A13-year-old Willis Gibson, known by his streamer Blue Scuti, has become the first person to conquer Tetris, the iconic Nintendo video game, sending it into an unprecedented “kill screen.”
Gibson’s groundbreaking achievement unfolded in a video uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 2. This video captured the moment as he strategically arranged the falling puzzle pieces. With a whispered plea of “Please crash,” the game froze moments later, leaving him in astonished disbelief, repeatedly exclaiming “Oh my God!”
404 Media, reporting on this remarkable accomplishment, disclosed that Gibson shattered multiple world records for the overall score, level achieved, and total number of lines during his gameplay.
“This is unbelievable,” remarked Vince Clemente, CEO of the Classic Tetris World Championship, in response to Gibson’s groundbreaking achievement. “Developers didn’t think anyone would ever make it that far, and now the game has officially been beaten by a human being.”
Until Gibson’s feat, Tetris had only been conquered by an artificial intelligence computer program, Clemente noted, underscoring the significance of this unprecedented victory by a human player.
The young prodigy employed a unique “rolling” controller technique, popularized in 2021, enabling players to manipulate the directional pad (D-pad) at a staggering rate of at least 20 times per second to maneuver the falling blocks. This innovative approach surpassed the previously popular “hyper tapping” method, according to 404 Media.
Tetris, a gaming phenomenon introduced in 1984 that swiftly captivated a global audience, challenges players to rotate and align seven distinct falling block shapes in a continuous puzzle-solving frenzy.
Conceived by Alexey Pajitnov at the Moscow Academy of Science amid the Cold War era and nurtured into a gaming sensation by entrepreneur Henk Rogers, Tetris has demonstrated enduring popularity, transcending generational boundaries.
With a staggering 520 million copies sold, The Tetris Company hails Tetris as the best-selling video game of all time, symbolizing its unparalleled cultural impact and sustained relevance in the gaming landscape. Gibson’s groundbreaking triumph not only marks a personal milestone but also rekindles fascination and appreciation for this timeless classic.