So I am flying home from a show last weekend and on the plane Derek Webb, Andrew Osenga, and I decide to watch this documentary called, “The King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters” about the ongoing saga of Billy Mitchell and his fight to hold the world record score on the classic arcade game, “Donkey Kong”.  On the surface you might think this sounds quite boring or even stupid, especially if you are not into video games or in the sixth grade.  Well, I am both, and it was awesome.

We made it through all but 12 minutes of the film when we were told to, “Put away all electronic devices and place your seat and tray tables in there upright position” by the flight attendant.  Well, believe it or not, that announcement came right at the “cliff hanger” moment.  NBC couldn’t have placed a commercial better.  I know you are thinking, how could a film like this draw the viewer in enough to care, but it does, and we were left hanging.  So I realized at that moment how I would use the gift card to BestBuy that had been in my wallet for the last year.

Billy Mitchell is the guy that holds the record and is quite confident that he cannot be knocked off of his throne.  He is very aware of the pedestal upon which he sits and he keeps it quite polished and heavily guarded.  You get the impression that he would go to ridiculous extremes to protect his position.  Steve Wiebe (wee-bee) is a guy with a wife and kids that just happens to like Donkey Kong and has enough obsessive compulsiveness to be quite good at it.  He has had a lot of experience in life with being good at things, but not the best.  However, he seems to have a strong family and solid friends that support him.  Steve is the likeable guy that you really want to win, but… I don’t want to give too much away. It is a great documentary that opens up the very odd world of classic gaming that I didn’t really know existed at the same time telling the ongoing story between two people with very different motivations and pursuits.

After finishing the film and watching some of the bonus features I kept thinking about Steve and his group of friends that really believed in him and wanted to see him succeed and what a great support that was for him, but I also had to ask, why is having the high score such a big deal?  It is clear that Billy and Steve are the 2 best players in the world.  Isn’t that enough? Steve’s10 year old daughter, Jilian, has the best line in the film.  She and her dad are riding to the tournament together and she says “I never knew that the Guiness world record book was so important.”  Steve replies, “Yea, a lot of people read that book.”  Jilian responds, “some people sort of ruin their lives to be in there.”  Wow, out of the mouths of babes.

What do I spend time pursuing and why?