- Billy Mitchell (gamer)
Billy L. Mitchell, born
July 16 ,1965 , inHolyoke, Massachusetts , is avideo game player. He was described as the "greatest arcade-video-game player of all time". [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0733,wilonsky,77508,20.html village voice > film > Tracking Shots: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters by Robert Wilonsky ] ] [http://www.oxfordamericanmag.com/content.cfm?ArticleID=58 "Oxford American" (no date): "The Perfect Man: How Billy Mitchell became a video-game superstar and achieved Pac-Man bliss", by David Ramsey] ] His achievements include the first perfect score in "Pac-Man". Billy andSteve Wiebe were the primary subjects of 2007 documentary "". He owns the popular "Rickey's World Famous Restaurant" chain, based inHollywood, Florida . He uses the same brand to sell a line of hot sauces, "Rickey's World Famous Sauces". [http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_king_of_kong_continued/1 Billy Mitchell interview - Onion AV Club] ]Biography
Mitchell grew up in
South Florida and began playing games at age sixteen. Already a dominant pinball player, he was at first uninterested in video games appearing in the early 80s until he noticed that "everyone was standing around Donkey Kong machine and wanted attention".Mitchell attended the Chaminade Catholic High School in 1983 and soon began work as a manager in the kitchen of his parents' restaurant, "Rickey's World Famous Restaurant". Mitchell assumed ownership of the Rickey's chain in the mid-1980s, continuing to own and manage it as of 2008.
Mitchell is known for his mullet haircut [http://www.thetanooki.com/2008/01/29/billy-mitchell-the-man-behind-the-mullet/ The Tanooki » Billy Mitchell: The man behind the mullet ] ] and wearing neckties betokening American patriotism during game competitions. The ties stem from his 1999 race to become the first person to achieve a perfect game of "Pac-Man". One of his competitors, Rick Fothergill, wore a Canadian flag cape and called himself "Captain Canada". Mitchell began wearing his patriotic ties in response.
Mitchell currently lives in Hollywood, Florida with his wife Evelyn and their three children.
"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" documentary
The 2007 documentary "" tells the story of newcomer
Steve Wiebe 's attempt to surpass Billy Mitchell's high score at the game "Donkey Kong", which Mitchell had set in 1982.Mitchell is never shown playing the game in the film, though he states the importance of playing in public, saying, "To me, most important is to travel to a sanctioned location, like
Funspot , that makes it official; if tomorrowTiger Woods golfs a 59, big deal. If he does it at Augusta, that's where it counts." However, throughout the film Wiebe traveled to various locations such as Funspot and even Mitchell's home town to play him publicly, and each time Mitchell refused. More controversy arose when at Funspot, Wiebe set the Donkey Kong live score record and was given official recognition, something he did not receive for sending in a tape in which he scored the first million point game on record. Shortly thereafter, a tape submitted by Mitchell in which he scored over a million points was accepted, and Wiebe lost his record. In Mitchell's hometown later on, Wiebe waited for four days to play Mitchell, who showed up one day and refused to play against Wiebe. In the film, Wiebe says hello to Mitchell as Wiebe's playing, Mitchell doesn't respond. As he's walking away from Wiebe, Mitchell says, "There's certain people I don't want to spend too much time with." Mitchell offered no explanation for what could only be objectively seen as boorish behavior towards Wiebe but did later explain that at the time of filming, he had not played video games for "more than a year", and that the filmmakers had not given him enough advance warning to train for a public record-breaking attempt. [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3165895 "Killing Bill: King of Kong's Nemesis Talks Back"] ] Despite all of this, Wiebe had proven himself and Twin Galaxies made an official apology for his mistreatment, and also told him that in future any tapes submitted by him would be welcome.At the film's conclusion, Wiebe beats Mitchell's score to gain a new "Donkey Kong" record on tape to claim both the live and taped records.
On July 26, 2007, the 25th anniversary of Mitchell's first record-setting performance, and right around the time of the film's theatrical release, Mitchell played in public and retook the Donkey Kong record with a score of 1,050,200. [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1465 "Man Shatters Donkey Kong World Record Exactly 25 Years After First Setting It in 1982"] ]
Notable scores
*First person to achieve a perfect "Pac-Man" score of 3,333,360, achieved
July 4 ,1999 atFunspot Family Fun Center inNew Hampshire .
*Achieved a score on "Donkey Kong Jr." of 957,300 in 2004.
*Achieved a score on "Donkey Kong" of 1,050,200 in 2007.
*Achieved a score on "Burgertime " of 7,881,050 in 1984. The score was beaten in 2006 by Bryan L Wagner.
*Achieved a score on Centipede of over 25 million points.Fact|date=September 2008Charitable Activities
Billy Mitchell actively donates his time to charitable activities. On
April 21 , 2007, Mitchell joined friends and admirers of Tyson Owenby, a 9-year-old boy suffering fromEagle Barrett's Syndrome , who wanted to fulfill a Wish to own the "Ultimate Game Room." Mitchell joined theMake-A-Wish Foundation ® of Southern Florida at the boy'sGreenacres , FL home to make young Tyson's Wish come true. [ [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1459 Billy Mitchell helps sick boy fulfill "Wish" for Ultimate Game Room - Retrieved from twingalaxies.com, August 23, 2007] ]On October 14, 2007, Billy Mitchell was the Emcee and Spokesperson for
The 2nd Annual Boo! Run for Life 10K run and 2-mile Walk inWashington , DC. The event is organized by friends and family of Dean R. O'Neill, to benefit theDean R. O'Neill Renal Cell Cancer Research Fund at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. [ [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1509 Dean R. O'Neill Renal Cell Cancer Research Fund at the Foundation for theNational Institutes of Health (NIMH) invites celebrity gamer, Billy Mitchell, to lead the event - Retrieved from twin Galaxies.com, October 8, 2007] ] [ [http://www.renalcellcancer.org Dean R. O'Neill Renal Cell Cancer Research Fund at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (NIMH)] ] [ [http://www.boorunforlife.com The 2nd Annual Boo! Run for Life 10K run and 2-mile Walk] ]For years, Mitchell has also been a supporter of gaming events, donating custom-made hot sauce bottles and posters to distribute as free gifts to attendees and contest winners. [ [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1191 Billy Mitchell Creates More Memorabilia to Document Video Game and Pinball History] ]
Honors
On January 14, 1984, he was selected as one of the 1983 "Video Game Players of the Year" by
Twin Galaxies and theU.S. National Video Game Team . [ [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=18&id=1033 "Twin Galaxies' Coronation Day Crowns Video's Best of '83"] ]On September 17, 1999, he was proclaimed the "Video Game Player of the Century" while at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show. In a ceremony on the
Namco stage, company founder Masaya Nakamura presented Mitchell with an award commemorating the first "perfect" game on "Pac-Man".On November 24, 1999, he offered US$100,000 to the first person who could get through "Pac-Man"'s "split-screen level". [ [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=305 Billy Mitchell Offers $100,000 for solving Pac-Man "Split-Screen"] ]
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