FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Motherboard

The New Kings of Kong

Motherboard traveled to Denver, Colorado, to attend The Kong Off 3, the Donkey Kong world championship. During four loopy days of shooting, we witnessed first-hand the drama of a showdown between a video game's top contenders.

Hank Chien is an affable 39-year-old Harvard graduate with his own plastic surgery practice in Queens, NY. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the original arcade version of Donkey Kong, with an astronomical score of 1,138,600 points. Being at the top has put a target on Hank, whose fiercest adversary is 22-year-old Vincent Lemay, a self-described "meathead" who currently holds the third-highest score in the world, and who's fueled by an outlook on gaming that can only be summed up as brawn over brains.

Ever since Hank won the inaugural Kong Off at Richie Knucklez Arcade Games in Flemington, NJ back in 2011, Vince has been nipping at Hank's heels. His guiding mission in life now, other than getting Hulked out at the gym, is annihilating Hank at Donkey Kong.

Last month, Motherboard traveled to Denver, Colorado, to attend The Kong Off 3, the highly anticipated and near-capacity Donkey Kong world championship, held at the 1UP arcade and bar. During four loopy days of shooting inside a subterranean cave of amusement, which assaulted our senses with flashing lights, blippity bloops, and killscreens, we witnessed first-hand the drama of a showdown between a video game's top contenders.

Read the rest on Motherboard.