Five World Records Up For Grabs in Brooklyn

Ah, the Guinness Book of World Records. In the 1980s game craze, I remember they started accepting video game submissions, so I rolled the score on Defender on the Atari 2600 (1 million points), snapped a photo and sent it in, either to Guinness or somewhere else. No one called, no one wrote. Glory delayed is glory denied.

Perhaps no longer. You can grab an official record this coming Thursday if you live in, or can get to, Brooklyn, N.Y. — and have mad skills in one of five classic arcade games. Guinness World Records is hosting a competition to coincide with the release of its inagural Gamers’ Edition.

The five titles up for grabs:

• Fastest Time to Beat Five Boards on Ms. Pac Man
• Fastest Time to Beat Five Boards on Tapper
• Highest Out-Run Score
• Highest Ghosts ‘n Goblins Score
• Highest Donkey Kong Score Without Using the Hammer

I like how the records are some feat within the play of the regular game — except for Ghosts ‘n Goblins, which is so goddamn impossible that just getting the all time highest score is badass enough. Arcade-History.com says the record is 811,000 points. Good luck with that.

A news release advises that “the public at large is invited to try their hand at the joystick of destiny,” provided you’re 21 or over and have an ID. (Barcade is, well, a bar.) The event is 7:30 pm Thursday, April 10, and the location is 388 Union Ave., Brooklyn, NY.