Oklahoma-based 13-year-old Willis ‘Blue Scuti’ Gibson became the first human (previously only AI bots had completed the accomplishment) to ‘beat’ Tetris since the game was first released almost 40 years ago in 1985. Just shy of 40 minutes into a run, Willis reached level 157 (level 18 is displayed in the clip due to coding limitations in the game) and the score bar maxed out at “999999,” causing the game to freeze and in Tetris’ case award the player with a victory.
Willis practices Tetris around 20 hours each week and has already won several regional tournaments since he began playing competitively in 2021. His sights are set on winning the Classic Tetris World Championship, where so far his highest placement has been third. Willis has amassed $3,000 in prize earnings and dedicated his astonishing game-breaking win to his late father, Adam, who passed away last month.
Willis will compete in his next tournament at the end of the month in Waco, Texas.
Image from: The New York Times/David Macdonald
