The History of Tetris World Records

0:02Tetris. We all know it and we all love

0:05it. Few games have had the lasting

0:07legacy of Tetris. There have been

0:09versions released on nearly every

0:11console and smartphone ever made. And to

0:14this day, these new versions remain

0:16popular among fans and casual gamers

0:18alike.

0:19But perhaps the most well-known version

0:22of Tetris is the version released on the

0:24Nintendo Entertainment System back in

0:261989.

0:28Gamers never stopped playing it ever

0:30since its initial release. And in recent

0:32years, it's absolutely exploded in

0:35popularity.

0:37There are huge in-person tournaments,

0:39monthly competitions online, and most

0:42importantly, a crazy chase for the high

0:45score world record.

0:47This record has had 35 years of history

0:50featuring some of the best players to

0:52ever pick up an NES controller.

0:55And it has one of the most insane

0:57stories from start to finish that I've

0:59ever seen. This is the history of NES

1:03Tetris world records.

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2:34There are two main concepts to

2:35understand in NES Tetris, the scoring

2:38and the level system. We'll start with

2:41the scoring. Like with most versions of

2:43the game, you accumulate points in NES

2:46Tetris by clearing lines.

2:48You get a different amount of points

2:49depending on how many you clear at once,

2:52but by far the most valuable score is

2:54getting a Tetris.

2:56The only way to score one of these is by

2:58using the long piece vertically to clear

3:00four lines. So, ideally, players try to

3:04score as many Tetris's as possible by

3:06leaving a column open on the right side

3:08to drop a long bar when it comes.

3:11Then, there's the level system. The

3:14higher the level, the more points you

3:16get per line cleared. So, ideally, you

3:18want to start on the highest level

3:20possible, which is level 19.

3:23However, on level 18, blocks descend a

3:26row every three frames, while starting

3:29on level 19, they descend a row every

3:31two frames, which is significantly

3:34harder.

3:35So, top players would generally start on

3:38level 18, where they could play for a

3:40while at a more reasonable speed at

3:42barely any score cost.

3:45After 130 lines cleared at level 18, the

3:48game transitions to level 19, and then

3:51moves up a level for every additional 10

3:53lines.

3:55Luckily, levels 19 through 28 all have

3:58the same descent speed, although you

4:00keep earning more points as the level

4:02increases. This is an extremely brutal

4:05speed to play on, but if you manage to

4:07make it all the way through level 28,

4:10then you reach level 29, also known as

4:13Tetris's kill screen.

4:17A kill screen is a level deep into a

4:20game that's usually impossible to beat

4:22because of a glitch. Pac-Man has the

4:24most famous one. The game's 256th board

4:28has a glitched right side and doesn't

4:30spawn all the dots needed to beat it.

4:33Donkey Kong has another example, where

4:35you run out of time just seconds into

4:37the game's 117th screen.

4:40Tetris's kill screen, on the other hand,

4:43has nothing to do with a glitch. It's

4:45the intended end to the game, because

4:48starting on level 29, pieces begin to

4:50fall so fast that it becomes unplayable.

4:55This is Tetris's kill screen.

5:07Even if you begin holding a direction

5:09before the piece spawns, it's physically

5:11impossible to move the piece to the side

5:14in time.

5:15Pieces descend a row every single frame,

5:19twice the speed of level 28.

5:22Now, it's actually possible to process

5:24what's happening at this speed, and know

5:26where you want the pieces to go,

5:29but the fact is, you just can't get them

5:31there.

5:32It's a game hardware limitation, rather

5:34than a human hardware limitation.

5:37If you're very lucky, you might not need

5:39to move your pieces far, and you can

5:41clear a line or two.

5:43But, just like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong,

5:45your game is bound to end within seconds

5:48after reaching Tetris's kill screen.

5:50So, the game is definitely over at level

5:5229.

5:54But, before that point, you have 230

5:56lines to work with and try to score as

5:58many points as possible.

6:00And it just so happens that the point

6:02display in the upper right corner only

6:05has six digits, meaning the highest

6:07score it can display is 999,999

6:12points.

6:13So, naturally, the question arose.

6:16Was it possible to max out the score

6:18before the kill screen kicked in?

6:27Well, in order to get a max out, you

6:29have to make the most of your 230 lines.

6:32That means getting as many Tetris's as

6:34possible while avoiding other clears

6:37that eat into your 230 lines, otherwise

6:39known as a burn.

6:41It's extremely risky to play this way.

6:44You might need to build your stack up

6:46very high while waiting for a long bar.

6:49And there's not a moment of rest. You

6:51can't break your focus for even a

6:53second.

6:54But, as brutal as the difficulty is,

6:56it's technically just possible to max

6:59out the score before the kill screen

7:01kicks in. And there are actually reports

7:04of people doing it all the way back in

7:06the '90s. It's difficult to determine

7:08how to treat these claims. Standards

7:11were different back then, and none of

7:12these claims have a full video to go

7:14along with them.

7:16However, some have more proof than

7:18others.

7:20Thor Ackerlund, winner of the 1990

7:22Nintendo World Championships, is

7:25reported to have maxed out the game in

7:26the early '90s.

7:28He didn't record his game, but being the

7:30literal winner of the Nintendo World

7:32Championships, he was one of the best

7:35Tetris players in the world at the time.

7:38Judging by his skills and the testimony

7:40of people who watched him play, it's

7:42very likely that his claim was

7:43legitimate.

7:45Another max out claim appeared in a 1992

7:48edition of Nintendo Power magazine from

7:50a player named Scott Anderson.

7:53Very little is known about Anderson

7:55today, but in order to get your score in

7:57Nintendo Power, you did need to have

8:00photo proof. So, there's a decent chance

8:02his score was legit, too.

8:04And another player, J W Tetris, claimed

8:08a max out back in 1996 that seemed to

8:11have no proof. But 25 years later, he

8:14managed to uncover a VHS tape of the end

8:17screen that sure enough showed all

8:19nines.

8:21While it still lacks concrete video

8:23proof, this is probably the claim with

8:25the most evidence and is very likely

8:27legit.

8:28Then, by the 2000s, all sorts of max out

8:32claims appeared on internet forums. None

8:34of them had video proof, and honestly,

8:37they're really hard to judge.

8:39Some seem more suspicious than others,

8:41but just like with the claims from the

8:4390s, it's really impossible to say which

8:46of these internet claims were legit.

8:48Some provided their names, while others

8:51used pseudonyms or usernames.

8:53And in 2001, a max out claim popped up

8:56on plutobc.com

8:59from someone named Jonas.

9:02Just like all the other claims, Jonas

9:04didn't have any proof to back up his

9:06score. So, his claim was lumped in with

9:08all the rest.

9:09However,

9:11in 2005, a man named Trey Harrison was

9:14trying to accumulate videos of Tetris

9:16performances to put up on his website,

9:19tetris-master.com.

9:21He was looking for a recorded max out.

9:24And sure enough, in the replies, up pops

9:28Jonas again, saying he just recorded one

9:30on tape.

9:32Jonas dropped the video off at Trey's

9:34house. Trey uploaded it onto his

9:36website.

9:38and it was then that the world was first

9:40able to see on video a max out score of

9:44NES Tetris.

9:46A score showing all nines by future

9:49Tetris legend Jonas Neubauer.

9:56What you're watching is a massive piece

9:59of gaming history.

10:00These scores have been rumored for over

10:02a decade but finally one was captured on

10:05video and the footage is very

10:08impressive. Jonas started on level 18

10:11and to make the level transition he

10:13first had to clear 130 lines.

10:16He ended up getting 92 of those lines

10:18via Tetris's for maximum points while

10:21just 38 were from burns.

10:24From there Jonas was playing at the

10:26brutal speed of level 19 but he still

10:29had to keep landing Tetris's.

10:32His score was inching up as the levels

10:34climbed higher. He needed the max out

10:36before hitting level 29. On level 28 he

10:40was still 60,000 points away with only

10:4210 lines to work with

10:44but he managed to get one Tetris and

10:47then with just a single line to go

10:49before the transition he got one final

10:52Tetris. The kill screen kicked in and

10:54the score read all nines.

10:57Over the course of 8 and 1/2 minutes

10:59Jonas had hit a max out on NES Tetris

11:03and finally it was documented for anyone

11:06to see.

11:07The feedback online was all positive.

11:09Everyone was thrilled to be able to

11:11watch an official Tetris max out.

11:14However, this video did have one

11:16problem. There was no game audio

11:19included. That meant Jonas couldn't

11:21submit it as a world record anywhere.

11:24But that didn't take away from the

11:25legitimacy of the performance.

11:27Jonas Neubauer had established a name

11:30for himself as a Tetris master.

11:33Only question was,

11:35now that someone had maxed out the game,

11:37what was there left to do?

11:46Over the following few years, while

11:48competitive retro gaming was still in

11:50its infancy, more people gravitated

11:52toward playing NES Tetris.

11:55Even though Jonas had maxed out the

11:56score, it remained a popular game and

11:59others tried to replicate his

12:00achievement.

12:01Between 2008 and 2014, more than a dozen

12:05other people were able to achieve max

12:07outs in NES Tetris.

12:09And even though their scores were

12:11officially tied, there were still ways

12:13to compare max outs to each other.

12:16Ultimately, two different methods of

12:18competing became popular.

12:21Method number one, going for the

12:23earliest possible max out. In Jonas's

12:26game from 2005, he hit the max out right

12:30as the level transition to 29. In other

12:32words, at the last possible moment.

12:36But the more Tetris's you hit, the

12:38earlier you can max out and the more

12:40impressive the achievement.

12:42In April 2009, Harry Hong produced the

12:45first recorded max out with game audio.

12:48And he was able to get the max out

12:50slightly earlier than Jonas, late in

12:53level 28 rather than on the transition

12:55into level 29.

12:57Harry was one of several people who

12:59claimed a max out on internet forums

13:01years prior, but now he had recorded

13:04proof, too.

13:05In early 2012, a player named Matt Buco

13:08recorded a game where he maxed out in

13:10mid-level 26,

13:13much quicker than previous max outs.

13:16He landed Tetris after Tetris starting

13:18in level 19, which is where he pulled

13:20away from previous players.

13:23And then, there were a couple claimed

13:25early max outs.

13:27Harry Hong claimed an early level 26

13:30maxout on tape, but he didn't upload the

13:32score, only claiming it on a Tetris

13:34forum.

