BILLY MITCHELL: KING OF KONG

NEW YORK, NY – A classic video game has a new record holder!
Billy Mitchell is the “King of Kong” – again. In the world of Video Games, few have a resume as impressive as Mitchell’s. At the age off 17, he held the high score in “Centipede” and “Donkey Kong.” He scored the first-ever perfect game in “Pac-Man.” In 2006, MTV named him one of the top 10 most influential video game players of all time. Lastly, this past weekend, Mitchell reclaimed the top “Donkey Kong” spot which had been occupied by Hank Chien in March.
Mitchell accomplished the feat this past weekend at the International Video Game Hall of Fame. Chien, a plastic surgeon from New York, had set the new record at 1,061,700 points. Officials announced that the hot sauce buff had set a new world record with 1,062,800 points – beating Chien by a mere 1,100 points. Mitchell wasn’t done there and he wanted more.
Twin Galaxies, an organization that tracks video game world records, also said that Mitchell has officially set the world’s highest score in “Donkey Kong Jr.” with 1,270,900 points.
“I remember a lot of celebration; highs, kisses and a lot of hooting and hollering,” Mitchell said of setting the latest “Donkey Kong” record. “Once that died down, I stood there looking at ‘Donkey Kong Jr.’ and thought ‘There’s one more thing I have to take care of.”
Funny thing is, that Mitchell stood there stone cold serious when he said it. Like he was put on this earth for one purpose, to take down both of those records. Regardless, it took Mitchell 2 hours and 42 minutes to set the “Donkey Kong” record and for “Donkey Kong Jr.” it took 3 hours and 58 minutes …. Time well spent.