I just spent nearly THREE hours writing this, only to realize that I responded to the wrong prompt. I thought this was supposed to be a general blackout story, not specifically a success story. So- I did add the success elements at the end. If this is unacceptable, I understand,

mOH boy- This question was meant for me! (Although a circuit broke, not a blackout) I was playing Phaeton for Ernest Cline's Armada Contest, trying to win the grand prize of autographed memorabilia, an Oculus Rift, and a $400 flight stick.This was the highest score wins the grand prize kind of contest. It wasn't very difficult- it was meant to be programmed like a retro arcade game- it was just time consuming, The ratio was 4 hours of nonstop playing =100k points. I was absolutely determined to win this contest- I: * tried to learn each of the mechanics, testing different clearing styles (no guides were available as the game was freshly made and the contest just started) * created a Spreadsheet to solve that problem * Discussed with the other top players (there wasn't a huge amount of players, it was around 15 people trying for the top prizes, and the rest were good with the patches[i think which was ~5k points]). * Snooped around the hashtag to check what the highest score was- you had to post a screenshot to enter. * Debunked the mystery of a hacked/cheated score in, getting the scores removed/the person most likely disqualified.
* Played during all of my free time after school (was still in high-school at the time), staying up late, neglecting studying and schoolwork. * Calculated how long I would have to play in my freetime, to reach my max score (Original goal was 1 million points(40 hours), but then moved up to 1.6 million(64 hours) Got a 400k score submitted before my big run *Important facts about the game that comes into play later** * It's a browser game * You can pause the game by switching tabs or clicking off the browser, allowing you to go to sleep, but you can't turn off the computer, else you lose the score and it won't be entered.

As you can see, I was completely dedicated to winning. When I got to my big run, i was prepared to go for the grand prize. I knew how long I could play per day, how many points I was supposed to be at by the end of the night, etc, for the last two weeks of the contest. I could make 1.6 million points. Every 100k points reinforced my happiness, eventually tweeting out a screen shot of 900k points with over a thousand shields and 3 ships remaining. One night, I get to 1 million points (40 hours of playtime) and call it a night. I wake up, turn on my monitor- get into my routine, get another 100k points, and then my brother wakes up. My brother(older than I) wakes up, and goes upstairs. I know nothing can stop me at this point, the only thing would stop me was if I accidentally turned off the power to my computer. The lights suddenly turn off, and my computer turns off MY BROTHER BLEW A FUSE He turned on the coffee machine, the microwave, and the toaster, which may not be a problem for some of you, but for my household, it's common knowledge that having all of those on, will blow a fuse. My brother forgot this. I lost ~1500 usd worth of prizes over a breakfast. I just sat there for a few minutes... Just thinking about all of the hardwork just lost. I wasn't mad at my brother at that moment, I was just resigned. Then my brother came downstairs, and snidely said "The power went out". He didn't know what I was doing, no one irl that knew me, knew I was participating in this contest until after it was over. Chaos Theory wins again. From that point, I realized two things: I later told my parents about it... but they did nothing of course, I didn't tell my brother because he wouldn't understand and would just poke fun at me. I'm the youngest and treated that way, like a baby- as in, they blamed me for getting the family computer viruses, thinking that runescape caused viruses, when my brother used limewire, and my mother, to this day, gets viruses every 3 months. I did however stay in the top 10, from my 400k point submission from the first week in the contest, so I did come out with some sweet autographed memorabilia. So- from then on, I realized two things * 1: I don't like my family. * 2: I have to move out as soon as possible.

That motivated me enough to get a job, and to work harder academically.

Tl;dr: Lost ~$1500 in prizes and 44 hours of playtime because my brother made breakfast. Motivated me to work hard in school, and get a job.