At left, Tim Balderramos and Billy Mitchell at the 2001 Twin Galaxies' Video Game Festival in the Mall of America, describing the ordeals of the "Perfect" Pac-Man game to a packed audience. In the background is a large screen, displaying the notorious "split-screen" that ends the Pac-Man game at the 256th board.
Balderramos, to the left, is the only man to have achieved a "perfect" Pac-Man game on different platforms...once on the arcade edition, and
once on MAME.
The "perfect" Pac-Man game is now considered one of gaming history's greatest accomplishments.
Four Gamers Have Now Achieved "Perfect" Pac-Man Games
Two More Players are Almost There, too...
With Pac-Man celebrating its 25th Anniversary, it’s not surprising that many reporters are focusing on Billy Mitchell’s “perfect” Pac-Man score achieved on July 3, 1999.
With so many old articles from 1999 published on the internet about Mitchell’s feat as being the “first and only” perfect Pac-Man game, it seems that many writers are unaware that three additional players since then have achieved that same “perfect” Pac-Man game, tallying 3,333,360 points, the maximum possible points allowed by the game.
And, on top of that, two more players -- Douglas Loyd of Hazelwood, MO and Donald Hayes of Windham, NH -- are now working on attaining a perfect Pac-Man score.
As it stands right now, here are the current members of this unique “perfect Pac-Man” club, a club that may never include more than a dozen members.
Appearing in order of accomplishment, they are:
Billy Mitchell, Hollywood, FL, July 3, 1999
Rick Fothergill, Toronto, Canada, July 31, 1999
Chris Ayra, Miami, FL, February 16, 2000
Tim Balderramos, West St. Paul, MN, August 8, 2004
Since all four players are tied with the same ultimate Pac-Man score: 3,333,360 points, a new category for comparing “perfect” Pac-Man scores has been established, one that ranks the competitors in terms of “fastest time” to complete the perfect game. In this new ranking, Chris Ayra, at 3 hours, 42 minutes and 04 seconds, has logged the fastest time followed by Rick Fothergill, Tim Balderramos and Billy Mitchell.
Walter Day, editor of Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, says, “Billy Mitchell’s first ‘perfect’ game has made this category of achievement one of the most sought-after accomplishments in the gaming world. Just like Roger Bannister’s four-minute-mile in 1954, a human barrier has been knocked down and others now have the desire to match Billy Mitchell's feat.”
To see the listing of “perfect” Pac-Man champions, go to The Twin Galaxies Scoreboard and search under Pac-Man.