13:35And in August 2014, a player named Terry

13:38Purcell reportedly maxed out in late

13:41level 25.

13:43This score used to have video, but it's

13:45since been deleted from YouTube.

13:48Most of these players' only goal was to

13:50get an early maxout. As soon as that

13:52happened, they stopped playing and let

13:54the game end, even if it was several

13:56levels before the kill screen.

13:58However, not everyone did this, and

14:01that's why there was a second method of

14:04competing.

14:05Playing the game all the way to the kill

14:07screen, and then manually calculating

14:09the score later.

14:11In other words, trying for the highest

14:13score possible.

14:16Even though the score doesn't display

14:18higher than all nines, you can still add

14:21up all the points achieved after this to

14:23determine your true score.

14:25For instance, in Jonas's first ever

14:27maxout, he got a Tetris while his score

14:30read this.

14:32That meant he added 36,000 points, and

14:35his score actually finished at 1,018,160

14:40points.

14:41And so, this became another method of

14:44determining whose maxout was best.

14:47In 2008, Jonas achieved another kill

14:50screen that finished slightly higher

14:52than his 2005 maxout, 1,023,860

14:57points.

14:58However, since he used a camera from the

15:001800s, this was never verified as an

15:03official world record.

15:05In 2011, while recording himself for a

15:07documentary, Thor Ackerlund achieved a

15:10score of 1,043,000

15:13points. And a couple years later, a

15:15player named Ben Mullen took the score

15:18even higher, 1,071,000

15:21points, before the kill screen took over

15:24to end his game.

15:26However, if the players going for the

15:28earliest max out had finished out their

15:30games, it's possible they would have

15:32achieved higher scores than these.

15:34Terry Purcell's level 25 max out is

15:37reported to have finished all the way at

15:391.195

15:41million, but without video proof, this

15:43can't be verified.

15:45And although Matt Buco's score of level

15:4726 cuts off right here, he claims to

15:50have kept playing this game all the way

15:52to the kill screen. And in the comments,

15:55he says he'd upload the rest when he got

15:56home. Well, it's 12 years later and

15:59apparently Matt still hasn't returned

16:01home.

16:03So, the community was split between

16:05these two methods. Some wanted to go for

16:07the earliest max out, while others

16:09wanted to go for the highest score.

16:11The big problem was the score display.

16:14Since it only had six digits, it wasn't

16:16intuitive to keep playing after it maxed

16:18out. It led to two different sides of

16:21competitive play.

16:23And these sides wouldn't converge until

16:26one key event in 2015.

16:35This is a Game Genie code discovered by

16:37max out player Josh Tolls. It changes

16:40the leading digit of the score into

16:42hexadecimal, meaning that after nine,

16:45the score keeps counting up. A

16:47represents 1 million, B represents 1.1

16:51million, and so on.

16:53This meant that the max out no longer

16:55applied and the score was no longer

16:57capped at a million. So, it ultimately

17:01garnered the nickname the uncapped code.

17:04Josh posted his code on the Tetris

17:06forums and it was treated as a fun

17:08novelty, but some saw potential for more

17:11with it. And in April 2015, Harry Hong

17:15began attempts to set a new high score

17:17with the uncap code. On April 23rd, he

17:20played a game that maxed out in level

17:2228, then took it to the kill screen and

17:25finished with 1,101,000

17:28points.

17:29This was the first verifiable game to

17:31score over 1.1 million. And a few days

17:34later, he got one even better. A max out

17:37in level 26 that ultimately finished at

17:401,150,000

17:43points.

17:44But after these records from Harry, the

17:46competition for the high score record

17:48died down.

17:49Harry Hong was one of few players who

17:52both cared about the high score record

17:54and was potentially good enough to

17:56improve it.

17:57So, when he stopped trying for it, there

17:59was no competition to take it from him.

18:02Instead, in 2016, he came up with a goal

18:05of achieving as many max outs as he

18:07could in a year, rather than improving

18:10the uncap record.

18:12268 max outs later, the high score

18:15remained at 1.15 million.

18:18But in 2017,

18:20Harry came up with a new goal for his

18:22stream. He was going to go back to

18:24playing with the uncap code and try for

18:27a 1.2 million point game.

18:30This would surpass the highest claims

18:32from over the years and be an undisputed

18:35world record.

18:36Harry played for weeks, building up his

18:39skills, but falling short of the 1.2.

18:42He'd need an early max out in level 25

18:45or better, and then still need to land

18:48several more Tetris's before the kill

18:50screen.

18:51A score like this demanded near

18:52perfection.

18:54But after months of attempts, on April

18:5614th, 2017, Harry got a good score

19:00going.

19:15A max out in mid-level 25, Harry was on

19:18pace for it. From this point, he needed

19:21at least five Tetris's before hitting

19:23the kill screen on level 29.

19:33Harry got his Tetris's, but was still a

19:35few points short. With his stack

19:37building high, he desperately used a

19:39long bar to get a triple, but this

19:41activated the kill screen. He still

19:44needed 3,000 points.

19:46Harry had to find a way to clear two

19:48more lines while playing at kill screen

19:51speed.

19:53YES!

19:56YES!

20:03HISTORY WAS MADE. The congratulations

20:05poured in as Harry had taken Tetris to

20:08new heights.

20:10After all the max outs that came before

20:12him, from the internet claims to the

20:14ones with concrete proof, this one was

20:16the best of all.

20:18Except, it's never quite that easy with

20:20NES Tetris.

20:22There are reports that around the time

20:25of Harry's 1.2, a player named Bo Steel

20:28achieved a 1.2 million game of his own.

20:32Nobody remembers what his exact score

20:34was or what the level of proof was, but

20:37Bo is a verified max out player. So, his

20:40score claim isn't unreasonable.

20:42Still, Harry Hong gets the most credit

20:45for being the first to achieve 1.2

20:47million, and he was one of the best

20:50players in the world. One of the few who

20:53was capable of a score this high.

20:55However, as good as Harry was, there was

20:59still another player who had potential

21:01to go even higher. See, every year since

21:042010, the biggest Tetris tournament was

21:07the Classic Tetris World Championship,

21:10where the best NES Tetris players in the

21:12world competed. Of the seven annual

21:15tournaments by this point, one had been

21:18won by Harry Hong.

21:20As for the rest,

21:21all six were won by the same player,

21:25Jonas Neubauer.

21:27And your winner of the 2016 Classic

21:31Tetris World Championship, six-time

21:33world champion, Jonas Neubauer.

21:38In the 12 years since his first recorded

21:40max out, Jonas had turned into a

21:43monster.

21:44Every year, he went head-to-head against

21:47Tetris's best players.

21:49And time and time again, Jonas proved

21:51better than the rest.

21:53His stacking was brilliant, and he was

21:56able to get out of trouble when others

21:58couldn't. Jonas Neubauer was simply

22:00considered the best NES Tetris player on

22:03Earth.

22:04Yet, through all this, he never really

22:07cared about the score world record. He

22:09was more focused on tournaments.

22:12But in 2017, he started streaming on

22:14Twitch.

22:16And on July 24th, he booted up a casual

22:19game of Tetris.

22:34That was 17 straight Tetris's to open

22:37the game. Unbelievable.

22:39He slowed down a bit after that, but

22:41still managed to max out in mid-level

22:4326. And then, he landed six more

22:47Tetris's before the kill screen.

22:49Jonas's score read all nines since he

22:51wasn't using the uncap code, but in

22:54reality, his score was 1,211,000

22:58points.

22:59On a random game where he didn't even

23:02bother to use the uncap code, Jonas had

23:04just set a new world record.

23:07After this, Jonas went back to focusing

23:09on tournaments, not caring to improve

23:12the high score record anymore. And while

23:14other players continued to put up new

23:16scores, some of which were over a

23:18million, very few were able to approach

23:20a score of 1.2 million. This type of

23:24game was reserved for only the best of

23:26the best Tetris players, and even they

23:29couldn't consistently put scores like

23:30this. It took a lot of luck to get long

23:33bars when you need them.

23:35So, Jonas instead prepared for the 2017

23:39Classic Tetris World Championship. And

23:41that November, he officially made it

23:44seven world championship victories.

23:46That is Jonas is your champion, 2017

23:51champion.

23:52There was nobody else on his level. And

23:55in June 2018, a year after his 1.21

23:59million game, Jonas set out to improve

24:02the score world record, trying to take

24:04it to a level where nobody else could

24:06even touch it.

24:09This time, Jonas wasn't messing around.

24:11He was using the uncap code, so he could

24:14know right away what his score was. On

24:16June 13th, he got a really good game

24:19going, a max out in level 25.

24:22After landing five more Tetris's, his

24:25score was just short of 1.2 million,

24:27with only four lines until the kill

24:29screen. Jonas built a center well,

24:32waiting for the long bar that would push

24:34him over the top. And then, he got it.

24:39Let's go.

24:39Woo!

24:40New world record, 1.23 million.

24:44But Jonas wasn't satisfied yet. A week

24:47later, he managed another level 25 max

24:50out. He then got six more Tetris's,

24:53pushing his score past 1.2 million. One

24:56more Tetris, and he'd have another

24:58record. But then, his stack started

25:01building high. Jonas wasn't getting a

25:03long bar and he was quickly running out

25:06of room. Yet, he didn't panic and

25:09finally the long bar came.

25:11Oh, let's go.

25:13Get out of my face.

25:14A 15,000 point improvement to the world

25:17record.

25:18This was the state of NES Tetris in

25:20mid-2018.

25:22There were many good players, some of

25:24whom could score over a million points.

25:26But when all else was held equal, Jonas

25:29usually came out on top. He always won

25:32the world championship. He had the score

25:34record and it was intimidating to

25:36compete against him.

25:38It seemed like as long as he wanted to

25:40hold the high score world record, he'd

25:42be able to do so.

25:44That is, unless Koryan had something to

25:47say about it.

25:55In 2016, a player named Koryan posted a

25:58video of his first NES Tetris max out.

26:01By this point, several players had

26:03achieved the max out. So, the

26:05achievement alone wasn't too notable.

26:07However, when he posted a video with a

26:10hand cam, Koryan was shown to be doing

26:12something very differently.

26:15He was mashing the D-pad to move the

26:17pieces laterally rather than simply

26:19holding it down.

