World champion arcade gamer makes stop in Pineville to play at Wayback’s Arcade
Lonnie McDonald is known as the "Joustmaster"
PINEVILLE, La. (KALB) - The “Joustmaster” made a stop at Wayback’s Arcade in Pineville on Thursday, August 13.
Arcade gamer Lonnie McDonald is on a quest to max out the score on 250 classic Joust video arcade games in America. He’s already posted the highest score possible on 246 machines all around the country. He rolled into Central Louisiana to add Pineville to the list, taking about four and a half hours to beat the game. McDonald holds dozens of records and accolades for playing the game, including the Guinness World Record in a Joust doubles marathon.
“As I started playing them, more and more people in the gaming community would find out that I was playing and they would say ‘hey, there’s a Joust machine in this city, I have a Joust machine.‘ So, it came...not just Joust machines...but collectors who wanted me to play their games and so it really became a phenomenon,” says McDonald.
Wayback’s owner Jeremy Shepherd says, “Lonnie is just a true champion and for him to even consider making us one of the stops on his tour is a huge honor.”
McDonald was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame in 2016. His final four stops are in North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, and the last machine will be his very own in Kansas City.
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