John was 16 and quite a character in 1982 but we thought an interesting one. He became a Contestant on Show#12 (taped in 1983) with playing games: Q*Bert, Star Trek, Pole Position, BurgerTime and Millipede. The Grand Prize was a Wacko video arcade game.

The first game played was Star Trek and SaRa took an early lead by 6,325 points ... but no problem, the second game was Millipede, another high scoring game. John beat SaRa on that game by 6,119 points ... so they were pretty much running neck in neck after game 2. All was not lost for John. Game 3 was Q*Bert. John needed to score 206 points more than SaRa to catch up. Seemed easy enough ...

But it was not to be ... the contestant who said things like, "I was born ready. I can do anything. I'm a video game expert." lost by 231 points. As John pointed out when he checked in, "I believe my failed comeback may have resulted in the closest finish during the run of the show."

That was true. This close competition made for one of the more intesting shows and certainly not one you could turn off ... but had to watch from beginning to end. SaRa Conrad in her own quiet way walked away the winner and prizes that included a Texas Instruments computer.

In 2006 John checked in to tell us that, he's "haunted (and mocked by friends) to this day over my loss to SaRa Conrad. Coily still haunts me today" (from his gallant attempt to make a comeback on the 3rd game, Q*Bert). "I still stay in contact with many of the friends that had way back then and they still quote some of my responses on the show. I'm glad I still live in infamy, and we are remembered." Today (2006) John works in the IT Department of a global phone company and is married with 2 daughters.

Starcader John Lowry - IT guy & still haunted by a cute little (virtual) snake! Aren't we all...