26:21In Tetris, there's a concept known as

26:23the delayed auto shift or DAS. When you

26:26hold down the D-pad in NES Tetris, your

26:29piece will auto shift to the side every

26:31six frames or 10 times per second. This

26:35is quite fast and leaves you with enough

26:37time to navigate even on the breakneck

26:39speed of level 19.

26:41However, Koryan is from Japan and NES

26:45Tetris was never actually released in

26:47Japan.

26:48So, his background was from playing

26:50various other versions of Tetris,

26:52including the Game Boy edition.

26:55In Game Boy Tetris, when you hold down

26:57the D-pad, the piece hesitates

26:59momentarily and then moves roughly seven

27:02times per second. This process is too

27:04slow when playing at higher levels, so

27:07Game Boy Tetris players have to

27:08repeatedly re-press the D-pad to move

27:11their pieces quickly enough. And since

27:13Koryan was used to playing this and

27:15various arcade games, it was only

27:17natural to mash the D-pad in NES Tetris

27:20as well.

27:21But this actually gave Koryan an

27:23advantage. He was able to accurately

27:26mash faster than DAS normally moved the

27:29pieces. He could move blocks just a

27:31little bit quicker than normal. And it

27:33meant that once he reached the kill

27:35screen on level 29, he actually stood a

27:38chance to clear a few lines. He couldn't

27:41play for long, but it wasn't necessarily

27:43an instant game over.

27:45In June 2017, he managed to clear 10

27:49lines on level 29 and reach level 30.

28:04Only a couple other players had ever

28:05done that before.

28:07And not surprisingly, they had to use a

28:09form of hyper tapping to pull it off.

28:11Ultimately though, this just let Koryan

28:14get a few more points before topping

28:16out. If you wanted to beat the score

28:18world record, he needed to focus on

28:20getting more Tetris's before the kill

28:22screen.

28:23He spent months improving his skills,

28:26and by August 2017, he became the third

28:29player to pass 1.2 million. But as Jonas

28:32kept improving the record, Koryan found

28:35himself falling behind. And by June

28:372018, the score to beat was 1.245

28:42million.

28:43But Koryan didn't want to give up. Even

28:45though he was a bit behind Jonas, the

28:47potential with hypertapping was just too

28:49strong. That summer, Koryan began a push

28:53for the world record. And on June 24th,

28:56he had a strong game going. Landing

28:58Tetris after Tetris, Koryan's score

29:01climbed past 600,000.

29:03Then, the game transitioned to level 19.

29:06This is where hypertapping would really

29:08come into play.

29:10Right away, he managed to get a long bar

29:12over in a spot that would have been

29:14risky with DAS. And he kept on going,

29:17precisely navigating pieces while

29:19frantically mashing on the D-pad. He

29:21ended up maxing out the score during

29:23level 25, just about tied with Jonas's

29:26world record.

29:27The Tetris's continued, and eventually

29:30Koryan found himself at 1.22 million

29:33with only one line until the kill

29:34screen.

29:35He just needed one more Tetris. Koryan

29:39was praying that it would come in time.

29:43One.

29:44Please.

29:46PLEASE, COME ON.

29:48YES!

29:50WOO!

29:52YES! 1.25.

29:55WOO!

29:57This was the first ever game past 1.25

30:00million. And finally, seven-time world

30:03champion Jonas had been dethroned.

30:06This game helped prove the use of

30:08hypertapping. While Koryan wasn't

30:10guaranteed to have topped out with DAS,

30:13there were definitely situations where

30:14hypertapping helped. The problem is,

30:17Koryan was one of few players who could

30:19reliably hypertap. You not only had to

30:22mash quickly, but also do it in a

30:24controlled manner to always move your

30:26piece the exact right amount.

30:29Koryan focused on other categories for

30:31the next few months, but in early 2019,

30:34he came back looking to take the record

30:37closer to 1.3 million.

30:40And on March 5th, he'd get a good

30:42chance. His start was very smooth, and

30:45the only sketchy moment came at 800,000

30:48when he misdropped and then narrowly

30:50brought a long bar over to the right in

30:52time. That's where hypertapping can help

30:55you.

30:56He ended up maxing out the score in late

30:58level 25. With 30 lines until the kill

31:01screen, Koryan had just enough room to

31:04get eight more Tetris's and finish off

31:06one more improvement to the world

31:08record.

31:09Yes!

31:13Yes, I completed my world

31:16record.

31:18Yes!

31:20This was a really great game, yet still

31:22remained 27,000 points short of 1.3

31:25million.

31:26That score still seemed like a pipe

31:28dream.

31:29The only way to do it would be to get an

31:31earlier max out and then match Koryan's

31:34eight Tetris's afterwards.

31:36And with Koryan being one of the few

31:38hypertappers with the skill to do that,

31:411.3 million was just a bit out of reach.

31:52A few months after Koryan's 1.27 game,

31:55one of the strangest events in Tetris

31:57history took place.

32:00One day in June 2019, a man named Tyler

32:03Peach popped up in the Discord server.

32:06Tyler said he was from Germany, and that

32:09back in the mid-90s, he scored 1.33

32:13million in a game of NES Tetris.

32:16This was a bold claim. For one thing, it

32:20was 60,000 points ahead of the current

32:23highest known score.

32:25And for another, the uncap code didn't

32:27exist in the 90s. So, how did he know

32:30what his exact score was?

32:33Tyler tried to convince people he was

32:35legit, but he came across as some random

32:37dude just making outrageous claims.

32:40So, to show his skills, Tyler said he

32:43would attempt to qualify for the July

32:45monthly tournament. And then

32:53Tyler proceeded to post the highest

32:55qualifying score ever for a tournament.

32:59Only a handful of players had ever

33:01achieved the 1.2, and Tyler just did it

33:04on command to show his skills.

33:07He immediately began doing live

33:09streaming attempts to break the score

33:11world record. And just days later

33:14he achieved a score of 1.298 million,

33:18smashing the world record by 25,000

33:21points.

33:22He maxed out on level 24, one level

33:25sooner than Koryan did, and proceeded to

33:28match his eight Tetris's afterwards.

33:31And while Tyler didn't use a webcam, it

33:33seemed that he, too, was hyper tapping.

33:36He was able to get his pieces to fly

33:38across the board.

33:40Who on earth was this guy? Were his

33:43scores fake somehow? Nobody knew for

33:45sure, and the top players had a variety

33:48of opinions.

33:49But there was nothing in Tyler's

33:51gameplay that screamed it was fake.

33:53The circumstances were just so weird. A

33:56legend from the '90s who nobody had

33:59heard of before coming back and crushing

34:02the competition.

34:03The story sounded too insane to be real.

34:07Well, months down the road, the truth

34:09came out. Tyler's scores were 100%

34:13legitimate, but he wasn't a real person.

34:16Tyler was actually the alt account of

34:19one of the best Tetris players in the

34:21world. He was the teenage prodigy Joseph

34:26Saelee.

34:28Joseph came onto the Tetris scene in

34:302017 and spent hours watching the game's

34:33two best players, Jonas and Koryan.

34:37He learned a lot from them and Joseph's

34:39skills rapidly improved. By March 2018,

34:42he achieved his first max out. By

34:45September, his score was up to 1.15

34:48million. In less than a year, he had

34:51become a world-class player. However,

34:54there were still a handful of players

34:56who had a better score PB.

34:58But a few months later came the 2018

35:01Classic Tetris World Championship.

35:03Joseph entered the tournament and played

35:05beautifully, defeating opponent after

35:08opponent and making it all the way to

35:10the finals. And what a surprise, the

35:13other finalist was Jonas Neubauer, the

35:16seven-time world champion. Jonas was

35:19heavily favored to defeat Joseph and

35:21take home his eighth title. But in a

35:24shocking twist, Joseph swept Jonas three

35:27to nothing.

35:30Put it on the board, yes!

35:32And we have a new Tetris world champion.

35:35Joseph Saelee was now a world champion.

35:39But despite that, he didn't have the

35:40score world record. That still belonged

35:43to Koryan. So, in early 2019, he made an

35:47effort to take it. First passing 1.2

35:50million, then 1.25 million. But he still

35:54remained a bit short of the record. And

35:56that's where he decided to have some

35:58fun.

35:59Joseph started streaming attempts to an

36:01alt account and built up the Tyler Peach

36:03persona.

36:05And even though he didn't do many

36:06attempts there, one of them ended up

36:08breaking the world record.

36:10So, he decided to roll with it before

36:13eventually revealing that he was behind

36:15it all.

36:16So now, Joseph had them both, the

36:19championship title and the score record.

36:22But even beyond that, Joseph had one

36:24specific skill that no other Tetris

36:27player had.

36:28He could actually play on the kill

36:31screen.

36:32Joseph was a hyper tapper and a very

36:35good one at that. He moved pieces

36:37quicker than anyone else.

36:39The kill screen kicks in on level 29 and

36:42in September 2018, Joseph became the

36:45first person to make it to level 31 on

36:48video.

36:49A month later, he became the first to

36:52make it to level 32.

36:54It was amazing. Kill screens are not

36:57meant to be playable, but Joseph was

36:59doing it. He couldn't go for long, but

37:02he was legitimately clearing lines and

37:05even full levels.

37:06He was even outsmarting the developers.

37:09Upon reaching level 30, the game's level

37:12counter appears bugged. Tetris's

37:14programmers did not expect anyone to

37:16make it here.

37:17Joseph was doing what was thought to be

37:19impossible.

37:21But as impressive as this was, it wasn't

37:24enough to get the score record. Joseph

37:26would still have to maximize his

37:28Tetris's earlier to really rack up the

37:31score.

37:32And not only that, but he wasn't the

37:34only one gunning for the world record.

37:36Harry Hong and Koryan, two previous

37:39record holders in the category, were

37:41interested in trying as well.

37:43And so, it became a three-way race

37:46between Harry, Koryan and Joseph for the

37:49first 1.3 million score in NES Tetris.

37:54Harry was the first to strike. In August

37:572019, he got a new high score of 1.275

38:01million.

38:02This was short of the 1.298 world

38:05record, but those who thought Tyler P

38:07was cheating considered this score the

38:09official world record. Still, it didn't

38:12reach 1.3 million. Harry would have

38:15needed one more Tetris before the kill

38:17screen to push him over the top.

38:19Instead, maybe Koryan could get the 1.3.

38:23He was the more recent record holder and

38:25his personal best remained at 1.273

38:28million. Perhaps his hypertapping skills

38:31would be enough to get him there.

