It was a grey British Sunday morning in Bury, Manchester. To the casual passer-by, one would be forgiven for simply walking past the old unassuming mill exterior and thinking nothing of it. But inside the confines of the Ela Mill on Cork Street, a historic moment was about to unfold. The Arcade Club, a whopping four-story arcade and home to over 400 classic and modern games, was the proud host of The UK’s first ever Kong Off, a competitive Donkey Kong arcade tournament.
32 players from five countries had travelled to the Arcade Club to compete in an elimination contest, putting their skills to the test in the 1981 classic. Nintendo’s Donkey Kong is remembered as being the game that kicked off the career of Jumpman, better known now, of course, as Mario. He has become inarguably the most recognisable face of video games, but today’s story is not about the famous Italian plumber. It’s about Super_Ninbendo, my oldest friend, Donkey Kong fanatic, and entrant into UK Kong Off 2026. For Super_Ninbendo, or Ben, as we’ll affectionately call him, this was his first foray into the competitive scene proper.
“I got into Donkey Kong following a visit for my birthday to the Pixel Bunker in Milton Keynes a couple of years back. We got there and I thought I’d give Donkey Kong a try, but that cabinet was actually unavailable that day. So initially, I actually decided to play Donkey Kong Junior instead. And let me tell you, man, I was hooked as soon as I started playing. I got back, and I started Googling how to play Donkey Kong Junior at home. I downloaded MAME (or Multi Arcade Machine Emulator), a free open-source emulator that’s essentially looked after by some custodians of retro gaming. Communities have formed, and people have contributed and been able to keep these old arcade classics alive.
So as I was looking into Donkey Kong Junior, I came across the Donkey Kong Forum which is an online community, which is basically made by Donkey Kong Fanatics from across the globe. It’s people from all countries in the world and they share best advice on how to play Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. And, I thought, I might as well play a bit of the original Donkey Kong while I’m playing Junior to see where it all started, and I’ve never looked back! That was around two or three years back, I would say, and ever since I have been hooked.”
– Ben (Super_Ninbendo), UK KONG OFF entrant
And so, Ben’s journey with Donkey Kong had begun. He fell in love with the community around the game, its willingness to offer advice to new players to pull each other up, and its welcoming atmosphere. Super_Ninbendo began documenting his journey across his Twitch and YouTube channels, regularly streaming gameplay, going for new high scores, practicing techniques and engaging with fellow members of the DK community.
And so, seeing that The UK was holding its inaugural Kong Off tournament, Ben decided to enter into the contest and to give it his best shot.
The UK Kong Off 2026
The format of the UK Kong Off 2026 tournament was set up with four initial sittings, where eight players each have an hour to rack up the best score that they can. Once all of the best scores are submitted, the highest 16 are successfully through to the next round, with the bottom 16 sadly being eliminated. The same would happen again, whittling the players down just the top eight, with a marathon session of three hours then deciding the final scores.
“I went to the Danish Kong Off last year, and somebody messaged me saying, this is great – why don’t we have one of these in the UK? And I thought, somebody needs to contact Arcade Club, that would be the place to have it and see if they’ll say yes. A couple of us looked into it and we think, all right – well maybe they’ll give us a couple of cabinets to use. They came back to us and said, no, no, we’ll give you eight, which was amazing!
So then, we just needed to decide on a date. I wanted a weekend date around eight or nine months in the future that worked for us and for the venue. So you call it, you come up with a date, you put it to bed, and it seems like this distant thing that’s a long way off, and then now suddenly we’ve arrived here! We were worried that we may not get even 10 people interested, but as it turns out, we had over 30 people sign up so it’s been great to see, and it’s very much been a multinational group of players. We’ve had entrants from Australia, from Europe – Sweden and Denmark, and a player from Germany.”
