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The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters - Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe, Seth Gordon

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Don't get chumpatized.

A middle-school science teacher and a hot sauce mogul vie for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong.

In 1982, Life Magazine assembled the world's greatest gamers for a photo shoot that would become the centre spread of their 1982 Year-In-Photos edition. Billy Mitchell, who would later be named the "Gamer of the Century," was one of the invitees.

Mitchell, the world record holder on Centipede, had been tracking the score on Donkey Kong and knew he could take that title as well. In front of the 20 best gamers in the world, Billy scored 874,300 points, a record many thought would never be broken.
In 2003, 35-year-old family man Steve Wiebe, after losing his job at Boeing, found solace in Donkey Kong. Steve stumbled upon Billy Mitchell's record online, and set out to break it. He began perfecting his game every night after his wife and kids went to bed, and not only surpassed Billy's record, but ended up with a thought-to-be-impossible 1,000,000 points.

A tidal wave of media coverage followed, and Steve Wiebe quickly became a celebrity in his hometown of Seattle, WA. He also rediscovered his love for teaching, and regained the respect of all who once doubted him. Meanwhile, back in Hollywood, Florida, Billy Mitchell hatched a plan to reclaim his fallen Donkey Kong record.

In the months that followed, Steve and Billy engaged in a cross-country duel to see who could set the high score that would be included in the 2007 Guinness World Records book and become The King of Kong. Along the way, both men learned valuable lessons about what it means to be a father, a husband, and a true champion? discovering that you don't always need to win to be a winner.

Theatrical propaganda posters

The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters theatrical one sheet image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film documentary gaming Donkey Kong video game competition high score teacher school

Persons of interest

Mark Alpiger .... Himself
Greg Bond .... Himself
Walter Day .... Himself
Brian Kuh .... Himself
Billy Mitchell .... Himself
Robert Mruczek .... Himself
Todd Rogers .... Himself
Steve Sanders .... Himself
Doris Self .... Herself
Roy Shildt .... Himself - 'Mr Awesome'
Mike Thompson .... Himself
Derek Wiebe .... Himself
Jillian Wiebe .... Herself
Nicole Wiebe .... Herself
Steve Wiebe .... Himself
Adam Wood .... Himself
Steve B Harris .... Himself
Seth Gordon .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters official movie site
The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters film production notes
The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Studios and distributors:

Dendy Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Everyone wants to be a superstar. Especially in the USA, where even the referee gets to be famous. Yeesh.

Meanwhile, The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters brings you life at Geek Central. What happened to all the nerds who played with their Atari back in the 70s? They grew up and upgraded their hardware. At times it's painful to watch people with zero cool trying to live normal lives; at other times it's just fucking hilarious.

As for the subject matter, well, you don't have to remember Donkey Kong to appreciate the struggle, the dedication, the politics, the infighting and the deception that goes along with any competition. These geeks play hard (within their own world-view) and certainly for keeps. It's like watching footy fans who actually get to go onto the pitch while the game is in progress. It's as close to Gladiator as these guys are going to get.

Shudders.

The documentary, gaming movie The King of Kong: a fistful of quarters is directed by Seth Gordon and stars Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe.