What drives a man to spend his time and money procuring a couple thousand copies of Burger King’s stealth-action advergame Sneak King? I have no idea, but wrestler and professional thumbtack enthusiast Leroy Patterson seems to be having a great time doing it.
Sneak King is a video game produced by Burger King for the Xbox 360 back in 2006. Alongside kart game PocketBike Racer, and bumper car battler Big Bumpin’, the games were sold in late November through December for four bucks with purchase of a value meal. Sneak King was a stealth-action game in which players take on the role of Burger King’s creepy plastic-headed, mascot attempting to deliver value meals to different customers. It proved the most popular of the three games. Despite smelling of grease and stale fries, more than 2.7 million copies of the trio were sold during the promotion.
Leroy Patterson plans to own as many copies of Sneak King as he possibly can. Over the weekend, the pro wrestler, who you may have seen diving into piles of thumbtacks on national television, posted a photo of his Sneak King collection on Reddit. At 2,706 copies he’s quite far from catching them all, while still possessing far more Sneak King than anyone should.
According to Mr. Patterson, his collection began with one copy of each of the three Burger King games. Then he stumbled upon 50 copies of Sneak King at a thrift store. With 51 copies to his name, he started collecting Sneak King in earnest as a joke. At around 200 copies, he started a YouTube channel with friend and fellow wrestler Bobby Ramos, dedicated to chronicling the collection process. In the second episode the pair rendezvous with a private collector in California, where they purchase one thousand copies of the game, which they somehow fit in Leroy’s tiny car.
If you ask Leroy Patterson why he’s doing this, his stock answer is, “If they are worth something someday, we are rich! If they are worth nothing, it’s a funny story and journey!” While I doubt the former will come to fruition, the latter definitely seems true. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to hang out with a friend and visit some mom-and-pop video game stores. And if it turns out the Burger King mascot is an actual demon from another dimension hungry for human souls, he’ll go after Leroy Patterson first, and we’ll all appreciate his brave sacrifice.
