Bigger than the BurgerTime scandal of '83

One week from tonight, Oak Street Cinema kicks it old-school with Arcade Night, offering joystick jocks the chance to play vintage games on the silver screen. But before you go fantasizing about dazzling the public with your Pac-Man proficiency, you should know the score. See, the game "ends" at level 256 when a line appears down the middle of the screen, preventing the player from continuing. That's what happened six years ago when famed gamer and Rickey's Hot Sauce President Billy Mitchell finished the first-ever "perfect" game, collecting every dot, ghost, and piece of fruit without dying. But Mitchell's high score of 3,333,360 withers next to the 6,131,940 allegedly scored by 8-year-old Jeffrey R. Yee in 1982. Whether it's a matter of honor or simple jealousy over the letter of congratulations Yee received from President Reagan, Mitchell is now offering $100,000 of hot sauce money to anyone who can get past the infamous split screen in the presence of a rep from Twin Galaxies, the official video game record keepers. In contrast, vintage arcade champion Donald Hayes set a new Frogger record in March with 589,350 points. He received $250.