Mitchell v. Twin Galaxies

FACTS

Mitchell holds world records in several video games, including Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. In 1999, Mitchell achieved the first perfect score in the Pac-Man arcade game and was recognized as the “Video Game Player of the Century” by NAMCO, the maker of Pac-Man. At issue in this case are three of Mitchell’s world record scores for the arcade game Donkey Kong. For ease of reference, we refer to them as the “King of Kong score” in which he scored 1,047,200 points on December 28, 2004, the “Mortgage Brokers score” in which he scored 1,050,200 points on July 14, 2007, and the “Boomers score” in which he scored 1,062,800 points on July 31, 2010. Mitchell has appeared in several documentaries on competitive gaming, including a film titled The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters about an opponent’s journey to the world record score for Donkey Kong.

2 Twin Galaxies was founded by Walter Day in 1982. Day partnered with videogame adjudicators, such as the International Video Game Hall of Fame and Guinness World Records, to facilitate and organize videogame competitions. From 1982 to 2014, Twin Galaxies adjudicated world records through on-site referees or by video. Video adjudication…