee, more than $47,000 in officially sanctioned online tournaments and the rest in live tournaments", and even "works with a sports psychologist to hone his Golden Tee game." The sport is also more expensive than might be reckoned for the hardcore devotee: "20 games a week at $3-$4 per game... is customary - so much so that most of the top players have their own [cabinets] at home."

This may be a little off topic ....

[VermifugeRT]

Every bar I have been to has a copy of golden Tee Golf or Area 51. Sometimes they have both! Has any one else noticed this? It may very well be just an West Coast thing or even just a San Francisco bay area thing.

Re:This may be a little off topic ....

[Kyouryuu]

I too have noticed that, though since I have never played the game I cannot see what attracts a cult following to it. :)

Vancouver, Canada

[swat_r2]

Every pub here practically has Golden Tee as well as Area 51 (yes that is odd) - after reading this article I had no idea it was so damn popular, I thought that it was just a cheap ass game cabinet that no one played much :) I think I might have played once - is Golden Tee really that good of a Sim, comparable to Tiger Woods and Links?

Re:Vancouver, Canada

[John Harrison]

The game isn't that great technically. The trackball is an interesting way of controlling the swing, I think it is superior to the click-click swing of other sims. Part of the appeal is that there are online tournaments. You play at the local bar and your score is sent in to the server.

Re:Vancouver, Canada

[XO]

The physics of GT are not perfect, but they are good.

I haven't played Woods or Links, but I do compete in the GT tournaments.. Unfortunatly, I'm the best player I've ever met here on the west side of Detroit.. though there are TONS of gold level players on the EAST side of Detroit.. it's much too high travel time (especially when drinking!) to get back and forth..

If there's any GT players on West side of Detroit, let me know!! heh

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Ownership Fee?

[DLWormwood]

I didn't RTFA, but I have to ask.

If you own your own Tee machine, do you have to pay a monthly fee or some such to participate in the tourneys? Or does the cost of the machines themselves provide IT with the money to fund the prize pool?

Normally, video games provide pure profit for the machine owners once they acquire them. (Overlooking electricity, etc.) I'm not familiar with what bars and arcades have to do to join in the gaming network, so I don't know if they have to provide part of the machine's profits back to the manufacturer or not.

Re:Ownership Fee?

[BigumD]

You have to pay for your online tournament and league games. 75 cents for online league and $1.25 for online tournament.

ESPN.com's got a couple of recent stories...

[Tickenest]

Here are some relevant stories on ESPN.com's ESPNGamer site:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espngamer/story?id=16372 28 [go.com]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espngamer/story?id=16429 83 [go.com]

It's killing all other video games...

[Rob Parkhill]

Used to be that when you went out to the local sports bar, there would be several video games mixed in with the pool tables, foosball, and occasional pinball machines. That's good.

But since this damned golf game showed up, that's all there is. Some places with have 3 or 4 of these things and nothing else. They've replaced all of the other games entirely. Well, maybe there will be the occasional Big Buck Hunter or some such crap, and a beat up pool table with one cue.

It's so sad.

Article Summary

[crisco]

Counterstrike for jocks.

At least it's not as bad as the real thing...

[Alpha27]

That sucks up all that land for a retard game. I would love to see all golf played virtually, than some game you stand in a spot, smack it, and follow the ball. I've seen balls have more fun than that.

Has this game received recognition before?

[swat_r2]

Given the apparent immense popularity of this game, why hasn't it received more publicity? It's amazing that with all the time and effort I've put into years of following the gaming industry that I haven't heard more of this phenomenon (other than casually noticing them as a regular staple in the bars)

Is this the "Myst" of Golf Games? :)

Re:Has this game received recognition before?

[BigumD]

It certainly brings people out at a bar who would never play video games, so I guess it's a good analogy. But I think that a lot of the hardcore would be surprised at how much fun it is. It's kinda like going to the arcade when you were a kid, but with people who like to get drunk and play the game ;)

I hear he's currently ranked first in the world

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

Graig Kinzler, the only current pro Golden Tee Golf player, "says he made about $70,000 last year playing Golden Tee..."

If he's the only pro Golden Tee Golf player, who does he play against to win that money? Something tells me that one-man Golden Tee exhibitions don't draw a large crowd. ;)

More on the GT Phenomenon

[BigumD]

I'm a pretty avid golden tee player as well. I also consider myself to be a pretty hardcore gamer. I love playing Console and classics, I dual boot linux on my powerbook, I am a card carrying geek :)

Golden Tee has been around on one hardware platform going on 3 1/2 years now. That's pretty impressive, seeing that the arcade board is powered pretty much by a Voodoo 3000 card (no kidding- you can pull it out and replace it with any replacement PCI V3). The cash the game pulls in is amazing, but the cash it pays out is pretty amazing as well.

Here [itsgames.com] is a list of the prizes of the monthly tournaments that are held online (The cabinets are all connected via dialup to a master server. Have been for about 4-5 years). There are also live tournies where a bunch of us dorks hide in a bar for 2 days and play ;) Anyone who's been to a LAN party knows what that's like, and this is just, if not more, fun. EVERYONE at these live tournies is sociable and outgoing. It's a blast.

More info can be found at www.itsgames.com and www.goldenteeplayers.com

Re:More on the GT Phenomenon

[TwistedSquare]

So when the article said:

In 1989, a company called Incredible Technologies of Arlington Heights invented Golden Tee.

Did they mean 1999 or has it evolved?

Re:More on the GT Phenomenon

[BigumD]

The game has been online for about 7 years. The company probably is that old. They used to be called Strata and did make the first Golden Tee about that long ago. They also made NES and arcade games, like American Gladiators and that fighting game where you could cut off limbs... forget the name...

The hardcore guys make a lotta noise teeing off.

[FauxReal]

*BLAM!* as they slam that trackball as hard as they can. I'm surprised there aren't news stories about guys busting thier hands by punching through the glass in their drunken enthusiastic misfires.