A teenager from the United States has defeated the famous computer game Tetris, driving it into a game-ending bug, a feat previously accomplished only by artificial intelligence.
Willis Gibson, 13, also known as “blue scuti,” a competitive gamer, became the first human to reach the “kill screen” of the Nintendo version of the puzzle game, as fellow players tracked his progress online.
“Oh my God!” Willis yells many times at the end of a nearly 40-minute video he posted to YouTube this week.
“I can’t feel my fingers,” he says quickly.
He Sits Mostly Still While Swiftly Scrolling His Fingers across a Controller
The intensity contrasts sharply with the previous 35 minutes of gameplay, during which Willis, from Oklahoma, sits mostly still while swiftly scrolling his fingers across a controller.It also emphasizes this significant achievement for a community of fans who participate in both online and in-person contests.
“It’s never been done by a human before,” Classic Tetris World Championship president Vince Clemente told The New York Times.
“It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago.”
Tetris Is a Basic but Immensely Addicting Game Created By a Soviet Software Developer
Tetris is a basic but immensely addicting game created by a Soviet software developer in which players must twist and control falling blocks of various shapes to fit together and construct solid lines inside a box.
Once a line (or two, three, or four) is established, it vanishes, giving more space – and time – to shuffle the blocks that follow.
Blocks fall faster as a player proceeds through the stages, all the way up to Level 29, which was long thought to be the game’s endpoint — the point at which everything moves too quickly for humans to react.
Fellow Players Were Eager To Share Their Joy
Fellow players were eager to share their joy, with Classic Tetris World Champion fractal161 – aka Justin Yu – exclaiming on his livestream, “He did it, he did it!”
Tetris CEO Maya Rogers joined in the celebrations, telling popsci.com that it was a suitable milestone ahead of the game’s 40th anniversary in 2024.
“Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game,” according to a press release.
