Willis Gibson Makes History at the 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship
In the world of video games, it’s usually the game that beats the player, not the other way around. However, last month, 13-year-old Willis Gibson from Oklahoma accomplished something truly remarkable. He became the first person ever believed to have beaten the original Nintendo version of Tetris.
Reaching the “Kill Screen” at Level 157
Thirty-four years after its release, Gibson advanced so far in the game that it couldn’t keep up with him. At level 157, he reached the notorious “kill screen,” the point where the game becomes unplayable due to limitations in its original programming. It took him less than 39 minutes to get there.
“What happens is you get so far that the programmers who made the game never expected you to make it that far. And so the game starts breaking down and eventually it just stops,” explained Gibson.
A Rare Accomplishment
Gibson’s achievement is incredibly rare. Before him, only artificial intelligence had been attributed with reaching the kill screen. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, “Blue Scuti,” Gibson can be seen anxiously waiting for the game to crash as the Tetris stacks fall faster and faster. Moments later, the screen freezes, and he collapses in triumph, exclaiming, “Oh my god, yes! I’m going to pass out.” His score on the screen reads the maxed-out figure of 999999 (although his actual final score was 6.8 million).
The Challenge of Classic Tetris
In classic Tetris, players stack differently shaped blocks as they fall. The goal is to form solid lines by rotating the blocks and placing them strategically. When a solid line is formed, it disappears. However, if the blocks reach the top of the screen without forming solid lines, the game ends. As the game progresses, the blocks fall faster and faster, increasing the difficulty.
Gibson was drawn to Tetris because of its simplicity. He said, “[What drew me to Tetris] was mainly its simplicity. It’s easy to start playing it and understand it, but it’s very difficult to master it.”
A Rising Tetris Star
Gibson has been participating in tournaments since 2021. In October, he became the youngest person to make it to the Classic Tetris World Championship, where he finished in third place. Tetris is one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 520 million units sold worldwide. It was created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1985 and released by Nintendo Entertainment System four years later.
Gibson has been playing Tetris since he was 11 years old, dedicating three to five hours per day to the game. He dedicated his record-setting win to his late father, Adam Gibson.