Twin Galaxies removes Todd Rogers’ records, bans him for cheating

By Gabe Gurwin January 30, 2018

Chasing Ghosts - Beyond the Arcade

Video game record-holder Todd Rogers has been a staple of the retro gaming scene for decades. Known for setting the world record for the fastest-ever time in the Atari 2600 game Dragster, his supposed feats have been called into question in the past, but new evidence has led to the Twin Galaxies gaming record organization concluding that Rogers had falsified his records.

Twin Galaxies, which is known as the definitive source for arcade and classic gaming records, conducted an investigation into Rogers’ claim of a 5.51-second run in Dragster following the complaint of member Dick Moreland. Test runs conducted with software tools concluded that it is impossible for the game to be completed in less than 5.57 seconds.

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“Beyond this software analysis evidence, which speaks directly to Todd Rogers’ Dragster 5.51 score time, this dispute case has collected a significant amount of circumstantial evidence that extends well beyond Todd’s single score performance,” Twin Galaxies said in a post on its forums. “We have evaluated this evidence carefully and found it to be compelling and relevant. ”

As punishment for his forgery, Rogers has been banned from the Twin Galaxy leaderboards and all of his records have been removed. Twin Galaxies said it has also contacted Guinness World Records regarding the removal of his Dragster record, which was the longest-standing video game record of all time. Rogers’ page was removed from the Guinness World Records website, with the organization saying it will “continue to partner with Twin Galaxies for further video game record verification.”

“This has been an ordeal, and like all things done for the first time, some things could perhaps have been handled better,” Twin Galaxies added in the post. “This has been a learning process for Twin Galaxies. We care very much about our scoreboard integrity and will continue to improve it step-by-step, no matter how painful it might occasionally be.”

Twin Galaxies, which originally operated an arcade, as well, was the subject of the documentary film Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade. Along with infamous Donkey Kong player Billy Mitchell, Rogers is featured in the film. It’s an enlightening look into the history of video game records.

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