Official Winter Pentathlon Events & Scoreboard
NEWBIES WIN!
Sweet Victory
The Final, Official Results
Newbies - 17
Middle School - 15
Grizzled Ancients - 11
Old Skool - Deuce
The studio doors stay locked and guarded, and Jerome still patrols the entrance. Breakfast has been served. Exhibition games are well under way. The Bungie Winter Pentathlon has begun. Throughout the day, as the events unfold, we'll be adding recaps and photo snaps for your viewing pleasure.
Mass Quantities

Depth of Field Dish Pizza

Nom Nom Nom
Silence Fills the Empty Stage
Up for grabs this year is a new trophy. Newbie, Middle School, Old Skool, and Grizzled Ancient alike will lock horns and pull locks of hair in a desperate attempt to secure this coveted prize for their squad. Let the games begin.
The Fist
Rock Band 2 - For Those About to Rawk...
Instruments have been smashed and the stage has gone dark. Rock Band 2 was a fitting finale for this year's Winter Pentathlon. All said and done, each band put on a tremendous performance, compete with short shorts, glitter, geriatrics, and yeah, a live goat (no animals were harmed in the making of the Pentathlon).
1st Place - Shut Up, Old Man!, aka Newbies with 1,795,000 points
Shut Up, Old Man! opened their two song set with a Seattle classic, Nirvana's "Drain You" and finished equally as relevant with Pearl Jam's "Alive."
2nd Place - The Rocking Chairs, aka Grizzled Ancients with 1,692,000 points
The Rocking Chairs came out of a lengthy retirement to wheel and hobble their way onto the stage for one final farewell performance. A few swigs of Metamucil later they started their set with Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" and finished up with The Foo Fighter's "Everlong."
3rd Place - Silverbush, aka Middle School with 1,340,000 points
Silverbush looked poised to take the Pentathlon coming into the Rock Band 2 event, leading the field by two points, but their renditions of Journey's "Anyway You Want It" and Duran Duran's "Hungry Like a Wolf" came up just short of what they needed to pull of the win.
4th Place - The Special Friends, aka Old Skool with 878,000 points
The Special Friends' tried their hand at Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son" and Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," but their faith would be their undoing. Even a live goat would not be enough to propel The Special Friends out of a fourth place finish.
Pictionary - The Pen is Mightier (1st Place Grizzled Ancients)
Round 1
- Grizzled Ancients vs. Newbies
- The Grizzled Ancients outwit, outplay, and outdraw the Newbies
- Old Skool vs. Middle School
- Middle School scribbles their way to victory
Round 2
- Grizzled Ancients vs. Middle School
- Grizzled Ancients erase the Middle School effort for a 1st place finish
- Old Skool vs. Newbies square off to decide Pictionary's runner-up
- Newbies redeem their opening round loss
Final Pictionary Results
- 1st - Grizzled Ancients
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2nd - Newbies
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3rd - Middle School
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4th - Old Skool
Same team. Same game. Same results. Grizzled Ancients win again.
Wii Bowling - It's All in the Wrist
Results
- 1st - Newbies
- 2nd - Middle School
- 3rd - Old Skool
- 4th - Grizzled Ancients
Subtle word reached our editor's desk that Grizzled Ancient Marty O'Donnell secured the high score on his squad. It's gotta be the shoes.
Secret Game - Secret Game is Secret
Final Secret Game Results
- 1st Place - Middle School
- 2nd Place - Newbies
- 3rd Place - Old Skool
- DNF - Grizzled Ancients
Halo - Combat Evolved
Round 1
- Middle School vs. Newbies
- Middle School, led by Lukems and Cable, gives the Newbie squad the old TSK
- Grizzled Ancients vs. Old Skool
- Grizzled Ancients put down Old Skool, hardstyle
Round 2
- Grizzled Ancients vs. Middle School
- Middle School pulls of a last second, miracle victory and wins 50-49
- Old Skool vs. Newbies
- Grizzled Ancients vs Newbies
- The Grizzled Ancients nab the victory and prevent the Newbies from tying up the overall score.
Final Results
1st - Middle School
2nd - Grizzled Ancients
3rd - Newbies
4th - Old Skool
The 1st Place match pitting the seemingly dominant Grizzled Ancients against the significantly more youthful Middle Schoolers came down to the final moments. With onlookers pressed against the glass and players perched on the edge of their seats, the Middle School squad came back literally in the final seconds of a Snipers match to earn Halo bragging rights for yet another year. Quotes from the post-game celebration that erupted as the final kill was tallied were found to be unfit for public consumption.
Exhibition Matches
Ping Pong
Once again Jonty aka J-Bizzle walked away with Ping Pong bragging rights for the year. Not only is the man an amazing entrepreneur (check out November's Game Developer magazine for the scoop), but he's also a wizard with the Ping Pong paddle.
Street Fighter IV
Rick Lico made good on his claim of Street Fighter dominance in his Breaking In interview by picking up The Barrython victory. But this year was special. Seth and Chris from Capcom hand delivered a fresh, pre-release copy of Street Fighter IV to the studio for Pentathlon play. Though we can't feed your face with any sweet new media, Rick and Matt, participants in the Street Fighter IV tournament, stopped by to give a few brief impressions of the fighter.
"Ok, for those of you who may have been worried about the future of the beloved series, please set your fears to rest. SFIV is all you're hoping it will be, and more. It's all about the solid gameplay, and it simply doesn't fail. Zangief 4 teh win!"
Matt Richenburg, who feels he was unjustly defeated in the tournament but hasn't clarified how or why he was cheated, had this to say:
"Shout out to the friends of Bungie who made Street Fighter IV happen for this year's Pentathlon. We have so many serious fighting game fans here at Bungie and put more hours into our 3rd Strike machine than we should. Personally, I was blown away by the game. It was amazing to mix up the Barrython this year, but let me go one step further:
I challenge any other major games studio to fight our studio in 3rd Strike or IV. We will represent, and kick your ass."
One Thousand Words
Halo: CE Strategery
Mesmerized Ancients
Gnip Gnop!
Tabletop Gaming: Serious Biz

Eye of the Tiger
Chief Fighter
We Bowl
On Approach
Steve Jarrad Pickin' Up Strikes
Warmin' Up
Halo Timez
Marty Going Munson
Tense moments in the Halo final
The Newbies dressed the part and finished in Seattle style