The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, USA, 2007

Director Seth Gordon
Producer Ed Cunningham
With Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, Walter Day, Brian Kuh, Roy Shildt.

Runtime 79 minutes

DVD: UK, 2008 Produced and Distributed by Large Lab and Revolver Entertainment (region 2) Aspect Ratio Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Extras Commentary by director Seth Gordon, producer Ed Cunningham and associate producers J. Clay Tweed and Luis Lopez. Extended interviews. Animated short: “A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong.” Arcade glossary. 8-bit music and art gallery. Theatrical trailer.

In the days before Playstations and people slumped down dead in front of their screen during a marathon online game battle, there was a coin-operated digital beast that demanded precise timing and perfect hand-eye coordination. It’s an arcade classic called “Donkey Kong.”

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) is an exhilarating and deeply satisfying documentary from Seth Gordon. Gordon has done a masterful job of creating a film that is able to appeal to an audience by not requiring them to require an intensive course in arcade games and geek culture as the film is an engrossing and thrilling ride between the cocksure high score record holder of “Donkey Kong” and a demoralized outsider attempting to topple the title-holder.

Billy Mitchell is one of life’s winners. Mitchell, 42, is a hot sauce mogul in Hollywood, Florida. In 1982, at the age of 17, Mitchell held the high score in “Centipede” and in front of the twenty best gamers in the world Mitchell scored a record-setting 874,300 points on “Donkey Kong.” Mitchell is portrayed as a proud man with a love of patriotic neckties, his hair and his status within the classic arcade gaming world. His unctuous charm and Machiavellian tendencies clearly mark him as the antagonist in this story.

On the other side of the equation, is Steve Wiebe (pronounced Wee-bee). He lost his job at Boeing and sought “something positive” to help give him a purpose whilst he considered options to support his family. His “something positive” turned out to be coming across Mitchell’s “Donkey Kong” record online and making a commitment to break it. Wiebe installed a battered “Donkey Kong” machine in his garage, perfecting his game as his wife and two children slept. Amazingly, he surpassed Mitchell’s record to score an unimaginable 1,006,600 points. Wiebe records the game on videotape and submits it to the governing body for classic arcade game records, Twin Galaxies, to be verified.

And this is where the dramatic twists and turns start to escalate. Buoyed by his accomplishment and a wave of media coverage, he waits eagerly to take his place in the record books. Wiebe’s elation is brief as a disciple of Mitchell’s, Brian Kuh, disassembles Wiebe’s “Donkey Kong” machine whilst ignoring the protestations of Wiebe’s wife and disqualifies his score as the machine contained a circuit board supplied by Mitchell’s arch enemy, Roy “Mr Awesome” Schildt (star of “Mr Awesome’s Guide to Girls” and “Missile Command” world champion).

Gordon follows Wiebe’s quest for recognition of his gaming abilities and accomplishment. He’s confident that he can beat Mitchell but will Mitchell commit himself to a live “Donkey Kong” play-off to put to rest the question: Who is the King of Kong?

With the support of friends and family, Wiebe drives cross county to New Hampshire to the “Seventh Annual Classic Arcade Museum Tournament” at the Funspot arcade to prove, live, that he is a record-breaker. With Mitchell no place in site, Wiebe demolishes Mitchell’s record with a score of 985,600 that cripples the machine’s memory, presenting the game’s mythical “kill screen.” If this film was a work of fiction, Wiebe’s victory would mark the end of the third act. Game over. However, this is simply the point in which events take turns that expose human nature in action when reputations are at stake. To reveal anything further would detract from this powerful piece of work.

The King of Kong certainly reinforces that old cliché, truth is stranger than fiction. The cast of characters is engaging and absorbing. The dialogue is oftentimes hilarious and poignant. This film has a spirit that eclipses that of the ultimate underdog story, Rocky (1976).

The film has already won several awards and for this film not to be included for consideration for an Academy Award would be an unfortunate oversight. The King of Kong takes a seemingly trivial subject and subculture and makes them meaningful and moving to us all.

Contributor details

Deirdre Devers is a researcher of digital games and culture as well as a film enthusiast. When she’s not watching gamers at play, she’s watching films and writing.