A 13-year-old American boy named Willis Gibson, also known as Blue Scuti, has achieved an incredible feat in the gaming world. He has become the first person to ever beat the iconic video game Tetris, marking a historic milestone in the game’s more than three-decade-long existence. The young gamer accomplished this impressive feat by forcing Tetris, the classic Nintendo game, into what is known as a kill screen.
In a video uploaded to YouTube on January 2, Gibson can be seen arranging the puzzle pieces in Tetris as they cascade down the screen. With anticipation building, he utters the words, Please crash, and moments later, his wish comes true as the game freezes. Overwhelmed with excitement, he repeatedly exclaims, Oh my God! during the gameplay.
Gibson’s achievement not only broke world records for the overall score, level achieved, and total number of lines but also marked the first time a human player has officially beaten Tetris. Until now, only an artificial intelligence computer program had managed to achieve this feat. The significance of Gibson’s accomplishment is not lost on Vince Clemente, the CEO of Classic Tetris World Championship, who described it as unbelievable.
What makes Gibson’s victory even more remarkable is his employment of a gaming technique known as rolling controller. This technique, popularized in 2021, allows players to manipulate the directional pad, or D-pad, at an astonishing rate of at least 20 times per second. This far surpasses the previously popular method of hyper tapping. The innovative approach adopted by Gibson showcases how gaming techniques continue to evolve over time.
Tetris, released in 1984 and developed by Alexey Pajitnov at the Moscow Academy of Science, quickly became a worldwide sensation. The game challenges players to rotate and connect seven different falling block shapes. With a remarkable staying power that spans generations, Tetris remains the best-selling video game of all time, with a staggering 520 million copies sold, according to The Tetris Company.
Gibson’s extraordinary feat not only highlights his exceptional gaming abilities but also serves as a testament to the enduring popularity of Tetris. As gamers around the world continue to push the boundaries and achieve remarkable milestones, it is clear that the allure and appeal of classic video games like Tetris remain as strong as ever.
