Space Invaders record toppled after 27 years

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Since 1982, Scott Safran's 41,336,440 points on the classic arcade game Asteroids has stood as one of the most heralded video game records of all time. That record has now been quashed, more than 27 years later.

 

John McAllister, a locksmith from Seattle, beat the score by a margin of 0.006%, scoring 41,338,740 points. It took a mind-boggling 58 hours to reach that score before McAllister finally lost all his lives. That's more than 2 days of playing non-stop. Yeah, non-stop. McAllister was unable to pause the game as he played the marathon session on his 1979 Atari console. Apparently, every few hours when he had racked up a bunch of lives, he would step away from the game for a break, but it would continue on and McAllister had to come back to resume before he lost too many lives. It is probably just the sheer exhaustion that finally got to him, as is evidenced by the fact that his score just barely eclipses the old record. Safran's score held the distinction of the longest-standing video game record ever. As soon video game records officiator Twin Galaxies verifies the play session, which was videotaped and streamed live online, McAllister will take his spot at the top of the Space Invaders charts.