On Saturday, John McAllister sat down at a friend’s house near Portland, Oregon to play a game of Asteroids. By Monday, he was still playing.
At 10:18 p.m. Pacific, he scored 41,338,740 points, a new all-time high score. In doing so, he beat a record that has stood for over 27 years.
The official Asteroids high score of 41,336,440 is the longest-standing record in gaming history, having been set on November 14, 1982 by 15-year-old Scott Safran. He stayed awake for three days to accomplish this feat.
Once you master the basics, Asteroids is simply a game of endurance: Can you keep from falling asleep? And if you can, will the arcade cabinet you’re playing on stay glitch-free and powered up for three days straight?
McAllister’s marathon attempt was streamed live over Justin.tv. Even as of this writing, you can watch a close-up of the Asteroids monitor, or a full view of the room where the celebration is ongoing. The high score remains unofficial until it is recognized by the videogame referees at Twin Galaxies.
Every few hours, once he had racked up enough extra lives, McAllister got up from his barstool, paced the room, ate a sandwich, then sits back down to play. A last-minute bathroom break Monday evening almost cost McAllister the title: He got down to only two ships remaining before rallying back.
