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See the original image at wired.com

July 3, 1999: After 20 Years, A Perfect Score on Pac-Man

wired.com — After nearly 20 years and millions of quarters, someone attains the unthinkable: a perfect score on Pac-Man.

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  • candlestickjack, on 07/03/2008, -3/+108Wakka wakka wakka wakka
    • gllopc, on 07/03/2008, -1/+14woo woo woo woo wonk-wonk
      • honesttussey, on 07/03/2008, -0/+10The foursome set a Fourth-of-July-weekend rendezvous for their head-to-head competition. Mitchell said he came very close to setting the record on July 1 -- which coincidentally is Canada Day -- but a kid pulled the plug about four hours into the game.


        wow. you're a ***** douche!
      • candlestickjack, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Although this sound wasn't heard for 6+ hours.
    • themastersb, on 07/04/2008, -0/+3Mitchell said he came very close to setting the record on July 1 but a kid pulled the plug about four hours into the game.

      "I was noticeably upset," said the soft-spoken Mitchell.

      I assume "noticeably upset" involved yelling at and beating the kid?
  • androothebear, on 07/03/2008, -24/+4OMG THIS IS LYEK SO OLDZ! OMG RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:

    LoL!
    • kimcheefreak17, on 07/03/2008, -2/+20*****, it's 1999 already? I need to build my bomb shelter to prepare for the Y2K bug.
    • revjustin2, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1I hope to all that is good that you're just kidding and don't really interact with the world that way.
  • jedisushi, on 07/03/2008, -7/+99The original 'Om nom nom nom?'
  • Zonks, on 07/03/2008, -19/+12...he must have been really dedicated. Made a "pac"t if you know what I mean.

    *slaps knee*
    • theshalit, on 07/03/2008, -4/+2he played the system
    • TucanSam836354, on 07/03/2008, -1/+9Well, at least you tried...
    • Thorpe, on 07/03/2008, -4/+3Sorry, I don't get it. Maybe you should try explaining better?
    • Mandegar0, on 07/03/2008, -1/+0That was just horrible, please don't say something like that again...
  • lolwell, on 07/03/2008, -3/+37My goodness... I never got past level three!
  • grepgav, on 07/03/2008, -4/+43I didn't even know that game had an end...... touche
    • AntiMe, on 07/03/2008, -0/+17It doesn't really. It just crashes after 256 screens.
    • plamoni, on 07/03/2008, -0/+64Programmer 1: I created the leveling system, but to save space I used an 8-bit integer to store the level, so we'll be limited to 128 levels.
      Programmer 2: Better make it unsigned, we may get some geeks who actually play 150 levels without losing.
      Programmer 1: But then we still only have 256 levels, what if someone gets to level 255?
      Programmer 2: Then they need to get outside and find a girlfriend.
      Programmer 1: Like some sort of "Ms. Pac-Man"?
      Programmer 2: Hmmmmm, you might be on to something there...
    • diggystardust, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1what a weird ass max score.

      i'm surprised it wasn't 9,999,999 or something . .
      • DaHuuuuuudge, on 07/04/2008, -0/+4It's not that the score counter stops at that point (if that was the case, it probably would go to 9,999,999), but it's that the game ends after 256 levels and it just works out so that if you play perfectly for all 256 levels you'll have 3,333,360 points.
  • Premier, on 07/03/2008, -6/+6Anyone has a link to the vid?
    • shibyness, on 07/03/2008, -0/+20you would watch a 6 hour video of some guy playing pacman?
      • chaoswings, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5As history has proven time and time again...people have time on their hands. Also he could watch it in portions if he wanted...but he already knows the ending to the 6 hour movie. So I don't know why he would want to watch it either
      • CedEx, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Maybe we should have gave him a spoiler alert?
  • sourdust, on 07/03/2008, -3/+16I've been playing since 198x, and STILL haven't got past level 3! :-)

    You don't have to be good at a game to love it, it seems.
  • MarkBroadhurst, on 07/03/2008, -2/+4If you eat every do you get 3,333,360.

    What about the eating of ghosts didnt that net you 100,200,400,800 and 1600 for getting each ghost in sucession ?
    • scooterbaga, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6Not sure about the numbers you've got there. But wouldn't a perfect score include eating all four ghosts four times for each level? (Once for each power pill)

      ...maybe we're saying the same thing.
      • BruiserBob, on 07/03/2008, -0/+14Yes, as seen in "King of Kong" this record included eating every ghost for every power pill on every level...Thus a "perfect" score.
      • sircomix, on 07/03/2008, -2/+11And also every floating fruit. RTFA you floating fruits!
      • honesttussey, on 07/03/2008, -0/+22FTFA

        "To achieve the game's maximum score of 3,333,360 points, Mitchell navigated 256 boards (or screens), eating every single dot, blinking energizer blob, flashing blue ghost, and point-loaded fruit, without losing a single life"
      • Jeffrr, on 07/03/2008, -7/+2FTFA?

