MOLI VIEW™

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility," writes Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre. "They must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

So true. That notion is what packed video arcades across the country in the early ‘80s. Finally, us kids had something to do. And it wasn't just about "having action." Sure, you played all the games — Pac-Man, Galaga, Frogger — but the primary objective was to choose one and learn to kick crazy ass on it.

My game was Battlezone: the first arcade game, to my recollection, that had the capability of blowing things up in 3-D. I pumped quarters in that metal pimp like there was no tomorrow. Once I reached four-tank-comandress status, however, I became pretty satisfied with my achievement. I'd learned how to "nudge" a tank while scanning the horizon for saucers and missiles, and proven to my shaggy, slacker buddies that I could throw down with the boys. Life was waiting, as was graduation — it was time to get on with it.

For Billy Mitchell, described by Wikipedia as the "greatest arcade video-game player of all time," there is no life without games. The self-styled, mullet-sporting arcade wizard, now 42, rose to fame in 1982 when he set the world-record high score (874,300 points) for Donkey Kong. Subsequent victories (like playing the first ever "perfect" game of Pac-Man and achieving the record high score on Centipede) solidified his status as the golden boy of competitive gaming — but Donkey Kong, widely recognized as the most challenging of the classic games, is where Mitchell really cemented his cred.

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