Two Dog Zoo

We watched “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” on Friday night. The movie is based on the machine Donkey Kong, and a couple of men who are aiming to be the World Champion. One all ready is, Billy Mitchell, and one (Steve W) is contending to take that title away. It’s shot documentary style, and is quite fascinating to watch.

The characters are real people, not made up folks. Sometimes real life is more interesting than anything you can write. You watch as it’s “Man vs. Man” as Billy and Steve try to outdo the other. It’s also “Man vs. Machine” as these guys go against a simple machine, that can drive you crazy when you play it.

My son has an old arcade Donkey Kong machine signed by Billy Mitchell. He got it for Christmas. You can read that story by clicking on the link above. With that piece of information, you can imagine how excited my son was to watch this movie. He knows the ins-and-outs of “Twin Galaxies” (an official score keeping company), and the frustration of trying to slowly improve his game.

There’s an arcade up in New Hampshire called “Fun Spot” which is the place to be, to beat a record. We got to watch as Steve got a kill screen at the end of the game. His obsession took him from Washington to this New Hampshire arcade hot spot to beat the game and set a world record. I can’t tell you all the details, because I don’t want to ruin the movie for you. Let’s just say Billy has something up his sleeve. On a side note: Doris was adorable.

Coincidentally, I had all ready told my son this summer, probably in August, I’d take him up to Fun Spot so he could play at that arcade. Rich over at RichieKnucklez.com had told us about it. It’s a 6 hour drive, so I’m not in a hurry to get up there right now! As for Hollywood, Florida, the home of Billy Mitchell and the rest of the story in “King of Kong”, I’ll be in Florida in July, and my son wants to visit Billy’s restaurant. We’ll see how far of a drive it is from Orlando. Either way, my son was loving the movie.

When you get to the end of the movie, watch the credits.

…and by the way, my son pointed out that the credits are all ready outdated, because Twin Galaxies has posted Billy’s latest score, which was done by referee!

I’m not sure what to say about this movie, because it’s not like anything you’ve seen before! Just go watch it, rent it, buy it and enjoy it.

Who watched? Myself (40), Husband (42), Son (13)
Total Scores? All three of us gave it a big thumbs up!