In the 1980s, many people played the arcade game Donkey Kong, but few reached high scores. Billy Mitchell, a top player featured in the documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” set world records, but his success was clouded by controversy. In 2018, Twin Galaxies, which tracks video game scores, found that two of Mitchell’s high scores had used a modified machine. After a long legal battle, and despite having his scores reinstated, Mr. Mitchell is still banned from Twin Galaxies competitions. Twin Galaxies plans to post Mitchell’s scores on “historical database” but not on the main leaderboard. Meanwhile, Robbie Lakeman currently holds the record for the highest Donkey Kong score, with 1,272,800 points.
