New Donkey Kong Arcade World Record Set

In Auburn, NY, a pale light is coming from the depths of Tim Sczerby's garage where he is playing Donkey Kong on his own arcade machine. He doesn't know the date, but he does know that it's Thursday and he hasn't even brushed his hair. An hour and a half later, the clock strikes 8:00 AM, and a new world record has been set. On August 17, 2000, Tim blew past the old record of 874,300 set by Billy Mitchell in 1985, with a mighty score of 879,200.

His world record status really should come as no surprise to those that know Tim. He has been playing video games since he was 6, beginning with classics such as Space Invaders and Asteroids. From 1981 to 1986, he says he spent most of his time in local New York arcades. He guarantees that he can match or break the high score on Space Ace, which is 770,866, and is a self-proclaimed master of Donkey Kong. Even so, he said that it took about fifteen minutes for it to sink in. " I couldn't believe it at first, (after so many years of practice), and I was pretty happy."

Tim prefers classic games, and is interested in beating the high score on Dragon's Lair next. He also is looking forward to the release of Blue Byte's Dragon's Lair 3D, which is set for early 2001.

Now, as a world record holder, Tim would like to thank several vendors and repairers of arcade machines who have helped him along the way. Thanks go to Franz and Ryan of T & M Distributing, Jimmy Bradshaw of Putman O'Brien Distributing, and Stanton Automatics who sold him his Donkey Kong arcade machine.

Watching the video of Tim setting this new record was pretty hilarious at times, and it is obvious that he is a total video game junkie who really knows his stuff. At one point when he died in Level 4, he nonchalantly explained that he "hadn't been looking", and after he beat the game he stood up, raised his arms and declared " I am the master!" And now, officially, he is.