– Russell (Retro_Russ_), Co-Organiser of UK Kong Off 2026
So, the stage was set. The 32 players had been given their allocated time slot for the initial sittings, and Super_Ninbendo was in the final one. This meant that he would already know what 24 of the 32 players’ highest scores would be – a useful benchmark to play against, but also perhaps another factor that might add to the pressure and nerves in the moment.
“We initially expected the qualifying minimum to sit around 200,000, maybe 220,000 points, but it’s always impossible to tell on the day. Ben’s in the last sitting, which, in a way, is the most exciting one as it will ultimately decide the final qualifying placements.”
– Oli (8BitBoyUK), Co-Organiser of UK Kong Off 2026
Ben stepped up to his cabinet, one of eight on the stage which were set out for the tournament. His final reflections before starting were simply: “I’m hopeful. I’ve got a tight stomach, the pressure’s on, but I’m hopeful.” The clock started, and this final batch of initial players had that one hour window to lock in their best score.
His first run was a tumultuous one. His hands were trembling – this was the first time he had been playing on an actual Donkey Kong cabinet (rather than on MAME at home) in months. It was the first time that he had been playing the game in a competitive environment against other veteran players, and it was the first time that he was playing to a live crowd of spectators. Ben’s first run ended with a score of around 136,000 points – a very commendable score, and one that any casual player would struggle greatly to achieve – but it was likely not enough to comfortably qualify him.
While Ben’s struggle continued, I had the opportunity to speak with Geoff, or 80sArcadeKid, one of the other players, and an entrant who had travelled all the way from Australia to compete here in Manchester.
Donkey Kong is a cutthroat game, man, but that’s what makes it addictive. It’s a very harsh game, but it’s what makes it so competitive too. There’s a definitive end to the game – the kill screen. So trying to get maximum points before you reach that end is the task, and in the format of this competition you’re up against it with the clock too.
It’s an RNG-heavy game, but the better you get, the more you can manage, and you learn the skills to deal with whatever gets thrown at you. You learn the behaviors of the springs, the barrels and how to steer them. And then as you improve, it becomes less and less about that randomness and more about how you are able to perform.
There’s been a lot of discussion around the tactics of how to play with this format once we found out that it was an hour slot. It means you have to be ready to throw out a game and restart if you get a bad start within the first 10-15 minutes, to give yourself enough time to get a good qualifying score. I think the worst case scenario is that you die at around the 30 minute mark. Because all that’s going to happen there is that you get another 30 minutes so you’ll end up getting pretty much the same score again.
– Geoff (80sArcadeKid), UK Kong Off entrant
He didn’t know it at the time, but Geoff was describing Ben’s exact situation. His first run had come to an end with 30 minutes left on the clock – exactly half of the round remained. Geoff was right – restarting a game with half of your time remaining, or less, means that you are really up against the clock, and you’re unlikely to beat your last score without some serious speed or good fortune. Something must have clicked into place at this stage though, because, out of nowhere, he was locked in. Ben had overcome the nerves, he was energised and he was determined to qualify and make it into that upper 16 players.
“He’s really getting warmed up now. He’s oiled up and he’s in the groove – look at him go!”
– Geoff (80sArcadeKid), UK Kong Off entrant
Super_Ninbendo’s goal for the entire tournament had been to survive this first elimination round. He knew that there were some really skilled veteran players sitting beside him on the day, and some who had been playing and following the game far longer than he had. Some truly impressive scores exceeding 300,000 points were already on the scoreboard, so he needed a solid performance in this latter half of the sitting.
It was my aim to get through that first round. I’d been training for a number of weeks. But I kept thinking – what will happen if I lose all my lives? What if I get stung on the day with bad RNG or mess up? I’ve got to make it count.
I’ve kind of gone on a bit of a journey with it lately. I’ve been a little bit sad at times thinking, you know, my game isn’t up to scratch. Maybe I won’t make it through that round. You know, I’ve sort of bargained with myself to say, hey, it’s okay.
I’m sat there just telling myself, you’re here for the fun and ultimately, that’s true.”
