Arcade champ to set milestone in North Texas

DENTON, Texas - March 19, 2017 - PRLog -- For the past several years, veteran gamer Lonnie McDonald has been criss-crossing the country, rolling up high scores on an arcade classic. In 1982, Williams Electronics recognized him as the world champion on Joust, their biggest arcade hit that year. In the modern day, the 56-year-old has been aiming to prove he still has what it takes, posting a score of 9,999,999 on as many remaining Joust machines as he can find in the United States. His tour has crossed all 50 states, and continues this week through North Texas.

This Wednesday, March 22, McDonald will hit up the National Videogame Museum in Plano for what will be the 150th Joust machine he's proved himself on. The mission hasn't been easy, as only a fraction of the 26,000 machines built by Williams in 1982 still remain today. The U.S. National Video Game Team® member isn't sure how easy it will be to reach greater numbers, given how few of the machines remain.

"Few people realize just how many of the arcade games we loved way back when have been destroyed," said local video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson, who has followed McDonald's quest since the beginning. "They were once in every type of business across the country, but now most of them are in landfills. Lonnie's tour hasn't just established himself as the man on this arcade classic, but our difficulty in finding machines he can play on has truly exposed how few of these machines remain in tact. It's been a struggle to even find the 150 total he's about to reach."

McDonald's Joust quest will start around 10am on Wednesday, and it is expected to take him until 5pm to acheive the score he's aiming for. The National Videogame Museum is located at 8004 North Dallas Parkway in Plano.  They can be reached at (972) 668-8400.  For more information about McDonald's quest or the U.S. National Video Game Team®, call Patrick Scott Patterson at (940) 231-1211.