A teenager from Oklahoma has made headlines as the first person ever believed to beat Tetris since the classic video game was released almost 40 years ago.
Willis Gibson broke world records for forcing the addictive puzzle game into a “kill screen” – something only ever previously achieved by AI.
The American boy, who goes by the streamer name Blue Scuti, uploaded a video of the historic feat on YouTube on 2nd January, during which he reaches level 157 in the game after playing for around 38 minutes. In the video, as blocks fall downward, the competitive Tetris player “prodigy” can be heard urging the game, “Please crash” – moments before the game freezes, prompting the teenager to repeatedly shout, “Oh my God!”
“Yes!” he exclaims, adding, “I’m going to pass out. I can’t feel my hands.”
13 year old Willis Gibson aka Blue Scuti became the first recorded person to beat Tetris causing the game to freeze after reaching level 157 pic.twitter.com/uRt3KOasTh
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) January 4, 2024
Only bots powered by artificial intelligence had ‘beaten’ Tetris, meaning that the signature puzzle pieces fall so fast that the game cannot continue. The game, popularised by Game Boy consoles and Nintendo, was first released in 1984 and remains a worldwide sensation, having become the best selling video game of all time, according to the Tetris company. But it had been thought impossible for humans to beat the game due to the puzzle pieces cascading down the screen too fast for them to place.
Chief Executive of Classic Tetris World Championship, Vince Clemente, told Reuters that the victory was “unbelievable,” adding that: “Developers didn’t think anyone would ever make it that far and now the game has officially been beaten by a human being.”
“It’s never been done by a human before. It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago,” Mr Clemente also told The New York Times.
The child broke the world record for the overall score achieved in the game, level reached, and the total number of lines in the classic Nintendo game, 404 Media said.
Maya Rogers, chief executive of Tetris, was among those who have rushed to congratulate the teenager, saying in a statement: “Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game.”
13-year-old Gibson has played the game since he was 11, and has been a competitor in several gaming tournaments. Writing on his YouTube channel, he said: “When I started playing this game I never expected to ever crash the game, or beat it.”