38:33In November, Koryan had a great game

38:35going. He got a max out on level 25,

38:39then landed seven Tetris's, pushing his

38:42score past 1.2 million.

38:45After getting another Tetris, Koryan was

38:47in position to crush his PB and maybe

38:50get 1.3 million if he could just get one

38:53final Tetris.

39:08Koryan got a massive long bar drought

39:10and couldn't get the last Tetris he

39:12needed.

39:14But of the three players, the one with

39:16the best chance at 1.3 million was

39:19Joseph. He'd already gotten 1.298

39:22million on the Tyler account. He only

39:24needed a tiny improvement to get him

39:26there.

39:27Well, that December, Joseph found

39:30himself in nearly the exact same

39:32position as Koryan. A max out on level

39:3525 and needing one more Tetris for 1.3

39:39million.

39:40This could be it.

39:41But the long bar had to come in time.

39:49YES.

39:51OH MY GOD.

39:59OH MY GOD.

40:01OH JESUS CHRIST.

40:03Joseph already had 1.3 million, but then

40:06he landed a Tetris on the kill screen.

40:10This move was only possible with good

40:12hypertapping, not DAS.

40:15This gave him another 36,000 points and

40:18pushed him past 1.35

40:21million.

40:22It was the first time anyone had ever

40:24gotten substantial points on the kill

40:26screen in a record, and it raised all

40:28sorts of questions. Was this move

40:31realistic to replicate? How many kill

40:33screen points could you get?

40:36And since he was past 1.35 million,

40:39could Joseph get the score record to 1.4

40:41million?

40:43This score would have nearly sounded

40:44impossible just weeks earlier, but now

40:47there was a blueprint. We'd already seen

40:50Joseph get 1.3 million points going into

40:53the kill screen.

40:54If he could land a few Tetris's and get

40:56100,000 points on the kill screen, that

40:59would be enough for 1.4 million.

41:02Joseph was the only player who could

41:04realistically do this, and a few months

41:06later when the pandemic hit, he decided

41:09to fully commit and make a push for the

41:111.4.

41:13This was going to be an intense grind.

41:16Joseph had to maximize points

41:18everywhere, both before and during the

41:20kill screen.

41:22For one thing, he decided to start on

41:24level 19 rather than 18. That meant the

41:27pieces fell faster, but it also allowed

41:29him to rack up more points, potentially

41:3230 to 40,000 more than starting on level

41:3518. And Joseph needed every point he

41:38could get. He couldn't afford to burn

41:41lines. He had to nearly exclusively go

41:43for Tetris's to maximize points.

41:46Yet, as tough as all this was, it was

41:49actually the easy part of the grind. The

41:52hard part was then scoring 100,000 more

41:56points on the kill screen.

41:58Joseph could score 1.3 million by level

42:0029, but getting the last 100,000 at this

42:04speed was brutal. As fast of a hyper

42:08tapper as he was, the kill screen was

42:10still the kill screen. You're not

42:13intended to play at this level. And

42:15Joseph had run after run die after

42:17making it this far. Clearly, 1.4 million

42:21would require the stars to align.

42:24Well, that June, Joseph would get a

42:26chance. He got a max out in level 25 and

42:30arrived at the kill screen just shy of

42:321.3 million points.

42:35He'd been here before.

42:37Now, he had to make it to 1.4.

42:59Oops.

43:00Hey, this world record though. Nice.

43:03A new record, but Joseph seemed to

43:05barely care. He was still 25,000 short

43:09of 1.4 million.

43:11This game really illustrates the dilemma

43:13when playing on the kill screen. Do you

43:15try and keep your stack low to survive

43:17as long as possible or try to rack up

43:20points quickly by going for Tetris's?

43:23Eventually, Joseph found a solution. Why

43:26not just get to the kill screen with a

43:28crazy score so you don't need that many

43:30points?

43:38Dude.

43:41You got it. You got it.

43:44Oh my god, dude.

43:47Shut up, Mark.

43:49No.

43:52It's not It's not good.

43:55Oh my god. World record though.

43:59Dude.

44:00This pace was insane. Even scoring just

44:04one Tetris on the kill screen would have

44:06been for 1.4.

44:08But, Joseph couldn't survive long enough

44:10to get a Tetris.

44:11He topped out just 10,000 points short.

44:15Still though, clearly he was closing in

44:17on 1.4 million.

44:19It seemed like it could be just days

44:21away.

44:22Well,

44:23on June 14th, 2020, Joseph started a

44:27game on level 18 rather than 19 and set

44:30a score of 1.384 million.

44:33This was the highest ever score from a

44:35level 18 start, a notable achievement.

44:39So, Joseph stopped recording on OBS and

44:42uploaded the video to YouTube.

44:45But then, he forgot to hit record again

44:48and continued playing for the record.

44:51Joseph was oblivious to the fact that

44:53his gameplay wasn't being saved.

44:56And hours later,

44:57he allegedly achieved a score of 1.439

45:02million.

45:05Obviously, this game can't be viewed

45:07today. He was streaming it to a Discord

45:10call though, and one of his friends was

45:12recording the audio of said call, where

45:15you can hear people freaking out at what

45:17Joseph was doing.

45:19Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my

45:22god. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding

45:24me? Are you kidding me? 1.4.

45:28Oh my god.

45:28But there's no video to go along with

45:30this.

45:31According to testimony from those who

45:33watched it live, this was a crazy game

45:36in the kill screen.

45:37It allowed him to blow past the 1.4

45:40million barrier, but only a select few

45:42were able to see it.

45:44And even though there's no recording,

45:46Joseph knew what he had done and had

45:48accomplished his goal.

45:50To this day, he's still never gotten a

45:531.4 on video.

45:56The following few months in 2020 were a

45:58strange time in Tetris history. Everyone

46:01knew the record was 1.4 million, but it

46:04technically wasn't official. It would

46:06still be a big deal the first time

46:08someone achieved 1.4 on video.

46:11That July, a player named Scott Obozo

46:14tried using RNG manipulation to crush

46:16the world record. He was able to use a

46:19TAS to predict which pieces would come

46:21and plan ahead accordingly. However, his

46:24score of 1.5 million was quickly deemed

46:27to be a different category.

46:29So, the focus was back on trying to

46:31break 1.4.

46:33And while there were many new players

46:35getting into the game, one stood above

46:37the rest. His name was dog playing

46:41Tetris.

46:42In June 2020, he became the second

46:45person ever to achieve a score of 1.3

46:47million. He was trying to get 1.4

46:50million alongside Joseph. And while

46:52Joseph stopped playing after his

46:54unrecorded 1.4, dog continued trying. He

46:58was perceived as the most likely person

47:00to pull it off.

47:02Dog was a hypertapper like Joseph, so he

47:05had the ability to play for a while on

47:07the kill screen. And by that fall, his

47:09score was up past 1.35 million. He was

47:13closing in, and his next PB could be the

47:16one.

47:17In October, he managed to get a max out

47:20early in level 24. This was definitely

47:22on pace for 1.4 million.

47:25But the Tetris's kept coming, and by the

47:27time he hit the kill screen, his score

47:29was already at 1.367

47:33million. He only needed 33,000 points on

47:36the kill screen. Dog playing Tetris had

47:39to hold it together.

48:00He missed it by 14,000.

48:03This was still a new high score, but not

48:05enough to break 1.4.

48:07Even months later, the world had yet to

48:10see a score over 1.4 million on video.

48:14The combination of getting to level 29

48:16on a good pace and then getting enough

48:18points on the kill screen was just too

48:21much to ask.

48:22It almost mirrored the max out claims

48:24from decades prior.

48:26Even though a 1.4 million score had very

48:29likely happened, there was still no

48:31video of one for the world to see. It

48:34remained a nearly impossible score that

48:36existed only as a legend.

48:40Now, you might think this is all a

48:41build-up to someone finally breaking

48:43through.

48:45But that's not what happened.

48:47No, something much bigger was brewing in

48:49the background.

48:51While much of the community was focused

48:53on trying for 1.4 million, little did

48:56any of them know that Tetris was about

48:58to go through a revolution.

49:01Everything was about to change.

49:11For years, there'd been two ways to play

49:14NES Tetris, DAS and hypertapping. DAS

49:18was certainly easier, but hypertapping

49:20had higher potential. That's how players

49:22were able to get points on the kill

49:24screen.

49:25Well, by 2020, the game's demographic at

49:28the top level had shifted younger, and

49:31virtually all of these new top players

49:33were hypertappers.

49:35In fact, during that year's Classic

49:37Tetris World Championship, all of the

49:39players in the top eight were

49:40hypertappers.

49:42It had taken over at the top level.

49:45But as dominant as this technique was,

49:48it was quite difficult. Not many people

49:50could mash that fast while still

49:52retaining good control.

49:54It limited the number of record

49:56contenders, and those who could hyper

49:58tap sometimes developed arm and hand

50:00issues.

50:01Hyper tapping was powerful, but it was

50:04still far from an ideal technique.

50:07So, in 2020, the game's new generation

50:09began looking for alternative techniques

50:12to mash the D-pad.

50:14The leading theory was to try using

50:15multiple fingers instead of just one.

50:18Gaming legend Fly Hack had a method for

50:21using eight fingers on an arcade button,

50:23letting him mash up to 30 times per

50:26second. He also had a modified method

50:28for the smaller buttons of an NES

50:30controller. However, Tetris players had

50:33to mash the D-pad, and they struggled to

50:36adapt either of these methods.

50:39The D-pad seemed to simply be too small

50:41to use multiple fingers on. They needed

50:43a bigger button.

50:45That's where a player named Cheese found

50:47something brilliant.

50:49He watched Fly Hack's videos and a

50:51mashing video from Silver Boxer, then

50:54combined them into his own technique.

50:57If the NES D-pad was too small of a

51:00button, why not use the entire back of

51:02the controller as a button?

51:05By resting a finger on the D-pad, you

51:08can roll your fingers along the back to

51:10push the controller into it repeatedly.

51:13This allows you to rapidly press the

51:15D-pad up to four times, or five times

51:18with a thumb at the end. That's just

51:21enough to move any piece to the far left

51:23or right, and you can reach speeds

51:25upwards of 20 presses per second, twice

51:29as fast as hyper tapping.

