Funspot, the site of the 10th Annual Classic Games Tournament, may be a little more than an hour from Portsmouth, but a visit there is like stepping back in time. A fixture of Laconia’s Weirs Beach for over 50 years—and billed as the largest arcade in the world—it houses close to 300 vintage arcade games, ranging from well known classics like “Space Invaders” and “Pac Man” to obscure gems like “Super Bug.”

A healthy representation of games from the so-called “Golden Age of Gaming” (1982 to 1986) solidifies Funspot’s reputation as a mecca for players who wish to experience all the challenges and excitement that only classic arcade games can provide. As Funspot has the largest public collection of classic games under one roof, in a subdivision of its complex called the Classic Games Museum, it is the logical place to host an old-school arcade tournament.

Completing its 10th year, the Classic Games Tournament ran from Thursday, May 29, through Sunday, June 1. The event drew contestants not only from all across the United States, but from as far away as Holland, England and Ireland. Some were here to compete for world records, others came just to watch the competition and perhaps play a few rounds of “Dig Dug.” Some bewildered summer vacationers were probably wondering why so many aging men were milling about wearing Pac Man T-shirts.

Participants gathered in a separate hall and competed to see who could place highest on a specific range of games chosen by Funspot. The games used in this year’s competition were not disclosed until the beginning of the tournament, so as not to give unfair advantage to any one player. The selection included “Elevator Action,” “Arkanoid” and “Turkey Shoot,” among others.

Adding excitement to the proceedings was the attendance of Twin Galaxies’ founder Walter Day, who would report any record-breaking scores obtained over the weekend to the “Guinness Book of Video Game World Records.” Twin Galaxies began as an arcade in a small Iowa town and has grown into the foremost internationally recognized arbiter of pinball and arcade game tournament regulations and high scores.

In 1981, Day’s job as a traveling salesman took him through more than 15 states in four months. A longtime pinball fan, he spent his off hours indulging his passion for gaming by visiting various arcades in each area, during which time he started recording players’ high scores. He opened Twin Galaxies upon his return, and in 1982 began publishing a scorecard of high scores submitted by players across the country.

Twin Galaxies quickly became the officiating body in the world of competitive gaming, and within a few years it was contributing gaming scores to the U.S. branch of the Guinness Book of World Records. Twin Galaxies’ most important contribution, however, has been the codification of tournament regulations, becoming the final word in the verification of players’ high scores. If a gamer’s high score is not personally witnessed by an employee of Twin Galaxies, the game-play must be recorded by a video camera and submitted to Twin Galaxies for verification.

One player with a video camera following every move of his joystick was Pat Laffaye, who traveled to Funspot from his home in Westport, Conn. with every intention of breaking the world record for a high score on “Frogger.” At 5 p.m. on Saturday, Laffaye, who had held the second highest score in “Frogger” since 2006, ended a three-hour and 20-minute game with a score of 595,000—a new world record. The slightly dazed looking Laffaye, who also holds the high score for the game “Paperboy,” didn’t have much to say about his victory. He almost seemed more pleased that he could move away from his machine for the first time in hours than anything else.

Another record was broken early in the tournament by 30-year-old Nintendo aficionado Isaiah “Triforce” Johnson, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Johnson traveled to the tournament as a member of Empire Arcadia, a grassroots team of five New York gamers.

Johnson was the first person in the United States to purchase a Nintendo Wii system in November 2006, after waiting in line for more than 40 hours. He also claims to have legally changed his middle name to Triforce in reference to an artifact featured in the Nintendo game “The Legend of Zelda.” Johnson clearly does not mess around when it comes to gaming. Within three hours of the start of competition on Thursday, he had broken the record for a high score on “Super Mario Brothers.”

Triforce Johnson and Pat Laffaye may have demonstrated incredible skill in their respective games, but one gamer’s shadow fell over everyone at the competition this year, even though he wasn’t even in attendance. That gamer was Billy Mitchell, Twin Galaxies’ Gamer Of The Century and one of the erstwhile subjects of last year’s engaging documentary about competitive gaming, “The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters.”

Detailing the often surprisingly bitter rivalry over holding the high scoring position for “Donkey Kong,” Seth Gordon’s film follows gaming golden boy and hot-sauce manufacturer Mitchell through his attempts to keep his world record “Donkey Kong” score from being captured by complete unknown Steve Wiebe. Highly entertaining and surprisingly controversial for a documentary about such an obscure subject, the film made many critics’ top 10 lists for best documentary last year and was recently released on DVD with some additional features.

Mitchell, a resident of Hollywood, Fla., has held the record high score for “Donkey Kong” since 1982 and also was the first person to play a perfect game of “Pac Man” in 1999, a feat which he actually performed at Funspot. Known for his flowing mullet, patriotic neck ties and cocky attitude, Mitchell was clearly painted as the bad guy in the film—a portrayal that many competitive gamers charge to be more a result of selective editing by the filmmakers than of Mitchell’s personality.

Along this journey, the viewer sees behind the curtain of the competitive gaming community and is introduced to many other record-holding gamers, whose personality traits range from normal to uncomfortably odd. One gamer at this year’s tournament posed for photos with other gamers wearing a long mullet wig and an American flag necktie, “just standing in for Mitchell,” he explained.

When asked if he felt that the recent film contributed to increased attendance at this year’s tournament, Classic Games Museum president Gary Vincent enthusiastically agreed. “Typically, by this time in years past, we would have around 70 contestants registered, but right now we have 167,” Vincent said on Saturday evening. Prior to the film, he added, most people didn’t know that such tournaments still existed. “The King of Kong” has revitalized the classic gaming scene in a big way, and because of Funspot’s central role in that legacy, it’s been great publicity for the arcade itself.

In fact, several key scenes featured in the documentary were filmed during Funspot’s 2005 Classic Games Tournament. Vincent said he was proud to be part of the continued life of classic gaming and was extremely pleased to see so many younger players at the tournament—not just people who had grown up on the games in the 1980’s.

My last question to Vincent was exactly how many records have been broken at Funspot over the years. “Well over 100,” he said, pointing to a box behind his chair, which was filled with photos of record holders beside their machines. “All those still need to be framed and put on the wall of fame,” he said. Vincent also pointed out that Funspot will hold a second classic gaming event on Oct. 18 and 19, which will be strictly for the purpose of setting world records.

As for your correspondent, after rubbing elbows with some amazing gamers, I decided to put my own skills to the test and pumped some tokens into one of my favorite machines, “Burgertime.” I was quickly and repeatedly defeated, so I decided to try my luck at something a little more my speed, battling for supremacy on “Wack-A-Mole.” Sadly, I left at the end of the day unable to beat the high score, which was most likely set by an over-excited 7-year-old. Who knows, though, perhaps Billy Mitchell has a future competitor wacking away as we speak.