A 13-year-old American teenager has become the first person to beat Tetris, the classic video game, which sent him to a “death screen”, that is, completely exhausted him. Willis Gibson, known on the platforms as Blue Scuti, let out a “Please, Peta” as he arranged the puzzle pieces falling across the screen. Moments later, his wish came true when the game froze and he repeatedly exclaimed “Oh my God!” in a video he uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 2.
During his performance, Gibson broke world records for total points scored, levels reached and total lines, according to 404 Media. “This is incredible,” Vince Clemente, CEO of the Classic Tetris World Championship, told Portal. “The developers didn't think anyone would go this far, and now the game has officially been defeated by a human.” So far, only one artificial intelligence program has beaten this more than three-decade-old game, Clemente said.
Willis uses a rolling controller technique popularized in 2021 that allows the player to manipulate the control pad or D-pad at least 20 times per second to move blocks, which is much more efficient than the previously popular method of pressing the buttons press as quickly as possible (hyper tapping), according to 404 Media.
Tetris was first released in 1984 and quickly became a worldwide sensation. It challenges players to rotate and match seven different shapes of falling blocks. Tetris was developed by Alexey Pajitnov at the Moscow Academy of Sciences during the Cold War and developed as a company by video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers. Tetris has demonstrated remarkable longevity and has endured across generations. According to The Tetris Company, it is the best-selling video game of all time, with 520 million copies sold.
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