U.S. teen defeats “unbeatable” Tetris

Video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson, who has “beaten” the original Nintendo version of the game – reaching the "kill screen" and crashing the game


1985: Computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov develops Tetris in Soviet Union

1989: Nintendo Entertainment System version launches

1996: Tetris Company founded by Pajitnov and Henk Rogers. Tetris becomes best-selling video game of all time

Goal: Compete against computer which drops tetrominoes from top of screen

Rules: Blocks can be rotated and and moved around – challenge is to fill blank space in line at bottom of screen.

Line of blocks vanishes, lines above it move down to fill space and player is awarded points

Kill screen: Blocks fall faster as player gains points. Speed caps at Level 29 when blocks fall so fast it’s nearly impossible to respond

Hypertapping: In 2011, Thor Aakerlund reaches record Level 30 by fast tapping to beat game’s built-in speed limit

2018: Record broken by Joseph Saelee, who reaches Level 35

Rolling technique: Player Cheez speeds up response by vibrating underside of controller.
Cheez hits Level 40 in 2021

2022: Player EricICX reaches Level 95

Nov 2023: PixelAndy achieves Level 148

Dec 21: Gibson (left) – also known as Blue Scuti – reaches Level 157


Sources: Associated Press, Interaction Design Foundation
Picture: YouTube 
© GRAPHIC NEWS