Tetris, the classic video game that has been captivating players for nearly four decades, recently witnessed an extraordinary feat achieved by a 13-year-old prodigy from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Willis Gibson, the young Tetris virtuoso, became the first player to truly conquer the game, reaching an unprecedented level and achieving the “kill screen.”
Tetris, developed by Russian scientist Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, has been a gaming icon since its introduction. Despite its age, the game continues to attract players worldwide. Willis Gibson’s remarkable achievement, manipulating the cascading blocks for over 38 minutes until the game crashed, was captured in a video posted on his YouTube page.
Vince Clemente, the president of the Classic Tetris World Championship, emphasized the significance of Willis Gibson’s accomplishment, stating, “It’s never been done by a human before.” The elusive “kill screen” was long considered an unattainable goal until recent years when dedicated players started pushing the boundaries of what was deemed possible.
Tetris initially entered the gaming scene as a PC game but achieved monumental success in 1989 when it was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and bundled with the Nintendo Game Boy handheld console. The game posed a unique challenge – as players reached the 29th level, the falling pieces accelerated to a point where human reflexes couldn’t keep up, and only artificial intelligence had managed to beat the game.
Willis Gibson’s groundbreaking strategy involved innovative techniques like “hypertapping” and “rolling.” “Hypertapping” entails using directional arrows along with left and right buttons, allowing for faster controller movement. On the other hand, “rolling” involves delicately hovering a finger over the button to avoid unintentional inputs and then rolling fingers on the controller’s back to generate inputs.
In an interview with the Stillwater News Press, Willis elaborated on his approach: “Instead of manually just tapping each piece every single time, what you do is you hover your finger over the button just barely so it doesn’t cause an input left or right, and then you roll your fingers on the back of the controller. So each finger causes an input.”
Willis, also known by the gaming alias “Blue Scuti” in homage to the universe’s largest known star UY Scuti, previously secured the third position at the 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship in October. However, his historic achievement on December 21, where he played long enough to crash the game at Level 157, marks a monumental breakthrough.
The exhilarating moment captured in the video reveals Willis expressing his anticipation for the game to crash just after surpassing the 38-minute mark. At this point, the display incorrectly shows “Level 18” due to the game not being designed to reach such heights. The crash prompts Willis to jubilantly exclaim, “Oh, oh, oh,” raising his hands to his head, and humorously noting, “Yes. I can’t feel my fingers.”
In an interview with streamer ITZsharky on the Classic Tetris YouTube channel, Willis discussed the challenges he faced, particularly when nerves kicked in after 30 minutes of play. His mother, Karin Cox, shared the astonishing fact on Facebook that Willis, at the age of 13, is a professional Tetris player making more money each month than she did as a teenager.
Willis, who embarked on his Tetris journey at the age of 11, dedicated his historic win to his late father, Adam Gibson, who passed away on December 14 at the age of 39.
When asked by ITZSharky for a message to other young gamers, Willis imparted a valuable lesson: “If you set your mind to something and you put work into it, most likely you will get it if you try hard enough.” As Willis and other competitive gamers continue to strive for more efficient, higher scores, the world of Tetris witnesses a new chapter in its storied history with this remarkable achievement by a young virtuoso.