Oklahoma Teenager Is First Known Human To Beat Tetris Video Game

An Oklahoma teenager is now the first person believed to have beaten the original Tetris video game three decades after the game debuted. 

Willis Gibson, 13, was live streaming himself playing the game under the screen name “Blue Scuti.” He’d been playing for 38 minutes and already reached Level 157 with a score of 999999 when he places a block that clears a line.

Immediately after the block clears the line, the screen freezes - signifying a “kill screen” - or that the game has crashed because the blocks were falling too fast. The iconic Tetris theme music also stopped and was replaced with tone.

Gibson reacts dramatically. With his mouth agape he shifts in his chair and repeats “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”

Then, he says, “I’m gonna pass out.”  

The video of Gibson beating Tetris has been viewed more than 1.7 million times on YouTube.

This is the first time the kill screen was achieved by a human, according to Vince Clemente, the president of the Classic Tetris World Championship. 

“It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago,” Clemente told the New York Times.  

The New York Times said Gibson practices the game about 20 hours a week.  

The CEO of Tetris Maya Rogers said Gibson’s “monumental achievement” is groundbreaking since the creators of the game didn’t think beating it was even a possibility.  

“Moments like these truly showcase the passion and dedication of Tetris enthusiasts. Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game,” Rogers said in a statement.