Seth Gordon didn't go looking for a fight when he started filming The King of Kong, a compelling (and Oscar-touted) documentary about the contentious world of arcade games. He just knew that he liked to hang out at the Fun Spot, a massive arcade sanctuary in the wilds of New Hampshire.

"It's one of my favourite places in the world," says the filmmaker on the line from his Los Angeles home. "I've been going there since I was a kid, in Chicago, and we spent summers in New Hampshire. Many other arcades went out of business, but Fun Spot is still there. And I was looking for an excuse to spend more time there."

The movie, subtitled A Fistful of Quarters in the U.S. market, illuminates the world of arcade gaming, which is dominated by precise sets of rules and etiquette that no one can quite agree on–mainly because the whole thing is being made up as it evolves. It was Gordon's producer, Ed Cunningham, who heard about the ongoing attempt to set a Guinness world record with an all-time high score in one particular game.

"When we watched this whole thing unfold, we never intended to make a movie about Donkey Kong. And we certainly weren't interested in making a movie about Steve Wiebe," he says of the mild-mannered Seattle dad whose unexpected controversy is at the centre of the nonfiction tale.

"The reason was that he's such a nice guy, I didn't see how he would make a good character. Everybody talked about him as if he was sort of a loser…But then we started to see that he's not a loser; he was just always Mr. Second Place Steve."

In the smoothly assembled film, here for six days starting Friday (December 14), it soon becomes clear that Wiebe was previously a professional baseball player and a versatile musician–but he is one of those people whose talents never knock anybody out.

"He just never got the brass ring," as the director puts it. This matters when he's pitted against Billy Mitchell, the game's all-time high scorer and clearly a guy who expects to win everything all the time, no matter what the consequences. Gordon describes the absurdly mulletted Mitchell as displaying a classic narcissistic complex.

"He's trying to project this self-love at all times, especially when the camera is rolling…He is, in my opinion, desperately afraid of failing and is constantly avoiding any situation in which he'll be proven to be anything less than what he claims."

Okay, it's not quite the stuff of Shakespeare, but this testicular rivalry is fleshed out by contrasting fans and family members–especially Wiebe's wife, who breaks through the boys'-only tone of the venture.

"It was remarkable to follow Nicole Wiebe, because it's only through her that we learn about the emotional intensity of the whole thing for Steve. She was surprisingly open about how she felt…and obviously I feel blessed that she was willing to go there."

Not so surprisingly, Mitchell didn't allow his partner to speak on-camera, and he came with many other caveats, as well.

"We weren't supposed to shoot him with Steve Wiebe," Gordon says with a laugh. "We weren't supposed to mention Steve Wiebe."

Since King wrapped, Mitchell has disavowed the project, calling it an unfair portrayal while claiming never to have seen it. And the rivalry continues, with subsequent scores available through Google. Mitchell may be kvetching, but Wiebe has found some kind of contentment as a high-school science teacher.

"Yeah, but just the sheer hours he has put into this thing says he's still pretty obsessed…part of him still wants to be on top."

Gordon, who spent his post–Fun Spot teen years in Seattle, has worked in almost every area of indie documentary–making. He produced, helped shoot, and edited New York Doll, an exemplary profile of bassist "Killer" Kane, and was a cinematographer for the two Dixie Chicks concert films.

Next year, he'll be writing and directing an acted version of The King of Kong. May we suggest Colin Firth and (gulp) Dane Cook as Wiebe and Mitchell?

Currently, though, he's switching to directing in the narrative-feature realm that he'd always hoped to invade. Since last week, he has been shooting Four Christmases, for release a year from now. It's a dysfunctional-family comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Glenn Close, Kathy Bates, and Robert Duvall.

So it looks as if somebody's getting that brass ring.