Since its initial launch in 1984, Tetris had remained unbeaten for nearly four decades until a teenager from Oklahoma, Willis Gibson, beat it on Dec. 21, 2023.
Tetris CEO Maya Rogers congratulated the 13-year-old on the achievement, per Fortune. She called his accomplishment “a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game.”
Gibson, playing with the gamer tag “blue scuti,” reached the “kill screen,” which caused the game to crash after reaching level 157.
Fox News wrote, “That might not sound like much of a victory to anyone thinking that only high scores count, but it’s a highly coveted achievement in the world of video games, where records involve pushing hardware and software to their limits. And beyond.”
The video of Gibson beating the game was posted to X on Jan. 8, and has already gotten over 130,000 views. A screen recording of the game appears next to footage of Gibson reacting to his win. He held his hands to his face, breathing deeply, for over 20 seconds before saying, “I’m gonna pass out. I can’t feel my fingers. I can’t feel my hands.”
NBC reported that the middle schooler won third place at a world Tetris competition in Oregon in October and holds the Gameboy world record for Tetris.
Gibson posted the complete recording of his game to YouTube on Jan. 2. The video is 42 minutes long and has 1.7 million views.
He captioned the video, “When I started playing this game I never expected to ever crash the game, or beat it. This run was also the Overall Score, Level, Lines, and 19 Score world record.”
Several gaming platforms have been recognizing Gibson’s feat on social media. On Jan. 3, The Game Awards with 1.3 million followers posted, “Willis ‘Blue Scuti’ Gibson, 13, of Stillwater, Okla., is the first known person in the world to fully beat TETRIS in 34 years.”
The French news account Cerfia congratulated Gibson as well, saying, “Willis #Gibson, a 13-year-old American, became the first person IN THE WORLD to complete the game #Tetris.”