10 Arcade Game High Scores That Will Never Be Beaten

Back in the day of arcades and people shoving quarters into slots, games were based on points. You had three lives and one quarter to get as many points as possible, which was perfect for competition. Some players were better than others, and a select few achieved high scores that stood the test of time. Eventually, a score might be broken, but this usually happens after decades, if at all. Each of the ten records below is so high that it likely won’t ever be broken, or they’re representative of perfect games, so there’s no possible way to do better, ensuring they remain unbroken outside of cheating or mods of the original game software.

1) Billy Mitchell’s 1999 Perfect Game of Pac-Man

Billy Mitchell is one of the best-known arcade record holders of all-time, having begun with Donkey Kong before pivoting to Pac-Man. In July 1999, Mitchel became the first person to achieve a perfect score in the game, which is an achievement that can never be beaten. He set a Guinness World Record for this, successfully navigating the game’s mazes without dying to reach a score of 3,333,360 points, hitting the Kill Screen. That’s when the game glitches out, as shown above. Mitchell’s claims have been the subject of scrutiny, and while his record was pulled, it was ultimately returned to him.

2) John McAllister’s 2010 High Score in Asteroids

It’s not uncommon for an arcade game record to remain unbroken for a long time, and in April 2010, John McAllister smashed a 28-year-old record for Asteroids by scoring 41,338,740 in a single game. He accomplished this feat via a 58-hour marathon session, which Twin Galaxies verified. Throughout his time playing the game, he accumulated 99 spare lives, which afforded him time to take brief breaks. Seeing as it took nearly 30 years to break the previous record of 41,336,440 points set in 1982, McAllister’s achievement is likely to remain for a long time, if not forever.

3) Robbie Lakeman’s High Score in Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is an important game in the history of video games, and it also sparked a great deal of competition. This was especially true in the 1980s, when players like Billy Mitchell stood at the cabinet for hours attempting to achieve the world’s highest score. In June 2020, Robbie Lakeman managed the feat, scoring 1,272,800 points in a single game, which lasted four hours. He received a Guinness World Record for his achievement. There’s very little room to score higher than Lakeman, and the second-best high score is only 100 points behind him, so it looks like Lakeman’s score is here to stay.

4) Jay Kletecka’s High Score in Pop-a-Shot

Not all arcade games are video games; case in point: Pop-a-Shot is one of the most popular non-video games found all over the world. It’s usually crammed in beside a bunch of Skee-Ball machines, and has been popular for decades. The object of the game is to get the highest score in the time allotted, and Jay Kletecka earned himself a Guinness World Record in July 2004 using a standard arcade machine. His record, “Most miniature basketball shots made in one minute,” stands at 139. Just imagine trying to make 140 baskets in 60 seconds, and most people’s dreams of beating Kletecka die instantly.

5) Steven Kleisath & Stephen Boyer’s High Score in Super Mario Bros.

While Super Mario Bros. is best remembered as a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the company also released it on its Nintendo Vs. System arcade cabinet. It’s essentially the same game, but tweaked for the cabinet’s controls, which aren’t dissimilar from the NES. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven Kleisath and Stephen Boyer used an emulator while communicating online from separate locations and worked together on the hardest difficulty (without POW blocks) to achieve the highest score of 1,280,550. That score is so incredibly high that it will likely remain unbroken.

6) Donald Hayes’ 2017 High Score in Dig Dug

Dig Dug is another popular ‘80s arcade cabinet that fans have been competing over since its release, and its progressive difficulty makes it incredibly challenging. In 2013, Ken House achieved a high score of 4,446,760 points, which is hard to imagine, but in April 2017, Donald Hayes broke that score by more than 700,000 points, setting the Guinness World Record with 5,147,610 points. His score was verified by Twin Galaxies after a marathon session of gameplay using the arcade ROM, during which he worked through the Kill Screen for nearly 13.5 hours.

7) Danielle Robbins’ 2020 High Score in Flicky

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a lot of gameplay both in and out of arcades, with plenty of people spending their time making and breaking world records. One such person was Danielle Robbins, who broke her own world record playing Flicky by more than 1 million points. In May 2020, Robbins spent five hours live-streaming her progress as she played the game, scoring a staggering 24,119,640 points across 701 levels. That’s an immense level of difficulty that few could ever hope to achieve. Flicky isn’t that popular of an arcade game, so there aren’t many people who could pose a challenge to Robbins’ score in the first place, ensuring it will likely remain until she outdoes herself once more.

8) Jordan Dorrington’s 2020 High Score in Galaga

Galaga has long been a great game for enthusiasts to try and outperform one another, as it’s progressively more difficult and requires strategy in deciding whether or not you allow your ship to be captured. In February 2020, Jordan Dorrington, who owns a full-size Japanese version of Namco’s Galaga cabinet and keeps it in his kitchen, played for 14 hours straight before breaking the world record. His record-setting score was a staggering 20,980,450 points. His achievement was filmed by a TV crew that was working on a Netflix documentary. Another player, Armando Gonzalez, claims to have scored 25,000,350 on Galaga under the marathon setting, but this has yet to be verified.

9) Ryota Wada’s Perfect Game of Dance Dance Revolution

When he was only nine years old, Ryota Wada achieved something that seems unlikely to be broken by anyone. He won the Guinness World Record for “Youngest gamer to achieve a perfect score on Dance Dance Revolution.” Wada got a AAA rating on expert difficulty setting, mastering the song Hyper Eurobeat in August 2010. He began playing at the age of five, but it took some time (and a non-slip surface for his mat) to achieve what will likely remain an unbreakable world record. Others have achieved a perfect score in Dance Dance Revolution, but for anyone to take Wada’s place, they’d have to do so at nine years, 287 days old at the time.

10) Richie Knucklez’s High Score in Space Invaders

Space Invaders is another game that people used to test their might against one another, achieving various records over the years. Indeed, many folks set record-setting achievements, including Donald Hayes in 2003, who scored 55,160. That was a record that remained in place until Richie Knucklez stood in front of one of Taito’s best arcade cabinets and set his own record in October 2011. He didn’t just set a record; he doubled the previous one, scoring 110,510 points. Twin Galaxies verified his results, and it seems highly unlikely that anyone will be able to unseat Knucklez’ achievement in Space Invaders.

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