Joust whiz Lonnie McDonald to roll the machine at Up-Down on Wednesday

In Joust, the classic 1980s video game, the score counter only goes up to 9,999,999. To reach a score of 9,999,999 using a single quarter is known in the parlance of arcade enthusiasts as a “rollover.” 

This is not relevant information to most humans, or even to most players of Joust, the vast majority of whom never log a score anywhere near 9,999,999. But to Lonnie McDonald, the 54-year-old owner of a textile-care company in Grandview, rolling over Joust machines across the country lies somewhere between a hobby and an obsession. He’s currently on a quest to post his name next to a 9,999,999 on every Joustmachine in America. 

He started his journey a few years ago, and has since committed several acts of arcade heroics, such as rolling a hundred Joust machines in 100 weeks while traveling to 37 states in excess of 50,000 miles. He’s on six different video-game trading cards and holds 17 world records with four different organizations. 

Locally, he’s rolled over the machines at Powerplay in Shawnee, the Electric Theatre in Independence (which has since closed) and at Screenland in the Crossroads. (You can track his progress here.) 

On Wednesday, McDonald will attempt to roll over the Joust machine at Up-Down Arcade. He does not seem particularly nervous about achieving his goal. 

“It’ll take about five hours,” McDonald tells The Pitch. “I’ll get there around 2:30 p.m., make sure all the setting are right, and start playing at 3 p.m. I’ll have it rolled before 8 p.m. It’ll be the 105th machine I’ve rolled over.” 

McDonald is not the only Kansas City-based Joust icon. Steve Sanders, a character in the documentary The King of Kong, also calls KC home. The Pitch profiled him in 2009.