When Randy Fitzgerald was 3 years old, his dad took him to the bowling alley in Iowa, where he would leave the youngster in the alley arcade with a stack of quarters.The only unusual part is that Randy has an exceedingly rare condition, arthrogryposis, which left him paralyzed from the neck down since birth.So Randy's dad pushed an old-school pinball machine in front of the "Pac-Man" arcade cabinet, plopped the 3-year-old atop it on his belly, then propped his chin on the joystick.Everyone in the bowling alley watched in amazement as Randy cleaned up dot after dot, dodging ghosts as he waggled his little head up and down and side-to-side.They were more amazed a year later when Randy beat out dozens of able-bodied grown-ups to take second place in a "Pac-Man" tournament. These days, Randy "NoM4D" (that's "Nomad" for those who don't know leetspeak) Fitzgerald, 30, is a professional gamer and an aspiring game developer.His team, EOG (Equal Opportunity Gaming), is a highly competitive tournament squad, even though their leader still plays with just his chin and lips. "I've got a lot of facial movement," NoM4D explains. "I can do Jim Carrey–style expressions with my face. I can get to hard-to-reach buttons with my lips."Read on for more about NoM4D's unusual playing methods and a video of him in action."The first time I played a video game was the first time I ever had real control over something," says Randy. "It was my first real taste of independence. 'Hey this is something I can do on my own. I don't need Mom or Dad or my brothers or sisters to sit here and help me. I can sit here locked away in my room 24 hours a day and do this.'"And that's pretty much what he did for the next few years, working his way through the Atari 2600, the NES, Genesis, Super NES, 3DO, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Playstation ...When he saw his first NES, "I was sad, like when my friends were all going out to play basketball or something." An arcade or Atari joystick was one thing -- the multi-button and D-pad layout of the NES controller looked problematic, since Randy "couldn't press two buttons at once." He found that by turning the controller sideways and "retraining [his] brain" he could operate the D-pad with his chin and press buttons with his lips.By the time online gaming became feasible with Xbox Live and other online platforms, NoM4D had gotten good. Very, very good."People Started Noticing ..."When he played online, people had no idea he was operating the Xbox controller with just his lips and chin. They just knew he was whipping their butts.When they did start to figure out that NoM4D was doing what he was doing the way he was doing it, they were incredulous. Some had to see it for themselves. Before long, he started getting invites to gaming events and became a regular at E3 (pictured there at left). He did an internship with Activision.He made his pro debut in 2007 at a Major League Gaming event in Charlotte, playing "Rainbow Six: Vegas" with the H20 squad. He's blogged about gaming for Xbox Live and others, been featured on CNN and ESPN, and has his own YouTube channel.Along the way, video game companies started talking to him about game design and controller layouts. (If you've ever played a game -- like "Call of Duty 4" -- that features the "Nomad" controller configuration, then you know Randy: It was named for him.)"New Controllers and Layouts Can Be Problematic ..."Most games back in the day featured customizable layouts in the options menu, and he could set the buttons up in a fashion that worked for him. But these days, fewer games are offering customizable controls.He got some help from companies that make and mod controllers, like Llamma.com and Evil Controllers. Right now, though, NoM4D's stuck playing with a busted prototype that's proven so unreliable he finds himself having to sit out tournaments because he can't play some games at a competitive level.Although he takes classes online at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, NoM4D lives in Rochester, Minn., to be near the main Mayo Clinic. His condition is so rare he likes to be close to the few doctors who have some understanding of it. Still, he is three years into a degree that will let him take his dream of creating video games to the next level.While taking a break from classes due to some financial straits, he's using the downtime to lay groundwork for his nascent company, Nomadic Games."I never went into it thinking of gaming as a career," NoM4D says. "I've always considered it a hobby. I'm a pretty humble person. My passion is to make games, to be a creative mind behind the video games. Nobody ever thought with my disability I could ever compete alongside the pro players."
