Not elder law: world’s oldest video game champ dies
Doris Self, Q*Bert player extraordinaireand competitive gamer, passed away from
injuries sustained in anautomobile accident earlier this month in Plantation, Florida. Doris first gained notoriety in 1983 when she achieveda world record score of 1,112,300 points on the classic arcade gameQ*Bert during Twin Galaxies’ 1983 Video Game Masters Tournament, anevent that was conducted for the Guinness Book of World Records. Shewas 58 years old then, the oldest person up to that time to capture avideo game world title.Doris eventually lost her title of Q*Bert champion in 1985, butlater dedicated her free time to smashing that new record, oftenplaying until 3 AM to one day retake her crown.
Doris Self was the Matriarch of the video game world. She wasa major star in the burgeoning video game industry, the senior memberof a growing cadre of gaming celebrities who represent the modernelectronic era, which, some say, has grown to nearly $35 billion inannual gross income.
And, according to the Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game &Pinball Book of World Records, Doris was the oldest person to activelypursue video game world records, competing against gamers one-quarterher age.
Doris Self was 81.