A statement from Guinness World Records: Billy Mitchell

By Guinness World Records

Published 17 June 2020

In the light of compelling new evidence received by Guinness World Records, the Records Management Team has unanimously decided to reverse decisions made in April 2018 in regards to videogame high scores achieved by Billy Mitchell between 1982 and 2010.

As of 10 June 2020, the following historical records for the arcade platform have been reinstated:

3 July 1999 - First Perfect Score on PAC-Man – 3,333,360 Points
7 November 1982 – Highest score on Donkey Kong – 874,300 Points
4 June 2005 – Highest score on Donkey Kong – 1,047,200 Points
14 July 2007 – Highest score on Donkey Kong – 1,050,200 Points
31 July 2010 – Highest score on Donkey Kong – 1,062,800 Points

This reinstatement also re-recognizes Mr Mitchell as the first gamer to reach the kill screen on Donkey Kong (7 November 1982) and first gamer to score 1 million points on Donkey Kong (4 June 2005).

Guinness World Records is always open to accepting new evidence for historical achievements, and to reviewing new and existing evidence for disputed titles.

In this case, a re-examination of the records in question and the emergence of key eyewitness and expert testimonials led to a reversal of earlier disqualifications and the reinstating of Mr Mitchell’s original records. The records archive has been updated accordingly to reflect this.