Play N Trade Franchise, Inc., one of the fastest- growing franchises worldwide, announces that Chris Chike, reigning Guinness World Record holder for the highest score in the Guitar Hero III(tm): Legends of Rock video game, has been crowned the National Play N Trade National Guitar Hero III Champion, with a score of 889,256.  

Local tournaments were held March 15 and 16, with close to 1,000 gamers at more than 100 Play N Trade video game stores across the country competing. All local winners played "Through the Fire and the Flames" as made famous by Dragonforce, at the Expert level on an Xbox 360.  

Chike, 16, had the highest score, racking up 98% "Notes Hit" and a 1,105 "Note Streak" and won $2,000 in-store credit. A junior at Century High School in Rochester, Minnesota, he made the two-hour drive to compete in the tournament at the Bloomington, Minnesota Play N Trade.   

"I’m very excited, because the competition was really tough all the way through and my Play N Trade tournament score is higher than when I won the World Record with 870,647 points," Chike said. "But I still haven’t scored as high in any tournament event as I have when I’ve played at home."  

Daniel Juarez from San Antonio, Texas placed second, scoring 751,077, and Mike Holmes from Lexington, Kentucky captured the third place spot with a score of 739,674. Juarez won PlayStation(r) 3 and Guitar Hero III bundles, plus $500 in-store credit, and Holmes was awarded a Guitar Hero III bundle plus $200 in-store credit. 

"Our tournaments are attracting the best players in the world, because they know that Play N Trade stores are designed with gamers in mind," said Ron Simpson, founder of Play N Trade. "Hard core enthusiasts, casual gamers and their friends and family know that Play N Trade is the best place to come in, talk about games, play games and meet other local players. The tournaments are even more fun because top players are competing to find out who really is best. The prizes are great, but having the crowd cheer them on as they show off their best moves is what really appeals to gamers."