51:31It's also much easier on the hand and

51:33arm, and allowed for much more

51:35precision. As soon as Cheese found this

51:38technique, he knew it had the chance to

51:40break NES Tetris.

51:43He had just discovered Tetris's third

51:45play style,

51:46rolling.

51:50While rolling clearly had the most

51:52potential of all three techniques, it

51:54was also quite tricky to learn. Even

51:56though Cheez had discovered rolling, he

51:58struggled to use it for the first few

52:00months. But he still had a head start

52:02over other players. And eventually, he

52:05started to get good with it. By early

52:082021, he was using it whenever he

52:11reached the kill screen. And it quickly

52:13became clear that he was able to do

52:15things that nobody else could.

52:18Cheez wasn't just playing on the kill

52:20screen. He was thriving.

52:23The best hypertappers could last a few

52:25levels on the kill screen, but with

52:27rolling, Cheez found himself making it

52:30all the way to level 40. And remember,

52:33the kill screen kicks in way back at

52:34level 29.

52:36Simply put, the kill screen had lost its

52:39meaning. It no longer marked the

52:42automatic end of your game. At least if

52:45you were able to roll like Cheez could.

52:47By mid-2021, Cheez had the potential to

52:50take the score record. And thanks to

52:52rolling, his strategy was much different

52:55than those who came before him. His

52:57emphasis was less on maximizing points

52:59before the kill screen, but rather going

53:01as deep as possible on the kill screen

53:04while landing Tetris's.

53:06This meant he wouldn't need such a crazy

53:08score going into level 29. If he could

53:11then last long enough on the kill

53:12screen, he could beat the score record

53:15anyway.

53:16That June, Cheez played games to qualify

53:19for the July monthly tournament. On June

53:2130th, he got a game that reached 1

53:24million points by level 26.

53:27This was roughly 200K behind the world

53:29record, but Cheez knew he could make up

53:31those points on the kill screen.

53:33He reached level 29 and immediately

53:36misdropped a J piece. This could be a

53:38death sentence for a hypertapper, but

53:41for a roller, it was an easy recovery.

53:44And from there, the gameplay just got

53:46crazier.

54:031.461

54:05million. Cheese had just smashed the

54:08world record. He had just cleared 80

54:11lines on the kill screen and gotten five

54:13Tetris's in the process. These were

54:16worth about 40,000 points each and were

54:18only realistic with rolling.

54:21For any top player who was still

54:22hyper-taping, this game eliminated all

54:25doubt. Rolling was the future of NES

54:29Tetris.

54:30So, throughout 2021, the game's best

54:33players all improved at rolling.

54:35Previously, 1.4 million was about the

54:38limit for the score record. But now,

54:41there was no telling how high it could

54:42go. Cheese had made it to level 37, but

54:46if someone could last even longer on the

54:48kill screen or get more points before

54:50the kill screen, then they could beat

54:52the world record. The big question was,

54:55who would be the next person to do it?

54:58Well, dog playing Tetris was the winner

55:00of the most recent world championships

55:02while players PixelAndy and Huff n Puff

55:05came in second and third place.

55:07Meanwhile, Cheese was still an active

55:09player and he was the best at rolling.

55:13All four of these players were top

55:14contenders and they each had a good

55:16chance at raising the score record.

55:19However, in a surprise to most of the

55:21community, a player named Hydrant Dude

55:24moved into second place right behind

55:26Cheese. Hydrant Dude was more known for

55:28his contributions other than his

55:30gameplay. He'd made numerous ROM hacks

55:33of Tetris and later published videos

55:35explaining the game's code and inner

55:37workings. Beyond that, he was also a

55:39good player, but not usually considered

55:42one of the absolute best in the world.

55:45But that changed when he posted a score

55:47of 1.445

55:49million. Because HydrantDude had

55:51developed one particularly important

55:53skill. He was really good at rolling.

55:57And that meant he could last a long time

56:00on the kill screen. Now just 16,000

56:02points behind the record, HydrantDude

56:05pushed onward. And in September, he had

56:07a game that entered the kill screen at

56:09just over 1.1 million points. This pace

56:12was nothing too special, and he'd need

56:15more than 300,000 more points to break

56:18the record.

56:19But HydrantDude decided to take a

56:21different approach now. Instead of going

56:23for Tetris's, he was going to try to

56:25last as long as possible. He would have

56:28to survive for probably 15 or so levels

56:31if he wanted to accumulate 300,000

56:33points.

56:34But like I said, HydrantDude was really

56:37good at rolling.

57:05There you go. There's a 19-piece.

57:08Is that Is that world record?

57:10Did I actually just

57:11Two years ago, HydrantDude believed 1.4

57:14million would never happen. Now, he had

57:18just broken the world record with 1.464

57:22million points. And he had survived all

57:25the way to level 44.

57:28At this point, it was seeming

57:29increasingly likely that 1.5 million was

57:32on the horizon. Although HydrantDude had

57:35survived so long on the kill screen, his

57:38pace entering it wasn't anything

57:39special. If he could score a few more

57:42points beforehand, 1.5 million could be

57:45a reality.

57:46Well, HydrantDude kept playing and just

57:49a few days later he got the pace he was

57:51looking for. 1.35 million entering the

57:55kill screen.

57:56This was nearly a quarter million ahead

57:58of the world record.

58:00After landing three Tetris's on the kill

58:03screen and making it to level 41,

58:06HydrantDude finally topped out. But his

58:09score wasn't 1.5 million.

58:12It was 1.6 million. He had skipped

58:15straight over an F score and rolled the

58:18hexadecimal digit back to zero. This was

58:21the first ever rollover in NES Tetris

58:23history and it was also a 160,000

58:27point increase over the world record.

58:30HydrantDude had proven that he was no

58:32fluke. His Tetris skills were legit.

58:35But he also had some heavy competition.

58:38As more time passed, the top players got

58:40better and better at rolling. And by

58:43late 2021, Huffalumpagus was making a

58:46run at the record.

58:48Huff was already a world-class

58:49hypertapper, finishing second place in

58:52the 2020 World Championships.

58:54But once rolling became dominant, he

58:57made the switch in technique and was

58:59able to nearly reach 1.4 million. Huff

59:02was notably a very conservative player

59:04on the kill screen. He played even safer

59:07than HydrantDude, rarely going for

59:09Tetris's and just trying to survive.

59:12In November 2021, Huff had a game that

59:15reached the kill screen at 1.15 million.

59:18This was nearly 200,000 behind the

59:20record and didn't seem to have much of a

59:22chance. But then he put his survival

59:25mode into full effect and the level

59:28counter climbed higher and higher.

59:30Level 35, then 40, and then 45. Huff had

59:35only landed two Tetris's, but he was

59:38somehow closing in on the record.

59:41A couple minutes later, Huff reached

59:43level 50. This was the highest level

59:45anyone had ever reached in NES Tetris.

59:49Finally, on level 52, Huff topped out.

59:53His score, 1.676

59:56million. A new world record for score,

59:59level, and points on the kill screen.

1:00:02His survival play style had worked to

1:00:05perfection and it was unbelievable to

1:00:07watch. He lasted through 23 levels on

1:00:11the kill screen.

1:00:12Rolling had forever changed NES Tetris.

1:00:15Gone were the days of needing to squeeze

1:00:17out every point before the kill screen

1:00:19ended your game. Now, players could just

1:00:22survive longer to make up those points.

1:00:25How high could this score go?

1:00:34By late 2021, the Tetris community was

1:00:37thriving. This was the most active it

1:00:39had ever been and there was lots of

1:00:41competition for the score record.

1:00:44Rolling had given players who couldn't

1:00:45hyper tap a second chance. They too now

1:00:48had a chance to snag the world record.

1:00:51And even though the top score was 1.67

1:00:54million, it was climbing so fast that it

1:00:57seemed like a 2 million point game

1:00:59wasn't far away.

1:01:01However, over the next few months, it

1:01:03became very hard to track what the

1:01:05game's true world record was. All

1:01:08because of a practice known as vaulting.

1:01:11See, Cheez had a habit of playing games,

1:01:14sometimes even getting a world record

1:01:16score, and then only telling certain

1:01:19friends about it.

1:01:20Sometimes he did eventually upload his

1:01:22scores, and other times he didn't.

1:01:25Cheez gave various reasons for doing

1:01:27this. To better space out YouTube

1:01:29uploads, to make memes with his friends,

1:01:33and sometimes just because he could.

1:01:35So, we don't have a perfectly accurate

1:01:38record timeline. But, we do know bits

1:01:41and pieces of it. In late 2021, Cheez

1:01:44allegedly achieved a new record of 1.7

1:01:47million and didn't upload the video.

1:01:50However, it's unclear if this was before

1:01:52or after Huff's 1.676 million game, and

1:01:56we don't know what Cheez's exact score

1:01:58was.

1:02:00That being said,

1:02:01Cheez didn't vault all of his scores.

1:02:05He was an amazing player, and sometimes

1:02:07he had to play live, like when he had to

1:02:09qualify for a tournament.

1:02:11Since this was a qualifier, Cheez was

1:02:14just going for a decent score, not

1:02:16anything crazy.

1:02:18Well, 9 minutes later, he entered the

1:02:20kill screen at just 1.075

1:02:23million. A good qualifying score, sure,

1:02:27but this was the lowest score at this

1:02:28point compared to any world record in

1:02:31the last 10 years.

1:02:33So, if you wanted a record here, this

1:02:36game would have to go deep. Cheez needed

1:02:38to pull off a miracle on the kill

1:02:40screen.

1:02:42For the next 13 levels, it wasn't

1:02:45looking like a miracle, but Cheez was

1:02:47surviving.

1:02:48He wasn't landing any Tetris pieces, so

1:02:50he didn't get many points, but he also

1:02:52wasn't topping out.

1:02:54Then, suddenly, he misdropped in level

1:02:5743, and things got ugly fast. His stack

1:03:01piled high, and it looked like this was

1:03:03the end. Cheez's score was at 1.3

1:03:06million, a fantastic qualifying score.

1:03:10He hadn't hit any Tetris pieces on the

1:03:11kill screen, and he was way short of the

1:03:14world record. Nobody would blame Cheez

1:03:16for just topping out here and being

1:03:18satisfied. But instead, he did this.

1:03:411.8

1:03:441.9

1:03:46Let's go.

1:03:48Oh my god, 2 million. This is insanity,

1:03:53honestly. I never expected to get this

1:03:55high of a score.