        From the ***** article?
      • GiggleStick, on 07/04/2008, -0/+5This is the internets Jeffrr. Enjoy you stay.
    • ihatepancakes, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2The ghosts stop turning blue after the 5th key so you can't eat them anymore. What I don't understand is how he can get them all in the levels right before they stop turning, when you have about two or three seconds before they turn back...
  • BlackTye, on 07/03/2008, -2/+136And after almost 10 more years, the story hits digg.
    • jammy87, on 07/03/2008, -2/+2It's because that's this day is history
    • CedEx, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6And tomorrow we'll see it again as a dupe!

      Isn't digg just wonderful?
  • DarthDaddy, on 07/03/2008, -2/+38Dugg just because its pacman, but dude this is from 1999.
  • DarthDaddy, on 07/03/2008, -1/+74In other news, man has landed on the moon.
    • whisperedlie, on 07/03/2008, -2/+2No Way! That's... WE'VE LANDED ON THE MOON!
      • whisperedlie, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1apparently no one has seen Dumb and Dumber
  • musicmanryan, on 07/03/2008, -2/+7I don't care how old this story is. The feat is still very impressive, even nine years later.
  • dha07030, on 07/03/2008, -2/+40King of Kong is awesome just had to add that, as you were.
    • anselm83, on 07/03/2008, -0/+15I only came in here to digg anybody mentioning King of Kong
      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/
    • iamgreg007, on 07/03/2008, -2/+22Agreed! That movie was outstanding. Mitchell, the guy who has the pacman record, is a complete ass!
      • rockandrollmark, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1I couldn't agree more.
        I still don't believe that Mitchell's 1,000,000+ score that he sent in on videotape was legit.
    • bratterscain, on 07/03/2008, -0/+9There's a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up if you wanna see it!
  • MorphicMusic, on 07/03/2008, -9/+1FAKE.
  • smoger, on 07/03/2008, -2/+18the story itself is old, but the article is new: it references King of Kong.

    Looks like Wired threw up an old story as a "flashback" kind of thing for July 3rd.

    I remember G4 running a short program about this nonstop back in ~2000.. it was like a 5-6 min clip that played between commercials.
  • crazzy88ss, on 07/03/2008, -0/+21FTA

    "The level of completeness is so complete..."
    • sircomix, on 07/03/2008, -1/+8The redundantity of that statement is, like, totally redundant.
  • Andyl194, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1This is.... MONUMENTAL!
  • joemofo214, on 07/03/2008, -9/+12well, billy mitchell is a little bitch that stole the pac man records by examing steve's first world record breaking video tape (the one with the little kid asking to wipe his butt)

    so, in short, billy mitchell's a douche bag
    • MisterRik, on 07/03/2008, -2/+10I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you are either a) drunk b) sleep deprived or c) have never seen King of Kong. It's the last word of the title you really want to pay attention to...
      • joemofo214, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1Yea, Steve Wiebe is the world record holder at the end of the movie... But that was LAST YEAR. Billy Mitchell recaptured it... again. And theres no doubt in my mind he studied the film Wiebe submitted to which he won the record at the end of the movie....


        do some research
      • MisterRik, on 07/04/2008, -0/+3In Kong you berk! Not pac-man...
    • MrBogard, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7Donkey Kong, and he re-set the record live in 2007.
    • joemofo214, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Yea, i meant donkey kong. cant edit now, o well
  • sirmasterboy, on 07/03/2008, -0/+20I wanna see someone beat tetris...
  • MalusMalo, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3hax
  • ismellfunny, on 07/03/2008, -2/+4But how big is pacmans poop?
  • galvo, on 07/03/2008, -9/+18No one cares about Billy Mitchell, his stupid hot sauce, or that stupid douchebag haircut he rocks. What a pompous ass.
    • RenegadeRoy, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2Yes, Steve Weibe for president in 2008!
  • poiuytrewq44, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1HOSERS
  • mctom987, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3Sorry, you're 9 years late, why is this on the front page?
  • labizau, on 07/03/2008, -5/+16Anyone who has seen The King of Kong can attest: Billy Mitchell is a dirty bastard.
  • Yoweigh, on 07/03/2008, -2/+37Have you actually SEEN King of Kong? Billy Mitchell is the biggest douchebag alive, apparently.
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1You're making fun of all the guys who said this, right?
  • jakash, on 07/03/2008, -3/+2EPIC WIN.
  • Quicksilver4648, on 07/03/2008, -4/+3Old!
  • gllopc, on 07/03/2008, -2/+35A picture of Captain Douchebag himself:

    http://www.arcaderestoration.com/graphics/cge2000/ ...
    • Beautyon, on 07/03/2008, -1/+7Its young Obi Wan!
    • espowari, on 07/03/2008, -1/+7Hello this is the 80's, we want our big hair and tight ass jeans back.
    • Dr00pieS, on 07/04/2008, -0/+5That picture is full of win and douche. It's almost a paradox...
  • TimTebow4Life, on 07/03/2008, -9/+15God I ***** hate Billy Mitchell. Steve Wiebe 4 Life!!!!!
  • Xfrost4, on 07/03/2008, -6/+12Billy Mitchell the biggest ass hole on the planet. Please watch the documentary "The King of Kong" yes he also has the record for that game.
  • GregFD3S, on 07/03/2008, -3/+7How do you kill one which has no life?
  • buddypriefert, on 07/03/2008, -7/+6USA USA USA!!!!!