– Ben (Super_Ninbendo), UK Kong Off entrant
Ben’s worries would ultimately be unfounded, though. In his final run of this sitting, he managed to rack up a total of over 208,000 points, placing him in 11th place out of the 32 players, meaning that he had qualified as one of the 16 players to make it to the next stage.
After a very brief reprieve, he was right back into the action. The next round was a similar affair – another hour slot for players to submit their highest scores – but the caliber of play was sure to be more impressive and more competitive now. The initial nerves had passed, but the intensity of the competition had increased.
It was tough to be back in the chair again almost back to back. I had found my groove though I think, and I was so chuffed to have qualified that I saw anything else after that as a bonus. I’m over the moon with that result – it’s unreal. But, I still had the second round to contend with, and some of the players there were just astounding.
– Ben (Super_Ninbendo), UK Kong Off entrant
The End of Super_Ninbendo’s Journey
Ben gave it his all, tactically resetting after a false start with an early death, maneuvering his way through the tight 60-minute deadline, but ultimately Super_Ninbendo’s run in the UK Kong Off 2026 came to an end before he could make it into the final eight. Ben’s final score for the second round was exactly 209,000 – a slightly higher score than his initial round, which placed him in a very respectable 13th place out of 32.
Part of me was relieved not to end up in the final. It was a three-hour session window. If you’ve seen my Sunday streams you will know that I very rarely play for more than two hours at a go.
It’s a game of psychology as much as it is a game of skill, and ultimately it’s about having your head in the right place. You’ve got to keep your head in the game and, if you’re playing for extended periods of time, at least in my experience, I find that not I’m not able to concentrate and actually get the best out of a session and I sometimes end up regressing and I’m never hitting personal bests.
It would have been crazy to make it to the final for sure. But I love that it allowed the people that could really showcase their skills to get the attention of the community and the wider audience to sort of stop and look and say, oh my god, look how good these guys are.
The crowds in the final were absolutely buzzing, crowded around those last few players. I really hope that it inspires them to think, hey – I want to play Donkey Kong now. I want to learn what it’s all about.
So, ultimately, very happy with the second round finish. I was relieved to have made it as far as I did, and actually just to enjoy the rest of the night as an audience member and a fan of the community.
– Ben (Super_Ninbendo), UK Kong Off entrant
The Show Must Go On
The average game of Donkey Kong lasts no longer than a couple of minutes. It is worth bearing in mind that for every score that you see, and every game that ends up running for upwards of 30 minutes, an hour, or longer, that the overwhelmingly vast majority of games amount to a few hundred or a few thousand points. It was a game designed during the infancy of video games as we have come to understand them today, and it was primarily made to keep players hooked, and keep them shoving their precious coins into the machine. It was not designed to be played at the high level of play that is seen today across competitive spaces – so much so that the game will actually stop entirely and come to an abrupt end at Level 22, the 117th “board”. This is known as the Kill Screen.
The Kill Screen is openly pined for on the UK Kong Off website – “we hope you can make it to the event at Arcade Club to cheer us on and hopefully see one or two killscreens!” Thankfully, for the audience watching, and for one very skilled player by the name of Jannick, or JM, this is exactly what went down during the final round. With a monumental final score of 898,600 points, JM took home the gold, travelling all the way from Denmark to compete. I was able to briefly speak with Jannick after his win, reflecting on the day’s events.
“Well, I thought that the first two rounds went pretty well, and then in the final round, I spent a good hour trying to get a good game going to try and get a million points.
And at some point I thought, I need to quit this, and just start running boards. Then, you know, I just went for it, my head was in the game and suddenly everyone is standing behind me and they’re saying “he’s almost at the kill screen!” It was a lot of pressure and a lot of stress, but, yes, a really great event.”
