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Agence France-Presse

A US teenager has beaten classic computer game Tetris, forcing it into a game-ending glitch in a feat previously achieved only by artificial intelligence.
Willis Gibson, 13, a competitive gamer known as “blue scuti”, became the first human to reach the “kill screen” of the Nintendo version of the puzzle game, as fellow players followed his progress online.
“Oh my God!” Willis screams repeatedly towards the end of a more than 40-minute video he uploaded to YouTube this week.
“I can’t feel my fingers,” he adds breathlessly.


The emotion stands in stark contrast to the preceeding 35 minutes of gameplay in which Willis, from Oklahoma, sits mostly motionless while rapidly scrolling his fingers across a controller.
It also underlines this big achievement for a community of enthusiasts who play both online and in-person tournaments.
The ‘Cold War thriller’ behind Tetris, ‘the perfect game’, in Apple TV+ film
“It’s never been done by a human before,” Classic Tetris World Championship president Vince Clemente said, according to The New York Times.
“It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago.”
The brainchild of a Soviet software engineer, Tetris is a simple but highly addictive game in which players must rotate and manipulate falling blocks of different shapes to fit together and create solid lines inside a box.
Once a line (or two, three or four) is formed, it vanishes, leaving more space – and time – to shuffle the following blocks.
Blocks fall faster as a player progresses through the levels, all the way up to Level 29, which was for a long time believed to be the end of the game – the point where things move too fast for humans to react.
But a series of innovations over recent years have pushed the envelope, and players have found a way to keep going, beyond the capability of the ancient code that sustains the game.
For some time, competitive players have known there is a point at which the code bugs out and the game stops, but only another computer has been able to reach it.
Until December 21 when Willis was on Level 157 and dropped a piece into place that caused a single line of blocks to vanish, and the game to freeze.
Fellow players were quick to share the excitement, with Classic Tetris World Champion fractal161 – aka Justin Yu – shouting “He did it, he did it!” on his livestream.
Tetris chief executive Maya Rogers joined the celebrations, telling popsci.com it was a fitting achievement ahead of the 40th anniversary of the game in 2024.
“Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game,” a statement said.


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US teen Willis Gibson becomes first human player to beat ‘unbeatable’ Tetris

Willis Gibson reacting after beating Tetris. Photo: YouTube via AP

The story of Tetris, ‘the perfect game’, as told on Apple TV+: the ‘Cold War thriller’ behind its Nintendo Game Boy debut – and why we still love to play

Taron Egerton, left, and Nikita Efremov in “Tetris”. The 1989 launch title of the Nintendo Game Boy is called “the perfect game” in the Apple TV+ film about the backstory to its console debut. Experts explain why we love it still. Photo: TNS

From left, Togo Igawa, Nino Furuhata and Egerton in “Tetris”. Photo: TNS

Egerton, left, Sofia Lebedeva and Efremov in a scene from “Tetris”. Photo: AP

Efremov and Egerton in a scene from “Tetris”. Photo: AP

Alexey Pajitnov at the “Tetris” world premiere during the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival in Austin, in the US state of Texas, in March. Photo: AP

Director Jon S. Baird at the “Tetris” world premiere. Photo: AP

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From PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch controllers to the Meta Quest 3 VR headset to an arcade joystick for playing Street Fighter, 6 of the best gift options in 2023 for the video game lover in your life. Photo: Sony

A gamer plays a video game using a virtual reality headset. From PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch controllers to the Meta Quest 3, we look at six of the best gift options in 2023 for the video game lover in your life. Photo Shutterstock

Sony’s DualSense Edge controller. Photo: Sony

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The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X is a great headset at a good price. Photo: SteelSeries

PDP’s colourful Realmz controllers are a good option for children. Photo: PDP

The Epomaker EK75 keyboard is hefty, but users have to build it themselves. Photo: Epomaker

The Meta Quest 3 Virtual Reality Headset is helping bring VR to the masses. Photo: Meta

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Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) and Mario (Chris Pratt) in a still from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

(From left) Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) in a still from The Super Mario Bros. Movie (category 1), directed by  Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

Mario (left, voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) in a still from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Bowser (left, voiced by Jack Black) and Luigi in a still from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

(From left) Donkey Kong (voiced by Seth Rogen), Mario, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) in a still from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

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News

World

United States & Canada

Willis Gibson, who goes by the streamer name Blue Scuti, beat Tetris by forcing game into a ‘kill screen’
Previously, only an artificial intelligence computer program had beaten the classic Nintendo video game


Willis Gibson, 13, beat Tetris by forcing it into a game-ending glitch in a feat previously achieved only by artificial intelligence.


Nintendo

Esports

US teen Willis Gibson becomes first human player to beat ‘unbeatable’ Tetris

Willis Gibson, who goes by the streamer name Blue Scuti, beat Tetris by forcing game into a ‘kill screen’ Previously, only an artificial intelligence computer program had beaten the classic Nintendo video game

Willis Gibson, who goes by the streamer name Blue Scuti, beat Tetris by forcing game into a ‘kill screen’

Previously, only an artificial intelligence computer program had beaten the classic Nintendo video game