1:03:57Uh, GG.

1:03:59That's a good game.

1:04:00Best game I'll ever play.

1:04:02Cheese went from zero Tetris's and 1.3

1:04:04million points to 11 Tetris's and 2.3

1:04:09million points. This was the biggest

1:04:11world record increase in the game's

1:04:13history and also the first time anyone

1:04:16ever reached level 60. Just a legendary

1:04:19game. The community was shaken. This

1:04:22score was so far ahead of anyone else.

1:04:26It was hard to imagine playing for so

1:04:28long while also landing Tetris after

1:04:31Tetris.

1:04:32The inventor of rolling had just

1:04:34mastered his craft. And over the next

1:04:37several months, Cheese's 2 million score

1:04:39stood alone. While others tried and did

1:04:42improve their scores, none were able to

1:04:45crack 2 million.

1:04:47The world record remained a major

1:04:48outlier. Yet despite this, Cheese was

1:04:51able to improve it once again. In

1:04:54January 2022, he set a new high score of

1:04:572.7 million.

1:05:00But unfortunately, this was another

1:05:02vaulted score.

1:05:04Video of the game has never been made

1:05:06public and what little info we do have

1:05:08comes from the description of Cheese's

1:05:102.3 million game.

1:05:13Then, a few months later, Cheez got a

1:05:15score of 2.34 million points on video

1:05:18while qualifying for the April

1:05:19tournament. This eked out his highest

1:05:22recorded game, but was well short of his

1:05:242.7 million vaulted score.

1:05:27But, no matter which of these three

1:05:29games you look at, Cheez was the premier

1:05:32player of NES Tetris.

1:05:34Nobody else could roll as long and as

1:05:36consistently as he could. And that's why

1:05:39he was the only player getting scores

1:05:41like this.

1:05:43But still, while they lagged behind

1:05:45Cheez, other players were improving

1:05:47their rolling skills.

1:05:49And with tournaments happening every

1:05:50month, there was active competition for

1:05:52the score record. One such competitor

1:05:55was Eric ICX.

1:05:59Eric was a good player, and he'd set

1:06:01some community milestones over the

1:06:03years. As a hypertapper, he was the

1:06:06first person to reach levels 37 and 38.

1:06:09And while he was a good roller, too, he

1:06:12lagged behind most other top players.

1:06:15His high score was just short of 1.5

1:06:18million, and in 13th place overall.

1:06:21Well, on April 1st, 2022, Eric got a

1:06:25great game going. He entered the kill

1:06:27screen at 1.282 million points, a

1:06:31fantastic pace.

1:06:33Minutes later, he passed 1.5 million and

1:06:36broke his personal best.

1:06:38And then, Eric went on what can only be

1:06:41described as a miracle run.

1:06:44He landed a Tetris on level 46, then

1:06:47another on level 58. In level 64, he'd

1:06:51been playing for so long that his camera

1:06:54shut off. And moments later,

1:06:57he broke Cheez's recorded world record

1:06:59of 2.34 million.

1:07:02This was unreal. Eric was great, but he

1:07:05was not expected to be a world record

1:07:07contender. He hadn't even gotten 1.5

1:07:10million before.

1:07:12Now, his score was passing 2.4 million

1:07:16with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

1:07:19By this point, another concept had come

1:07:22into play, scaling. As mentioned

1:07:25earlier, when you get a Tetris, the

1:07:27amount of points it's worth is

1:07:28determined by this formula.

1:07:30Basically, the higher the level, the

1:07:33more points you get. When Eric first

1:07:35entered the kill screen on level 29, his

1:07:38Tetris's were worth 36,000 points. But

1:07:41now entering level 70, any Tetris would

1:07:44be worth 84,000 points. And as the level

1:07:48climbed higher, these Tetris's became

1:07:51even more valuable.

1:07:53That's what scaling is. It's essentially

1:07:55the opposite of diminishing returns. The

1:07:58longer you play, the quicker your score

1:08:01rises. And that's exactly what happened

1:08:04to Eric. By the time he hit level 73, he

1:08:08had passed Cheez's vaulted score of 2.73

1:08:11million.

1:08:12This game was now the undisputed world

1:08:15record, and it was still going.

1:08:18Eric passed level 80, and then level 90.

1:08:22In level 92, he managed to hit a Tetris

1:08:25worth over 112,000

1:08:28points.

1:08:29Finally, in level 95, Eric topped out.

1:08:33His final score was 3.772

1:08:37million.

1:08:38Eric had just broken the world record by

1:08:40over a million points. He had more than

1:08:43doubled his own personal best, and he

1:08:46had achieved the game's first-ever

1:08:48double rollover.

1:08:50The hexadecimal digit rolls over for a

1:08:52second time at 3.2 million.

1:08:55When he posted his score to Discord,

1:08:57many dismissed it as an April Fools'

1:08:59joke, but they quickly realized this was

1:09:02legit. The world record had been

1:09:04shattered, and Eric was the new

1:09:07champion.

1:09:08So, what did this mean for the Tetris

1:09:10community? Was the world record now

1:09:13unbeatable?

1:09:14Well, look. Getting a game to level 95

1:09:17like Eric did would be close to

1:09:19impossible.

1:09:20This game was such an outlier that even

1:09:23Tetris's best players couldn't make it

1:09:25near that deep.

1:09:27But, Eric's score was a different story.

1:09:30Scaling made it so that Tetris's were

1:09:32worth a hundred grand by the end of the

1:09:34game. So, if someone could reach level

1:09:3670 or 80 again, and land a few more

1:09:39Tetris's than Eric, their score could

1:09:41shoot up past 3.7 million without having

1:09:45to make it as deep as level 95.

1:09:47It wasn't likely, but there was a path

1:09:50to beating his world record. And over

1:09:52the next few months, some of the game's

1:09:54top players tried. They worked on

1:09:56surviving on the kill screen for as long

1:09:59as possible. Even if they didn't need to

1:10:01make it to level 95, they still had to

1:10:04last a long time.

1:10:06But, ultimately, nobody could do it. And

1:10:09Eric's legendary 3.7 million score

1:10:12stayed on top.

1:10:13But, of course, the NES Tetris community

1:10:16is much bigger than this one world

1:10:18record. Tournaments have always been a

1:10:20big part of Tetris, and each month there

1:10:23was a masters tournament featuring most

1:10:25of the game's top players.

1:10:27The majority of these tournaments aren't

1:10:29important for this video.

1:10:31But, there's one match in the August

1:10:332022 edition that we need to take a look

1:10:36at. It was a battle between two titans.

1:10:39Huff, the former world record holder,

1:10:42and Eric, the current record holder. And

1:10:45they were going to compete head-to-head

1:10:47in a best-of-five.

1:10:49Eric's 3.7 million score still stood as

1:10:52the world record. But, Huff was the only

1:10:55player who had come close to him. His

1:10:57personal best of 3 million points was in

1:11:00second place.

1:11:01These were quite possibly the two best

1:11:03Tetris players in the world trying to

1:11:06score as high as they could against each

1:11:08other.

1:11:09Game one began and it was clear both of

1:11:11these guys came to play. They both made

1:11:14it to the kill screen before Huff

1:11:16finally topped out in level 41. Game one

1:11:20went to Eric.

1:11:22Game two began and it looked like a

1:11:23repeat of game one. Both players were

1:11:26locked in and made it to the kill

1:11:28screen. But this time Huff had a slight

1:11:31lead over Eric, 1.1 million to 950k.

1:11:35They both survived to level 40 with Huff

1:11:38retaining his point lead. A few minutes

1:11:40later, both players arrived at level 50

1:11:44and at this point the game was entering

1:11:46rare territory. In the entire history of

1:11:49Tetris monthly tournaments, only four

1:11:52games had ever survived to level 50. The

1:11:55fact that this one had both players

1:11:57still alive was astounding.

1:12:00But Huff and Eric weren't done yet. A

1:12:02few levels later, they both rolled over

1:12:05the score.

1:12:06Huff still had a 100,000 point lead, but

1:12:08Eric wasn't backing down.

1:12:10As they both hit level 60, the game

1:12:13entered legendary status.

1:12:16This had become much more important than

1:12:17just a tournament match. Eric and Huff

1:12:20were so locked in that there was no

1:12:22telling how high they'd go.

1:12:24They kept cruising through the 60s, but

1:12:27suddenly on level 66, Huff needed to get

1:12:31a long bar all the way to the left. He

1:12:34started his roll too late and it was all

1:12:37over.

1:12:38Huff topped out after an incredible

1:12:40performance all the way to level 66.

1:12:44Eric now needed just 100,000 more points

1:12:47to win the game.

1:12:49But he was already in a rare territory.

1:12:52This chart shows all games that had made

1:12:54it to the kill screen in the last year

1:12:56of monthly tournaments. Making it past

1:12:59level 40 was very rare, while making it

1:13:02past level 50 was almost unheard of.

1:13:05The best tournament game ever made it to

1:13:08level 67.

1:13:10Huff had made it to level 66, just one

1:13:13level short.

1:13:15And yet, Huff ended up losing this game

1:13:18to Eric.

1:13:20Here's why.

1:13:21This is how far Eric ended up making it.

1:14:11According to Eric, once he broke the

1:14:13score record in level 105, his nerves

1:14:16went away.

1:14:17At that point, he was playing with the

1:14:19house's money.

1:14:21And that's what ultimately allowed him

1:14:22to play another 40 levels without

1:14:25topping out.

1:14:26Meanwhile, all Huff could do was watch.

1:14:29He simply looked on in astonishment as

1:14:32Eric completely destroyed the game in

1:14:34front of him.

1:14:36And at the end, he applauded Eric, said

1:14:38cheers, and sat back in his chair.

1:14:42People had known NES Tetris would

1:14:44eventually get to this point, but Eric

1:14:46had rapidly accelerated that timeline.

1:14:50The goal was simple. Last as long as

1:14:52possible on the kill screen. And while

1:14:54the best players have been able to

1:14:56survive for 10, even 15 minutes before,

1:15:00Eric had just survived for 28 minutes.

1:15:04Double anyone else's best performance.

1:15:07In case there was any doubt, this game

1:15:09had made it crystal clear. The days of

1:15:12needing to maximize your score early

1:15:14with Tetris's were now over.

1:15:17Now, Tetris was a game of survival and

1:15:20endurance.

