High-score keepers Twin Galaxies under new management again

Twin Galaxies, which for more than 30 years was considered the final authority in video game high score records, is under new ownership, its third different regime in the past three years.

The video gaming personality Jace Hall declared himself the "Head Custodian and Caretaker" of Twin Galaxies and its records, whose online database had disappeared from the Internet in the past year. The previous ownership, two arcades where many high score attempts have been made over the year, took over Twin Galaxies in 2012 and announced plans to charge score-chasers for refereeing their submissions.

Hall referenced that in a series of promises he made as Twin Galaxies' new overseer. "As long as Jace Hall is the Head Custodian and Caretaker of Twin Galaxies, Twin Galaxies will never be charging for score submissions or adjudication ever again. Period." He also promised the return of the Twin Galaxies website within the next 30 days.

Twin Galaxies was founded in Ottumwa, Iowa in 1981 by Walter Day, who compiled a scoreboard that, in 1982, became recognized as the national high-score database for dozens of video games at the beginning of the arcade video game boom. Twin Galaxies in 2008 and 2009 was the official certifier of high scores for Guinness World Records. It figured prominently in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about the pursuit of the world record high score in Donkey Kong.