Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Frankie Cardulla who is displayed on card number 201, from the Twin Galaxies Superstars Collection of 2012. When it comes to Atari, Frankie is one of the best. Back in the 1980s, Frankie competed in major Atari tournaments such as Space Invaders and Asteroids. At one time Frankie played Asteroids in the arcade for 40 hours straight. You can see some of his Atari world records on the Twin Galaxies scoreboard. Some of the games he holds world records on are Pole Position, Atlantis, Defender, and Freeway.
Do you remember the first coin-operated video game you ever played?
Back in 1979, I inserted a quarter into Space Invaders at Dog Ear Records, which was located in Northbrook, Illinois. That one game, that I played on that day, would have a tremendous impact of my teenage years.
When did you first meet Walter Day?
The first time I meet Walter Day was at the 2007 video game expo in Las Vegas.
How would you describe Walter Day?
A pioneer in video game recording keeping. Creator of the international scoreboard database. In my opinion, he is solely responsible for keeping competitive classic console gaming alive.
What made you want to keep putting your quarters into these coin- operated video games?
Growing up, I was extremely competitive. And seeing a high score on a machine, gave me a goal/score to try and beat. Plus being able to “beat” the machine was a great source of satisfaction?
What arcade machines were you able to beat?
Asteroids, Defender, Joust, Missile Command and Robotron come to mind. I could play those games all day and night on a single quarter.
Are you still involved in gaming today?
I still play video games, but do so on social media. I am current playing games developed by King Digital Entertainment.
Where do you see Video gaming in the near future?
With the popularity of E-sports growing at such a fast pace, I think we could are going to see video gaming going more in that competitive direction.
This is one of an ongoing series of articles based on the Walter Day Collection of e-sports/video gaming trading cards – check out more information at thewalterdaycollection.com.
Todd Friedman is heavily involved in the retro gaming community and has co-promoted the Video Game Summit in Chicago, IL for the past 16 years. He also has published 2 books and written for various different gaming magazines including Old School Gamer.
