![]() ![]() By 1999, the Twin Galaxies submission rules noted a distinction for “mature” games. We’ve discussed how such an ambush is anti-competitive and unsporting, but this would also appear to be a basis for formal disqualification. It would surely be the standard if one wished to set the record for “Most consecutive hours playing Galaga”, but that’s different from “Highest marathon score on Galaga”, just as much as a high score record is different from a speedrun record.ĭespite Billy’s stories of press releases, the evidence shows these July 1999 perfect score attempts were an unannounced ambush, to be kept within a confidential circle until the deed could be declared done. The regulation of breaks during marathon attempts was originally a Guinness World Records rule, owing to their adjudication of things like “Most consecutive hours balancing a book on your head”. With all of that said, it’s not clear whether marathoning rules should apply to basic high score attempts at all. Thus, if Billy did use an indefinite hiding spot, even by these accommodating 2003 rules, Twin Galaxies should have disqualified his score. Note however that even with this concession, such breaks were still only allowed if they’re temporary. It’s hard to deny that these rules were crafted to retroactively accommodate Billy’s game in 1999, given that “Pac-Man type” games are used as an example of an exception. Pat Laffaye, who unknowingly arrived at Funspot the day after Billy’s score, recalls hearing from Funspot manager Gary Vincent that multiple breaks were taken : It’s never been made clear exactly how many breaks Billy took during his claimed perfect score, nor how long they were. These ad hoc pauses allow a player to resume their game an hour, a day, or hypothetically even months later, as long as the game remains powered on. Recall how Pac-Man has safe spots which, when entered properly, allow the player to effectively put the game on hold, as the ghosts circle a predictable pattern due to poor AI. Both of these films relied on the premise that, if Billy did achieve a perfect score in July 1999, he may have taken an unpermitted number of breaks to do so. ![]() In 2012, classic arcade gamer Dwayne Richard released two documentaries, King of Con and Perfect Fraudman, both of which discussed Billy’s Pac-Man claims extensively. This basically means, “Even if we assume that Billy played a complete game on an actual Pac-Man cabinet and hit a score of 3,333,360, his game might still not be official.” There are many reasons why a given historical game performance might not be considered “official”, such as not being fully recorded on video in an era when that was an expectation, or (depending on the game) an inability to verify the settings used. The first category of things to discuss are potential grounds for disqualification. I am here to tell you the truth, which you may like or not. Remember that I am not here to tell you what you want to hear. ![]() Today, we’ll discuss the evidence and arguments we and others have accumulated both for and against Billy’s claimed Pac-Man score of 3,333,360 on July 3, 1999. “Dot Nine” has been updated since it was first published. The supplemental material for “Dot Nine” can be found here: The first post in this series can be found here: ![]() This post is part of a series, examining various myths and stories around Billy Mitchell’s claimed performance of Pac-Man in 1999 and his subsequent trip to the Tokyo Game Show. ![]()
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