HILLSBORO, Ore. -- After 58 straight hours of playing Asteroids in a friend's basement in Hillsboro, a Seattle man is presumed to have surpassed the all-time record store achieved on the Atari-brand arcade video game.
At about 10:15 p.m. Monday, John McAllister finished his marathon game of Asteroids with a final score of 41,338,740 points. According to the website of Twin Galaxies-- the authority on video game scores and scoring--the previous record for Asteroids is 41,336,440, which was set in November 1982.
McAllister's score will now be submitted to Twin Galaxies for official verification. He said he'll undergo a drug test, and he'll submit videotaped proof of his record-breaking performance.
John McAllister holds records in other arcade games, including Asteroids Deluxe, which have been verified and documented by Twin Galaxies. He tried beating the Asteroids high score once before, but gave up after 36 hours of game play. He credits the support of friends for his latest conquest. He said his friends even contacted Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Atari--who said he would be keeping an eye on McAllister's efforts.
When asked why he focused on being the best at Asteroids, McAllister said, "It's basically considered a Holy Grail... It was a title that a lot of people would want, and I wanted it."
But despite his pending claim to fame, he remains humble. "There are other players that I look up to that are even better than myself," McAllister said. "I've just had the resources and desire to go after certain titles."
