There’s a new world record-setting high scorer in Donkey Kong

By Adam Rosenberg September 7, 2014

With 1,141,800 points earned, Arizona resident Robbie Lakeman is the latest player to hold the world record for a high score in arcade classic Donkey Kong. His achievement edges out previous record-holder Hank Chien, besting the earlier high score by 3,200 points.

Chien claimed the top score mantle in November 2012 when he finished a playthrough of the arcade game with a point total of 1,138,600. That wasn’t his first time on top, though. Chien unseated former record holder Steve Wiebe’s 1,064,500 high score in January 2011 with a 1,068,000 point game. He then went on to best that performance, raising the bar for future competitors.

Related: A look back at the many lives of Donkey Kong, a true renaissance ape

Lakeman is a relative newcomer within the small community of master-level Donkey Kong stick jockeys. His journey started more than two years ago when he made a bet with the friend to crack the top 20 world record-holding Donkey Kong scorers. You can find a thorough recounting of Lakeman’s path to shattering the number one record on the Donkey Kong Blog.

Donkey Kong‘s high score record has been in the public consciousness before. Most notably, it was the subject of director Seth Gordon’s popular documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which followed Wiebe and longtime high score-chaser Billy Mitchell in an extended back-and-forth duel for the top scorer title.

You can see the final minutes of Lakeman’s record-setting three-hour game above.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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