    Canada - America's hat.
  • nafai, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2What I don't get ... in later levels the monsters don't even turn blue, they just change direction ... how is it possible to get a perfect game? Do they take that into account?
    • CaptainWeasel, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4Yes, since you can't eat the ghosts at the 5th key and the 7th key patterns, they can't contribute to the score. Just eat all of the dots, power pellets, and the two keys, and that board is perfect.
  • BingoPower, on 07/03/2008, -1/+8His wife: "I wish he had that same commitment to foreplay."
  • revjustin2, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I would go crazy.
  • CaptainWeasel, on 07/03/2008, -7/+21To those who are screaming "KING OF KONG KING OF KONG" must realize that the whole movie was fashioned to be slanted in Wiebe's favor. Billy Mitchell does deserve the amount of fame he gets because he truly is one of the greatest gamers of this generation. Steve Wiebe's DK score set a new standard for the game, which gave Billy Mitchell another challenge.

    Walter Day of Twin Galaxies has released a series of statements regarding the bias of the movie, which can be viewed at http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewforum.php?f ...

    And on that note, I'd like to say..."There's a kill screen coming up if you want to see it..."
    • busybrain, on 07/03/2008, -2/+6I don't believe they had to do too much slanting to make him look like an ass.

      Although BM could have been just trying to get into the head of Wiebe so he wouldn't come close to the record.

      BM is a ferocious competitor, a world record holder, and an ass.

      USA - 3,333,360
    • SpongeBad, on 07/03/2008, -1/+6I see Day complaining a bit about the chronology of the movie, but the reality is that the whole process was definitely biased in favor of Billy Mitchell at TG.

      Hell, they wouldn't accept a video tape submission from Steve Wiebe, but as Wiebe is playing, they accept a GLITCHY video tape submission from Billy Mitchell?

      The movie was an accurate portrayal of the events as they played out. The fact that Walter Day has come out after the fact to justify why things happened the way they did doesn't change what happened.
      • Megaman703, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1Did you even read all of the statements? Yes, they accepted Mitchell's score, but Walter Day admitted it was a mistake and the score was taken down less than 48 hours later.

        I think King of Kong is a fantastic movie, but looking at the evidence, the movie is obviously edited and slanted to make Wiebe look like a hero and Mitchell look like a jackass.
    • jugglingjon, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3you know when i first read this article , i immediately thought 'billy mitchell that d-bag from king of kong'. But honestly after reading the link you posted, and seeing some of the things that weren't even hinted at in the documentary (like how long Wiebe's score stood, and how mitchell's videotaped score was removed soon after it was posted), it does seem like the documentary wasn't completely truthful, and i wouldn't be surprised if the filmmakers villain-ed up mitchell a bit.
    • BigPapi, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7I think the filmmaker's stretched the truth about Billy Mitchell a bit to make him seem more evil than he really is. But he does make some absurdly egotistical statements throughout the movie which you can't blame on editing. And throughout both competitions he had a minion giving him the play-by-play over the phone.
  • redhitman, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1And with the perfect score, a permanent place in Guinness.
    • Dinomight, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Yes until they start holding the record for how long it takes to complete a perfect game, (note that in order to get a perfect score you must eat all dots, all 4 ghosts (each time you eat a pill), and all of the fruits in each of the 256 levels(without losing a life of course). So it can take a little while to line up all 4 ghosts before you eat each pill (so that you get the full 1600 pnts for the ghosts). So yes permanent place until someone does it faster.(so i guess not so permanent.)
  • Whitey07, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1No pics, no proof.
    • davewelsh79, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1The article said there's a 6-hour-long video of it.
  • swizzcheez, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Six hours, that's all it took?!? I would have thought it'd be a weekend thing.
  • reeder84, on 07/03/2008, -0/+25"Mitchell said he came very close to setting the record on July 1 -- which coincidentally is Canada Day -- but a kid pulled the plug about four hours into the game. "

    Justifiable homicide...
  • metallic07039, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6So what happens when it ends? Does it ask you for another $0.25?
  • ElDiablo6870, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3How do the fine ladies resist a man like this?
  • bblande, on 07/03/2008, -0/+19Billy Mitchell also happens to be the perfect douchebag.
  • desktopmonkey, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2Ummm... why is a 9 year old record front page Digg news?
  • arjie, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3How?! I thought the last level gets damaged due to integer overflow?
    • Dinomight, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5yep thats why they call it the end of the game. without that the game could technically go on forever.
  • Demistate, on 07/03/2008, -3/+2Level 255!!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htl_vwkZWHw
  • elpipetuanis, on 07/03/2008, -1/+10Doesn't matter Billy Mitchell is still a big f-ing douche.
  • BigPapi, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4"If anyone's interested there's a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up soon!" ~ Brian "the biggest tool alive" Kuh
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