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Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade
Directed by Lincoln Ruchti
Produced by Michael Verrechia
Cinematography Lisa Wiegand
Edited by Eddie Brega
Release date
  • January 19, 2007 (2007-01-19) (Sundance Film Festival)
Running time
90 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade is a documentary film directed by Lincoln Ruchti about the golden age of video arcade games. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival and has also been shown at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, as well as other film festivals.

In the 1980s, video games were synonymous with arcades, and games were bringing in enough quarters to fill the Rose Bowl. This led Iowa entrepreneur Walter Day (with the support of various game manufacturers) to declare himself the sole authority on high scores. In 1982, Day launched his Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard. Teenage superstars came from all over North America to join Walter in a Life magazine feature spread, which recognized them as video game world champions. This led to the nationally televised 1982 Video Game World Championships, a touring National Video Game Team, and the promise of fame, fortune and groupies.

The film revisits Day and the Life players, now middle-aged men, as they reminisce on the arcade scene, its demise, and the dreams that crashed with it.

Stephen Garrett of Time Out New York compared the film to the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which covers similar ground and also premiered at the same time, opining that Chasing Ghosts explores the material far better.

Pixar's Andrew Stanton, director of the films WALL-E and Finding Nemo, saw the premiere of the film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and enjoyed it so much that he arranged for a private screening of the film at Pixar's Emeryville, California campus.


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