– Jannick (JM), UK Kong Off Entrant and Winner
The intense competition had come to an end, and the atmosphere was buzzing. The Kong Off had been going for almost 11 hours, and it had been an intense contest. With the final scores in, it was time for the top three players to receive their trophies and prizes, presented by none other than the legendary Walter Day, the “father of esports”, founder of Twin Galaxies, the trusted database for recording and authenticating high score records which has worked alongside Guinness World Records since 1983 in recognising video game achievements.
The top three players, Roanbag, Pinge_Hjo and JM, were all awarded Kong Off trophies, and Walter addressed the crowd with a speech, reflecting on the success of UK’s inaugural Kong Off competition.
We all know that just about the greatest competitive game of all time is Donkey Kong…(Well, and Defender, and Cheeky Mouse…all the big ones) [laughs]
It’s on your shoulders now to do this – and to bring the history of arcades forward in this manner. So, let’s see what you can do!
– Walter Day, Founder of Twin Galaxies
It’s a very supportive community. You can’t be an ass, and why would you want to be? If you’re having trouble with something, there are players out there who will give you feedback and hints about your game, guidance on what you’re trying to achieve, to minimise risks and that sort of thing.
And that’s exactly what happened with Ben. A guy called Justin, who is one of the best players in the world right now, he did a video for Ben looking at one of his streams and walked him through – this is what you do here, this is how to push it further. And sure, it can sometimes be a bit brutal having that feedback but that sort of mentorship is what makes this community what it is.
– Geoff (80sArcadeKid), UK Kong Off entrant
JM is due to be immortalised in trading card form after his excellent UK Kong Off performance, and now the scene looks on to what is coming next. Co-organisers Oli and Russ have both expressed an interest in running another UK Kong Off in the future, and Geoff is involved in the committee for the upcoming Kong Off in Australia in June. For a title that is over 45 years old, it’s resoundingly clear that there is still fierce life, love and passion for the game yet.
“We had just set out with a bunch of enthusiasts to have a good time, and I think we’ve gone much further than that. As an organiser, I’m not…very organised, to be honest! [Laughs] But there have been no disasters today, so that’s something. The team here have worked miracles to make sure everything was running smoothly for us before we kicked off, checking PCBs, and the CRTs – and it’s been great.
Everyone in the community has really come together and it’s been phenomenal to be a part of it. I’ve had a lot of help from Russ, everyone from Arcade Club, our sponsors and everyone involved today. Just an all-round success!”
– Oli(8BitBoyUK), Co-Organiser of UK Kong Off 2026
And as for Ben, what are his next steps? His first competition is now behind him, and he achieved the goal of making it into the top 16. What does the future hold for Super_Ninbendo, his streams, his goals?
It’s all up from here, both in the sense of my own personal Donkey Kong growth and also the community at large. My current personal best score is 494,500 points, achieved using MAME on my computer. I plan to continue upping my score, with a view of reaching the famous Killscreen (around 800,000 points), then I plan to start training for 1,000,000 points, all with the help of the wider DK community of course.
As for the scene, well – I think the UK Kong Off was only the beginning of what lies ahead. As the community is global, I think in order to keep interest strong and participation growing, it’s time for online events to start taking shape. In-person, community events are incredible, and I have no doubt there will be more of those, but for optimum accessibility and inclusiveness, and with the rise of access to full fibre optic broadband for global citizens, Twitch & YouTube live streaming will continue to to be the driving vehicle for Donkey Kong for many years to come, I hope! I will certainly do everything I can do make it happen. I sense that the UK Kong Off 2 will be a great success.
– Ben (Super_Ninbendo), UK Kong Off entrant
That brings this special feature following Ben’s foray into the UK’s first Kong Off to a close. Here’s hoping that Ben continues to climb higher in the Donkey Kong scoreboards, and that the UK Kong Off has a long life ahead of it. You can catch Super_Ninbendo on his Twitch Channel, with highlights and VODs saved to his YouTube.
Special thanks to everyone at the UK Kong Off who provided quotes for this feature, Arcade Club and the organisers for pulling the event together, and to Jess Smith for her photographs.
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