Arcade classic Donkey Kong has a new champion – John McCurdy.
On Mar. 17, 2019 McCurdy achieved a new top score of 1,249,500 streamed from his twitch handle “serphintizer.” The score beats out previous champion Robbie Lakeman’s score of 1,247,700 which was achieved Feb. 2, 2018.
Third place on the title remains held by former record holder Wes Copeland, who achieved his score of 1,218,000 on May 5, 2016.
McCurdy has been aggressively seeking the high score for some time, streaming often from his Twitch account. His previous high score was 1,240,700, achieved on Oct. 15, 2018. Especially fitting for the score is that it occurred during “The Kong Off 7,” an annual event that hosts top Donkey Kong players around the world for a live high scoring tournament.
The score has been recognized after final verification at Donkey Kong Forum, officially making McCurdy’s score the best valid game of Donkey Kong ever played. Donkey Kong Forum is the still active and authoritative community that monitors and verifies high scores for the 1981 game.
Full video of the gameplay is available here.
Correction and update: Article updated to show Copeland as holding third place prior to McCurdy’s Mar. 17 score. As of Mar. 18, 2019 McCurdy’s score has been accepted by Donkey Kong Forum.
