ESPORTS LEGEND BILLY MITCHELL HAS PAC-MAN, DONKEY KONG WORLD RECORDS REINSTATED BY TWIN GALAXIES AFTER FOUR-YEAR ORDEAL
Good Afternoon!
I have some great news from the King of Kong, Billy Mitchell.
Twin Galaxies has announced the reinstatement of all video game world records by Billy Mitchell. In a statement given by Twin Galaxies, the company states, "In fair consideration of the expert opinion provided by Dr. Zyda on behalf of Mr. Mitchell, and consistent with Twin Galaxies' dedication to the meticulous documentation and preservation of video game score history, Twin Galaxies shall heretofore reinstate all of Mr. Mitchell’s scores as part of the official historical database on Twin Galaxies’ website." (emphasis in original)
Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong score performances of 1,047,200 (the King of Kong Score), 1,050,200 (the Mortgage Brokers score) and 1,062,800 (the Boomers Score) were originally accepted and posted as record performances by Twin Galaxies based upon either videotape submission, live referee verification, or a combination of videotape submission and live referee verification.
For more information, please see the release and background below and attached statement from Twin Galaxies. Thanks!
ESPORTS LEGEND BILLY MITCHELL HAS PAC-MAN, DONKEY KONG WORLD RECORDS REINSTATED BY TWIN GALAXIES AFTER FOUR-YEAR ORDEAL
LOS ANGELES – (January 16, 2024) – Twin Galaxies has announced the reinstatement of all video game world records by Billy Mitchell.
In a statement given by Twin Galaxies, the company states, "
In fair consideration of the expert opinion provided by Dr. Zyda on behalf of Mr. Mitchell, and consistent with Twin Galaxies' dedication to the meticulous documentation and preservation of video game score history, Twin Galaxies shall heretofore reinstate all of Mr. Mitchell’s scores as part of the official historical database on Twin Galaxies’ website." (emphasis in original)
Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong score performances of 1,047,200 (the King of Kong Score), 1,050,200 (the Mortgage Brokers score) and 1,062,800 (the Boomers Score) were originally accepted and posted as record performances by Twin Galaxies based upon either videotape submission, live referee verification, or a combination of videotape submission and live referee verification.
On February 2, 2018, Twin Galaxies Adjudication began investigating a dispute claim filed by a community member asserting that these performances were not generated by unmodified original Donkey Kong arcade hardware as required by the leaderboard rules. On April 12, 2018, Twin Galaxies removed all of Mr. Mitchell’s scores and banned Mr. Mitchell from competing on Twin Galaxies’ competitive leaderboards.
Billy Mitchell wanted to clear his name and resume as one of the key personalities and promoters of competitive eSports. Mitchell transformed the category from the arcade into a competitive international sport. Mitchell said, “It took more than four years and an abundance of indisputable facts, eyewitnesses, and expert testimony to prove all of my records were legitimate.”
“I am satisfied with the resolution of this matter and the reinstatement of my scores. I look forward to opening the next chapter of my gaming career,” said Mitchell. “We have a few announcements coming, and I look forward to sharing my newest projects later this year.”
Mitchell, who can always be seen wearing his signature black suit, boots, and American flag tie, has been featured in at least four documentaries during his gaming career, including “The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters,” “Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade,” “The King of Arcades” and “Man Versus Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler.”
MEDIA CONTACT: redacted
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Background
On April 12, 2018, Twin Galaxies, the de-facto scorekeeper and platform for the video gaming world, announced that an investigation conducted into Billy Mitchell's submitted scores found conclusive evidence that he cheated to arrive at his world record Donkey Kong scores. His scores were subsequently removed from the Twin Galaxies database, and he was banned from submitting future scores. Subsequently, Guinness World Records removed Mitchell's scores as Twin Galaxies were the original source of verification for these records.
Mitchell denied Twin Galaxies’ allegations and filed a lawsuit for defamation against Twin Galaxies in Los Angeles County on April 11, 2019. At the same time, Mitchell matched and re-achieved his recording-breaking
Pac-Man and
Donkey Kong world record scores. On July 4, 2019, Mitchell re-achieved his perfect Score on
Pac-Man at Funspot in New Hampshire and beat all three of his previous Donkey Kong world records live on Twitch (@Billy_Mitchell) with a score of 1,092,100 points. Additionally, Mitchell took first place at a Donkey Kong World Championship tournament in Australia in August 2019.
