A 13-year-old American, known as Blue Scuti, has become the first person ever to beat Tetris, pushing the classic Nintendo video game into a “kill screen.” Willis Gibson arranged the falling puzzle pieces, expressing a desire for the game to crash, and moments later, it froze, leading to his astonished exclamations captured in a video uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 2.
Gibson not only achieved this rare feat but also broke world records for the overall score, level achieved, and total number of lines, according to 404 Media.
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Vince Clemente, CEO of Classic Tetris World Championship, expressed disbelief, stating, “Developers didn’t think anyone would ever make it that far, and now the game has officially been beaten by a human being.” Previously, only an artificial intelligence computer program had managed to beat Tetris.
Willis Gibson utilized a “rolling” controller technique, popularized in 2021, allowing players to manipulate the directional pad at least 20 times per second to move the blocks—far surpassing the previously popular “hyper tapping” method, as noted by 404 Media.
Tetris, first released in 1984, quickly became a global sensation, challenging players to rotate and conjoin seven different falling block shapes. Created by Alexey Pajitnov during the Cold War at the Moscow Academy of Science and developed as a business by gaming entrepreneur Henk Rogers, Tetris has displayed remarkable staying power, spanning generations.
According to The Tetris Company, it holds the title of the best-selling video game of all time, with 520 million copies sold. Willis Gibson’s achievement adds a new chapter to the enduring legacy of Tetris, showcasing the ongoing appeal and challenges presented by this iconic game.
