Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit: For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Chapter 3

Leaderboards

Leaderboards are older than video games themselves. The leaderboard, as we know it, goes back to the days of the original pinball games of the 1950s. The makers of these pinball games soon realized that adding a high-score list increased competition, which translates to more time played and more money earned.

During the 1970s, when video games began to emerge, leaderboards were quickly adopted into these new games, making their first appearance in Sea Wolf, released in 1976 (see Figure 3–1). Since then, they have played an integral part of the gaming culture. Leaderboards have become so widespread that, in 2007, The King of Kong, a full-length documentary, was released about the heated competition over the high score ...