1:15:21And nobody else could keep up with Eric.

1:15:33Eric had made it to level 146.

1:15:36However, the game's developers never

1:15:38intended anyone to make it past level 29

1:15:42since the kill screen speed kicks in.

1:15:44And from level 30 onwards, they never

1:15:46checked that all their code still

1:15:48operated correctly.

1:15:50Now, most things still work fine, but

1:15:52gradually, as you get deeper and deeper

1:15:55beyond level 29, Tetris begins to break

1:15:58more and more.

1:16:00The first sign of this is the level

1:16:02counter appearing bugged starting on

1:16:04level 30. The game plays exactly the

1:16:06same except with this one graphical

1:16:09glitch.

1:16:10But, upon reaching level 138,

1:16:13the game starts to deteriorate a bit

1:16:15more.

1:16:16Tetris normally has 10 color palettes,

1:16:19one for each of the levels 0 through 9,

1:16:22that then loop every 10 levels. This

1:16:24system works great for dozens of levels,

1:16:27even well beyond level 29. But, by level

1:16:30138, the game suffers from an integer

1:16:34overflow bug and believes you're on a

1:16:36negative level. So, it pulls a color

1:16:40color from an incorrect place, and the

1:16:42result is these bizarre looking colors.

1:16:46Starting from level 138 and looping

1:16:48every 54 levels here on out, each level

1:16:52has a glitched color palette. Some are

1:16:54stranger looking than others, but for

1:16:56the most part, it doesn't impact the

1:16:58gameplay. It's just an aesthetic glitch,

1:17:01much like the bugged level counter.

1:17:04Except, some color palettes are so dark

1:17:08that you can barely see them on a normal

1:17:10TV.

1:17:11The first one of these is on level 146,

1:17:15a mixture of dark blue, dark green, and

1:17:18black.

1:17:19Programmer Greg Cannon went through all

1:17:21the glitched colors and assigned

1:17:23nicknames to them.

1:17:25Level 146 got the nickname Dusk. And

1:17:29sure enough, Dusk was the level that

1:17:31took Eric out. He couldn't see the

1:17:33pieces anymore.

1:17:35He probably could have gone a lot longer

1:17:37had it not been for this level, but it

1:17:39marked the end of his 6.4 million point

1:17:42game.

1:17:43If someone wanted to beat Eric's score,

1:17:46they'd most likely not only need to make

1:17:48it back to the glitched colors, but also

1:17:50find a way to make it past Dusk. And

1:17:53right now, nobody was close to doing

1:17:56either of those things.

1:17:58In all honesty, the rest of the

1:17:59community was just trying to play catch

1:18:01up with Eric. But as the months passed

1:18:03in 2022, players tried to close the

1:18:06enormous gap in scores.

1:18:09In September 2022, Alex Thach became the

1:18:12second player to break 4 million points.

1:18:15And a few months later, Dog playing

1:18:17Tetris passed 5 million points. Yet,

1:18:20both players remained well short of

1:18:22Eric's score, and neither of them

1:18:24reached the glitched colors.

1:18:26After these scores, there was nearly no

1:18:28activity at the top level for close to a

1:18:30year. New players managed to reach 3 and

1:18:334 million points, but the very top

1:18:36remained unchanged. Eric's 6.4 million

1:18:39score towered above the rest. Too

1:18:42daunting to try and even approach. The

1:18:44community needed some form of

1:18:46motivation.

1:18:48And right around then, in November 2023,

1:18:51they got that motivation in the form of

1:18:53a tournament, No Cap November.

1:18:58See, tournament games used to be no more

1:19:01than 10 minutes each. You'd rack up as

1:19:03many points as you could, then hit the

1:19:05kill screen on level 29 and top out. But

1:19:08then rolling came along, allowing

1:19:10players to last much longer on the kill

1:19:13screen. And tournament games turned into

1:19:15marathons of endurance rather than going

1:19:18for points.

1:19:19So, organizers began forcing players to

1:19:22stop at level 39, restoring the original

1:19:25purpose of the kill screen. But just for

1:19:28fun in November 2023, the community

1:19:31decided to do one tournament under the

1:19:33old rules. Players would be allowed to

1:19:35play indefinitely at the level 29 speed

1:19:39with no cap at level 39. So, to prepare

1:19:43for the tournament, players began

1:19:44practicing level 29 more than ever

1:19:47before. They tried to build up stamina

1:19:50to outlast everyone else. And it turns

1:19:52out this practice is exactly what the

1:19:55community needed because in the build-up

1:19:57to the No Cap tournament, for the first

1:19:59time in over a year, new players reached

1:20:02the glitched colors.

1:20:07A player named Gerald Freeman reportedly

1:20:09got a score of 6.321 million points.

1:20:13In true Tetris fashion, it was

1:20:15unrecorded, but also short of the world

1:20:17record. Instead, the score we're going

1:20:20to look at is one performed by PixelAndy

1:20:24on November 17th, 2023.

1:20:27Andy had been a top-tier player for

1:20:29years now, constantly in the top 10, but

1:20:32never holding the record.

1:20:34But during tournament practice, he'd

1:20:36gotten even better. And now, he was able

1:20:39to take a run at the top spot.

1:20:41Andy hit the kill screen, and then began

1:20:44clearing level after level.

1:20:4640, then 60, then 80, and then 100.

1:20:52Pixel Andy was starting to approach the

1:20:54glitched colors. The world record was

1:20:56getting closer, but he'd likely still

1:20:58have to beat Dusk.

1:21:00Passing level 120, Andy was still

1:21:02rolling.

1:21:04But then, just eight levels away from

1:21:06glitched colors, he misdropped.

1:21:09Thankfully, his stack was still low, and

1:21:11it was a quick recovery. But it was a

1:21:13sudden reminder of how quickly things

1:21:16can get out of hand.

1:21:17On level 138, Andy entered the glitched

1:21:20colors. Eight levels to go before

1:21:23reaching Dusk.

1:21:24He played through the bizarre-looking

1:21:26colors, and then was moments away from

1:21:28level 146.

1:21:30It was time for Dusk.

1:21:32And yet, when he got there, I don't

1:21:35think he was ready for it.

1:21:37E 0 0 lines, and what is this?

1:21:40Wait.

1:21:41I actually can't see. Oh, no.

1:21:46Wait, I genuinely can't see. What the

1:21:47What are these

1:21:49Who made these colors, bro? Why would

1:21:50you choose Okay.

1:21:52There we go. That's

1:21:53He did it, and was immediately treated

1:21:55with a much brighter level 147.

1:21:58This was it. Pixel Andy was locked in.

1:22:01He'd survived Dusk's color palette, and

1:22:04now there was no telling how long he

1:22:06could play for.

1:22:07Until he made it to the very next level.

1:22:12What? What is going on?

1:22:15Wait, the colors. I can't see it.

1:22:18No! I can't I couldn't see it. I

1:22:20couldn't see it. On my screen, it's just

1:22:23it just went dark.

1:22:24Yeah, Dusk isn't the only hard color

1:22:27palette. Just two levels later on level

1:22:30148, you encounter charcoal. It features

1:22:34a mix of white, dark gray, and black.

1:22:38And it's even harder than dusk. After

1:22:41playing 147 levels beautifully, Andy was

1:22:45not ready for charcoal. He'd made it

1:22:47over 6.4 million points, but he topped

1:22:51out just 57,000 shy of Eric's world

1:22:55record. A heartbreaking finish.

1:22:58Now, this was a new record for the

1:23:00highest level reached, two levels higher

1:23:02than Eric, but the glitched colors were

1:23:05a problem. Dusk and charcoal had taken

1:23:08out both players who'd made it this far.

1:23:11But to significantly raise the score

1:23:12record, you'd need to make it past both

1:23:15these levels. The community was at an

1:23:17impasse.

1:23:19Someone had to find a solution.

1:23:21Maybe that someone could be Fractal.

1:23:26Fractal broke onto the scene in 2019,

1:23:29achieving his first max out. And since

1:23:32then, all he'd done was improve. He'd

1:23:35taken his score to 5.7 million points.

1:23:38And that November, he won the 2023

1:23:41Classic Tetris World Championship.

1:23:44CHAMPION!

1:23:46FRACTAL HAS DONE IT!

1:23:48NOW, despite being fourth on the score

1:23:51leaderboard, Fractal was considered to

1:23:53be Tetris's best overall player. And he

1:23:56was also the most likely candidate to

1:23:58break Eric's record.

1:24:00Fractal had some history with the

1:24:01glitched colors. Back in 2022, he

1:24:04technically became the first player to

1:24:06ever reach them, but he did so on the

1:24:09PAL version of the game, which runs 17%

1:24:12slower. This made the kill screen speed

1:24:14easier and helped Fractal survive. When

1:24:18Eric reached the glitched colors on

1:24:19NTSC, he got the credit and attention,

1:24:23deservedly so, since doing it at a

1:24:25faster speed was much harder.

1:24:27Now, in 2023, Fractal tried to prepare

1:24:31himself for Dusk and Charcoal. He

1:24:33practiced these levels extensively,

1:24:35making sure he wouldn't be caught off

1:24:37guard by their dark color palettes.

1:24:39But still, for Fractal, reaching the

1:24:42glitched colors kind of felt like been

1:24:44there, done that. He was the world

1:24:46champion and was probably the best

1:24:48player in the community.

1:24:50So, Fractal didn't just want the world

1:24:53record. Instead, he set his sights even

1:24:56higher.

1:24:58He wanted to reach NES Tetris's true

1:25:01kill screen, the game crash.

1:25:11As mentioned earlier, the deeper you

1:25:13play in Tetris, the more it breaks.

1:25:16Initially, these are purely aesthetic

1:25:18glitches, but eventually, the game

1:25:21deteriorates even more. On level 30, the

1:25:25level counter breaks. On level 138, the

1:25:28colors glitch. And on level 155,

1:25:32the game can become completely

1:25:34unplayable.

1:25:36NES Tetris is an old game. Its code

1:25:38works very well during normal gameplay,

1:25:41but these players were taking the game

1:25:43further than the original programmers

1:25:45ever dreamed. And as the level climbs

1:25:48higher, the game's code gets very

1:25:50inefficient with updating the score.

1:25:52Eventually, it takes so long to update

1:25:55the score that the game has to draw the

1:25:57graphics when it's not supposed to. And

1:26:00as a result, it tries to read RAM as

1:26:03code. Depending on what it reads, if a

1:26:06stop command is generated, then the game

1:26:08will simply crash on the spot.

