OT: Pac-Man Lunacy
Geoff Jones
For the first time in video game playing history, a perfect score was
achieved on the legendary arcade game,
Pac-Man.
Taking nearly six hours to accomplish the feat -- on one quarter --
Billy Mitchell, 33, a Fort Lauderdale hot
sauce manufacturer visiting the famous Funspot Family Fun Center in
Weirs Beach, NH, scored 3,333,360
points -- the maximum possible points allowed by the game. The results
will go into next year's edition of the
Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records --
which is the official record book for
the world of video game and pinball playing.
Though the Funspot is a world famous vacation spot, Billy Mitchell was
not there to enjoy the holiday
festivities. Mitchell was there for the sole purpose of beating the
Canadians to the Holy Grail of video game
playing: history's first perfect game on Pac-Man.
"It was unbelievable," says Gary Vincent, Funspot Operations Manager.
"Mitchell purposefully arrived on July
1st -- Canada's Day -- and won the title in time for the Fourth of July.
He even wore a red, white and blue,
Star-Star Spangled Banner tie to emphasize the patriotic sentiments
behind his efforts."
Mitchell, who refused to eat until he beat the Canadians for the world
record, went hungry for nearly two full
days. "I had to be first," Mitchell explains. "Its like Neil Armstrong
walking on the moon. No matter how many
people accomplish the feat afterwards, it will always be Armstrong who
will be remembered for doing it first.
And, best of all, it was an American."
And Mitchell is first. With a camcorder supplied by Funspot bearing down
over his shoulder, Mitchell's every
last move was taped for posterity -- if not, at least, for irrefutable
proof of the achievement. And, after the
exhausting six-hour game was over, Mitchell backed away from the game in
disbelief and then did the
improbable: he announced his permanent retirement from playing Pac-Man.
"I never have to play that darn
game again," he sighed in relief. "There's nothing more I can
accomplish."
"Mitchell may have just barely beat out the pack," adds Funspot's Gary
Vincent, "because all this year
players around the world have been laying siege to Pac-Man, vying to be
the first to complete the first
perfect-game ever."