# More details behind the "Berzerk" death of 1981?? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 31, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-details-behind-the-berzerk-death-of-1981/645643 "2012-12-31T06:46:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-details-behind-the-berzerk-death-of-1981/645643/1 "2012-12-31T06:46:33Z")
I’m referring to Jeff Dailey, the alleged 18-year-old who allegedly died of a massive heart attack after scoring 16,660 on the arcade version of Berzerk. It just seems…suspicious…that there are so many details that seem to be unknown, and the “666” in the score seems contrived to make it a creepy coincidence… What we don’t know: - What’s the exact date? All I could find was January 1981. - Where?? Only thing I could find was that supposedly Dailey was good friends with Peter Burkowski, who by coincidence died of a heart attack on April 3, 1982, shortly after reaching a high score on…Berzerk!..at Friar Tuck’s Arcade in Calumet City, Illinois; which leads me to assume that if these two indeed were good friends, then more than likely, Dailey was from the Chicago area. It just seems the stuff of urban legends…at least the Burkowski story does sound a bit more plausible, with supporting details… ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-details-behind-the-berzerk-death-of-1981/645643/2 "2013-01-01T02:41:33Z")
> [@ScatteredFrog](#): > > I’m referring to Jeff Dailey, the alleged 18-year-old who allegedly died of a massive heart attack after scoring 16,660 on the arcade version of Berzerk. It just seems…suspicious…that there are so many details that seem to be unknown, and the “666” in the score seems contrived to make it a creepy coincidence… > > What we don’t know: > > - What’s the exact date? All I could find was January 1981. > - Where?? Only thing I could find was that supposedly Dailey was good friends with Peter Burkowski, who by coincidence died of a heart attack on April 3, 1982, shortly after reaching a high score on…Berzerk!..at Friar Tuck’s Arcade in Calumet City, Illinois; which leads me to assume that if these two indeed were good friends, then more than likely, Dailey was from the Chicago area. > > It just seems the stuff of urban legends…at least the Burkowski story does sound a bit more plausible, with supporting details… Wikipedia mentions Dailey’s death and cites [Berzerk, Arcade Video game by Stern Electronics, Inc. (1980)](http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=berzerk&page=detail&id=236) I was hoping for a Snopes article. Couldn’t find a proper news item. The hits I found all agreed that Jeff Dailey was the first videogame fatality, he was playing Berzerk, and that he had a particular score, but nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-details-behind-the-berzerk-death-of-1981/645643/3 "2013-01-01T05:13:16Z")
Here is a bit more from the link above. > [@](#): > > In Retrogamer Issue #47, Alan McNeil addressed these legends, and has a different perspective: “…one player did die while playing the game (Alan refutes reports that claim two died). The unfortunate fellow was obese and had run upstairs to play the game”, Alan explains: “The legend is he set a high score and died, but the owner of the arcade said he didn’t finish the game – he was out of breath from the moment he arrived until he dropped. The legend is way better than reality: the excitement of playing a game killing a player after setting a high score…”