On March 30, 2020, Twin Galaxies replied to Mitchell’s defamation lawsuit by filing an anti-SLAPP (“Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation”) motion, which requested the trial court to dismiss Mitchell’s defamation case on the basis that it was frivolous and intended to silence its free speech.
On June 18, 2020, Guinness World Records announced that, after a re-examination of the evidence including key eyewitnesses, expert witnesses, and documents, it was reinstating all of Mitchell’s world records and re-recognizing him as the first player to score one-million points on
Donkey Kong and the first person to achieve a perfect score on
Pac-Man. The Guinness World Records’ statement can be accessed here:
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.co...-guinness-world-records-billy-mitchell-621053.
On October 26, 2020, Los Angeles County Judge Gregory W. Alarcon denied Twin Galaxies’ anti-SLAPP motion on the basis that Mitchell presented competent evidence showing a probability that he would prevail on his defamation claim. On October 12, 2021, a panel of three justices of the 2nd Appellate District unanimously affirmed Judge Alarcon’s denial of the anti-SLAPP motion. Twin Galaxies then petitioned the Supreme Court of California to review the 2nd Appellate District’s decision. In January 2022, the seven-justice panel declined to review the ruling. In total, four judges reached the same decision: Mitchell’s defamation lawsuit had a likelihood of prevailing on the merits.
On February 4, 2021, Twin Galaxies’ filed a cross-complaint (“countersuit”) against Mitchell and Walter Day, the original founder of Twin Galaxies who helped catapult eSports in its infancy. Day is known for visiting more than 100 arcades across the country and checking their machines for high scores and keeping track of them. He later sold the company in 2014. He performed an exhaustive review of all of Billy Mitchell’s high scores, testified in support of Mitchell’s scores, and supported the reinstatement of Mitchell’s world records.
“I know that Billy achieved his world records on original unmodified hardware,” said Day. “Twin Galaxies’ lawsuit against me served as an attempt to harass and intimidate me against testifying to that.”
“The substance of the allegations in Twin Galaxies' countersuit was that Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Day engaged in a decades-long, byzantine, and highly improbable fraudulent scheme by which they plotted to lie and cheat since the early 1990s about Mr. Mitchell’s scores and to suppress the achievements of better players, all with the purported aim of somehow falsely manufacturing value for the Twin Galaxies assets to eventually be sold,” said Day's lawyer, Robert W. Cohen. “The allegations were never even remotely credible, either factually or legally.”
Twin Galaxies' countersuit claimed damages that conveniently equaled Billy Mitchell's world record videogame scores. Twin Galaxies' general damages claim was for $3,333,360, which is Mitchell's 1999 perfect Pac-Man world record, and Twin Galaxies' special damages claim was for $3,160,200, which is the sum of Mitchell's three one-million-point Donkey Kong world records. “I don’t think that any reasonable person believes Twin Galaxies’ damages claims,” said Cohen. “It is a strong indicator of how frivolous its entire countersuit was.”
Mitchell then engaged Twin Galaxies in the discovery process, exchanging documents and taking depositions of witnesses under oath. Judge Wendy Chang scheduled the trial for April 2024. In January 2024, Mitchell and Twin Galaxies reached a confidential settlement.
Mitchell’s legal team consisted of Anthony Ellrod, Kristina Ross, and Linna Loangkote, and Billy Mitchell’s son, Billy Mitchell, IV, of the law firm Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Tester, LLP. “This was an extremely hard-fought case, and I am happy that the parties were ultimately able to resolve it,” said Mitchell’s lead counsel, Anthony Ellrod, who is a founding partner of the law firm Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Tester, LLP. “Cases like this where an individual’s credibility and veracity are at stake are very difficult to resolve short of trial. I credit the hard work of all parties and counsel in reaching a settlement.”
“I want to thank my family, friends, and legal counsel for supporting me through this process,” said Mitchell. “I look forward to the next chapter of my career.”
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