Hall of Fame - Celebrity Goo Game at goo.tc

Hall of Fame

Scott observed the fifth anniversary of the game by creating this page to honor its best players. Every year, Scott inducts a new player who he believes has not only excelled at the game but had a significant influence on it.

2010 Inductee
No list of Celebrity Goo Game's most exalted players would be complete without the champion who dominated it throughout the late 2000s, Russ Wilhelm. After a taste of success early in the game, winning in only his second round, he defeated fierce competition in the succeeding years and won two back-to-back rounds in 2008, repeating the feat in 2009. This made Russ by far the most frequent winner of the game's latter era of daily goos, conquering one out of every three rounds that he played. Russ's perennial victories have made his name synonymous with what it means to win the game in the years leading up to his well-deserved 2010 induction into this hall of fame.

2009 Inductee
It's tempting to regard Steve West's triumphant success at the goo game as mere natural talent. After all, he roared into his first victory with only 37 goos under his belt, one of the fastest times in game history. But the key to Steve's continuing achievements is his ceaseless dedication to the game. He doesn't skip any goos, he carefully researches every answer until he's sure he's right, and he pays attention to game traditions and obscure rules to avoid wrong guesses. These smart habits and his spirited enthusiasm for the game have made him a formidable contender round after round. Steve modestly claims that he's no good when the tournament goos are timed and thus he can't sufficiently research them, but there's evidence to the contrary: Two of his three victories have come from besting other skilled players at timed goos. Maybe he really does have a gift for the game after all...

2008 Inductee
No phrase in Celebrity Goo Game elicits as many varied reactions from players as a goo "requested by Lori Lancaster." Some appreciate the challenge and others resent it; some appreciate her unpredictability and others resent it. No goo gets players fired up like a "Lori goo," and she's the only player to have an entire class of goos named after her in game jargon. Lori's personal stamp on the goo game has always been as unique as the woman herself, and she's been one of the most influential players to shape the game in its history.

2007 Inductee
Some people play the goo game just for a daily diversion, but within the player body, there's a thriving subculture of competition, people dedicated to doing what it takes to win. Few players exemplify the spirit of the goo competition like perennial top-scorer Mike Eberhart, who plays exceedingly well and always with sportsmanlike conduct. Mike roots for his opponents, gives advice to struggling players, declines unfair advantages, and seeks a level playing field for all. His conduct on and off the site, along with his inveterate excellence at the game itself, earns him a place among the game's most honored participants.

2006 Inductee
Maybe it's because he was there at the inception. Maybe it's because he and Scott talk about the game so often. Or maybe it's just because he's so damn good at it. Whatever the reason, for eight years Dave Mitzman has remained one of the most central players of Celebrity Goo Game, very closely aligned with the spirit of the game. It doesn't hurt that he remains one of the game's most enthusiastic fans: In the early years, Dave often sent Scott a series of instant messages in the minutes before each goo was published to ask if it was done yet, and when Scott said that asking didn't make him finish the goo any faster, Dave joked "Sure it does, just like tapping the elevator button." (He was right.)

2005 Inductee
With her self-deprecating wit, Denise Sawicki would probably be modest about deserving a place in the Goo Hall of Fame. But fortunately for her, the numbers don't lie: A remarkable (and never since beaten) string of 59 consecutive correct guesses, at a time when there was still a week's delay between each new celebrity. 316 correct guesses in total, second only to the Goo Masters themselves. A winner's trophy. A Golden Imelda. And the fear of her peers: Denise so rarely guesses incorrectly that if she cannot get a certain goo, it might as well be impossible. To win a round is to emerge triumphant over a half-dozen or so expert players who stand on the verge of victory themselves; Denise is the most consistent member of that club, round after round holding her own no matter how many players enter the fray against her.

2004 Inductee
One cannot consider the history of the goo game and overlook one of its most aggressive and accomplished champions. It is Aaron Fischer's excellence as a player -- his restless pursuit of the right answer on so many occasions no matter how difficult the goo -- that truly makes him such a looming giant among the game's great players. The only competitor to go toe-to-toe with the formidable Matthew Preston in an exhaustive elimination round that defeated everyone else, Aaron hasn't just surpassed the general playership, he has transcended it. His induction into the Hall of Fame is well earned. But Aaron didn't just get on this page because of his mastery of the goo game; he is also inextricably linked to its past.

2003 Inductee
Though he is by far the winningest player in the history of the goo game, Matthew Preston deserves to be the first inductee for a greater reason: The game would never have existed without him. In February 1998, Scott and Matthew were college roommates, and Matthew was running a game on his web site where he'd put up a yearbook picture of a celebrity every week, and friends would try to guess who it was. Scott really liked the game, and with Matthew's permission, he borrowed Matthew's copy of Kai's Power Goo and invented Celebrity Goo Game. Scott let Matthew choose the category of the very first goo, and when Scott officially launched the site, Matthew was standing beside him and made a correct guess within seconds.