Have you ever wished you could be paid to play games? Robert Mruczek, Chief Referee of Twin Galaxies, has promised cash bounties for proof of high scores on a set of classic (and a few modern) video games, including several games among the NES, Super NES, and N64 systems. The bounties range from $25 to $200 each, with all of them totalling for a whopping $3000 to be paid by the end of the year. In addition to being paid for their skills, the winners may also be recognized as world record holder for their particular games. Twin Galaxies is, after all, the leading authority and maintainer of video game world records.

Nintendo games on the bounty list include Super Mario 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Blaster Master, Metal Gear, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, among others. Hit the link above to find a complete list of the bounties and the official rules. Here's the official press release from Twin Galaxies:

Video Game Player Promises Thousands of Dollars in Prize Monies to Players Who Break Selected Video Game World Records

FAIRFIELD, IOWA - January 17, 2004 - Cash prizes have been promised for top

high-scores achieved during the course of the new year 2004. And the money

is coming straight out of Robert Mruczek's own pocket - nearly $3,000

dollars in bounties. Mruczek, who is most well known as Twin Galaxies' Chief

Referee, says: "I want to prime the pump and get players tackling old world

records that have not been beat in some time. I think its good for the

hobby."

What is a bounty? It is a cash reward promised to individuals who attain an

established goal in a designated time frame. In this case, the goals are

high score thresholds designated by Mruczek on many different titles on the

NES, SNES, Magnavox 2, Dreamcast, Playstation, PS2, X-Box, N-64,

Colecovision, Atari 2600 and arcade coin-op platforms.

"This is a very significant offer," says Walter Day, Twin Galaxies' Chief

Scorekeeper and editor of the forthcoming Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game

& Pinball Book of World Records. "Robert Mruczek is a devoted supporter of

the gaming hobby. In fact, he is one of the hobby's leaders in civic

activism, willing to put the needs of the hobby ahead of his own gain. The

only other player who has put his own money up to encourage competitive

playing was Billy Mitchell, who issued a famous poster in 1999 that offered

thousands of dollars in prizes for high scores on dozens of classic arcade

games from the early 1980s." To see Mruczek's list of bounties, go to

http://www.twingalaxies.com.