1:26:11Now, this crash doesn't just

1:26:13automatically happen at a certain level.

1:26:15Various conditions have to be met,

1:26:17taking into account what level you're

1:26:19on, what piece you have, how many lines

1:26:22you clear, and more.

1:26:24HydrantDude created a spreadsheet

1:26:26showing all the spots where the game can

1:26:28crash on an unmodified Tetris cartridge.

1:26:31And it turns out the first place the

1:26:33game crash can occur is by clearing a

1:26:35single line on the transition into level

1:26:38155.

1:26:40This crashes the game every time.

1:26:43However, by this point, no top player

1:26:46was using an original Tetris card.

1:26:48Instead, they were all playing on Tetris

1:26:51Gym, a modified ROM that completely

1:26:53changed the scoring mechanism. And as a

1:26:56result, the game crash doesn't occur on

1:26:59Tetris Gym. So, if you wanted to go for

1:27:01a game crash, you had to use an original

1:27:04cartridge with no uncap code. That meant

1:27:07your score would have to be manually

1:27:09calculated afterwards, a major pain.

1:27:13But Fractal knew that it would be worth

1:27:15it. For years, level 29 had been called

1:27:18Tetris's kill screen,

1:27:20but it wasn't a kill screen anymore.

1:27:22Players could survive on that speed for

1:27:24a long time. But this game crash was the

1:27:28true kill screen of Tetris. There was no

1:27:31way to play onward once the game

1:27:32crashed.

1:27:34For 34 years, every game of NES Tetris

1:27:37ever played had ended in the player

1:27:40topping out. Now, Fractal had the chance

1:27:43to change that.

1:27:45He could be the first person to beat

1:27:47Tetris.

1:27:49And he wasn't that far away. The world

1:27:51record had already made it to level 148.

1:27:55If Fractal could just make it seven more

1:27:57levels, then land a single into level

1:27:59155, he would crash the game. It was

1:28:03within his reach. But standing in his

1:28:06way was charcoal, the level that nobody

1:28:09had beaten before.

1:28:11If Fractal couldn't find a way to beat

1:28:13it, then he'd have no hope of crashing

1:28:15the game.

1:28:17Over the next few weeks, Fractal

1:28:19practiced extensively. He came up with

1:28:21strategies of staying alert on the dim

1:28:23levels. He built his consistency with

1:28:25rolling, and eventually he felt he had a

1:28:28good chance to make it past Charcoal.

1:28:31Finally, it was time. Fractal's years of

1:28:35playing Tetris had all led up to this.

1:28:38He was ready to start streaming attempts

1:28:40to crash the game. Fractal went live and

1:28:43started playing.

1:28:45But just an hour into his first night of

1:28:47attempts,

1:28:48someone else shocked the world.

1:29:14This is Blue Scuti, and he had just made

1:29:17it past Charcoal in a live game.

1:29:20Blue Scuti was an elite player, but not

1:29:22considered to be quite on Fractal's

1:29:24level. Just weeks ago, he'd finished

1:29:27third place in the Tetris World

1:29:29Championship that Fractal won.

1:29:31But with his personal best at 5.2

1:29:33million, the world record was

1:29:35technically within reach. And now, he'd

1:29:38just become the first ever player to

1:29:41make it past Charcoal. Scuti was able to

1:29:44hold it together for a few more levels,

1:29:46but ended up topping out on level 153.

1:29:49His final score, 6.6 million, a new

1:29:53world record.

1:29:55All of a sudden, Fractal had serious

1:29:57competition in getting the first game

1:29:59crash.

1:30:00Scuti was just two levels short.

1:30:03Now, he was playing on Tetris Gym, so

1:30:06even if he'd made it to 155, the game

1:30:08wouldn't have crashed. But now, Scooty

1:30:11realized how close he was to making

1:30:13history. And he, too, switched to

1:30:16playing on the original cartridge.

1:30:18It was now a two-way race for the first

1:30:20game crash. The world champion, Fractal,

1:30:24against the newcomer, Blue Scooty.

1:30:27The pressure was on for Fractal, and he

1:30:29was more determined than ever. After

1:30:31seeing Scooty's new record, he continued

1:30:34with his attempts. And within hours, he

1:30:36had another chance. He made it to level

1:30:38130, just 25 levels away from the game

1:30:42crash.

1:30:43But on level 133, it started to get

1:30:46dicey. He misdropped a couple pieces,

1:30:49and his stack piled high.

1:30:51Fractal decided to go for a risky

1:30:53maneuver to save his game.

1:30:55He dropped the T piece here, and at the

1:30:57last moment, rotated to fit in this gap.

1:31:01It was a precise move, but it was his

1:31:03best chance to keep the game alive.

1:31:07I went for the season.

1:31:12And just like that, it was over. 22

1:31:15levels from the crash.

1:31:17All he could do was keep trying. The

1:31:19very next day, he got another one going.

1:31:22He played beautifully for half an hour,

1:31:24and eventually, made it right back to

1:31:27level 130. But just like yesterday, it

1:31:30started to unravel. A long barge route,

1:31:33combined with misdrops, caused his stack

1:31:35to rise.

1:31:37Fractal hadn't come all this way just to

1:31:39top out in level 130 again.

1:31:42He had to find a way to dig out of this.

1:31:45I regret nothing.

1:31:58Just incredible work. The game was

1:32:00alive, 20 levels till the game crash.

1:32:04Are you ready?

1:32:10I might not leave.

1:32:11Oh! Oh, okay.

1:32:25Game over on level 137.

1:32:28Just 18 levels short of the crash.

1:32:31Any of these games could have been the

1:32:33one. Fractal couldn't stop now.

1:32:36He kept his stream going, and within

1:32:38hours, he found himself on another

1:32:41promising game.

1:32:42He once again passed level 100, then

1:32:45made it to level 130, where all his

1:32:48previous games had fallen apart. But

1:32:50this time, things were different. He

1:32:53kept his stack low, and ended up

1:32:55reaching the glitched colors. 17 levels

1:32:58to go until the game crash.

1:33:01Fractal powered through the different

1:33:02color palettes, and he knew what was

1:33:04coming next. Dusk and charcoal.

1:33:08He'd mentally prepared himself for them,

1:33:10and felt there was a good chance he'd

1:33:12make it through.

1:33:13Moments later, Fractal entered level

1:33:15146.

1:33:17It was time for dusk.

1:33:23Oh my god.

1:33:27No, I got completely blindsided.

1:33:32Man.

1:33:33Even though he knew what was coming,

1:33:35Fractal was still caught off guard. He

1:33:38instantly misdropped and couldn't

1:33:40recover.

1:33:42This game was enough to beat Blue Scooty

1:33:44back for the score world record, but it

1:33:46remained just nine levels short of the

1:33:49crash.

1:33:51Finally, Fractal had to stop for the

1:33:52day. That was three close calls in just

1:33:5524 hours. No one could say he wasn't

1:33:58trying, but today it wasn't happening.

1:34:02He stopped his stream, went to sleep,

1:34:04and the next day he started up attempts

1:34:06again.

1:34:07But just a short while into this stream,

1:34:10his chat let him know that Blue Scooty

1:34:13was on an amazing run.

1:34:15Wait, what is Scooty what is Scooty at

1:34:16right now?

1:34:18Oh my god.

1:34:19He had made it all the way to the

1:34:21glitched colors, level 138, 17 levels

1:34:25from the crash. He was quickly

1:34:27approaching Dusk and Charcoal, but

1:34:29Scooty had had success beating those

1:34:32levels before.

1:34:33Now, with the pressure of a game crash

1:34:36on the line, he'd have to do it again.

1:34:39Blue Scooty made it to level 146, stayed

1:34:42calm, and began playing Dusk.

1:35:00Beautiful. One down, one to go.

1:35:04Charcoal was next, the level that nobody

1:35:06else had beaten before.

1:35:08Scooty knew that if he could beat

1:35:10Charcoal right now, he had a really good

1:35:13chance of getting the crash.

1:35:28This was happening. Blue Scooty was now

1:35:30on level 149,

1:35:32six levels from the crash.

1:35:35Fractal couldn't believe what he was

1:35:37watching, and he was cheering him on.

1:35:39Come on, kill it, kill it, kill it.

1:35:41Blue Scooty had adrenaline coursing

1:35:43through him, but he knew what he had to

1:35:45do. Hold it together for just a few more

1:35:48levels. He kept playing, rolling the

1:35:51pieces into place with no margin for

1:35:53error. The level climbed higher

1:35:55and finally, he arrived at level 154.

1:36:00Just one more step for the game crash.

1:36:03Transition into level 155 on a single

1:36:06line clear.

1:36:07The strategy here was to keep the stack

1:36:09as low as possible to make single line

1:36:12clears easy. For four lines, all went

1:36:15according to plan.

1:36:17But then, he misdropped an S piece.

1:36:22His stack started to pile up, but

1:36:24Scootie stayed calm in the face of

1:36:26danger. He continued getting single line

1:36:28clears

1:36:30until he was just one line away from the

1:36:32transition. He now needed one more

1:36:35single line clear.

1:36:37But then, the game gave him a long bar

1:36:39and Scootie, perhaps out of habit, took

1:36:43the bait.

1:36:47I missed it.

1:36:51Scootie had made it to the glitched

1:36:53colors. He'd beaten dusk and charcoal.

1:36:56He'd held it together the entire way and

1:36:59at the last possible moment, he'd still

1:37:02miss the crash.

1:37:04He was flustered,

1:37:06but he knew it might not be over. There

1:37:08were still other places the game could

1:37:10crash.

1:37:12Scootie didn't know exactly where, but

1:37:14he hoped that if he kept going, maybe

1:37:16the game would crash at some point.

1:37:19Please crash.

1:37:20Scootie played through the next couple

1:37:22levels. He did beautifully given the

1:37:25weight of what had just happened, but

1:37:26the game didn't crash.

1:37:28But in level 157, it was too much. He

1:37:32started misdropping and it was clear

1:37:34that he wasn't going to be able to

1:37:36recover this.

1:37:37The game would be over in a matter of

1:37:39seconds.

1:37:40Out of desperation, Scootie threw a J

1:37:43piece to the left hoping that a line

1:37:45clear would somehow crash the game.

1:37:52Oh my god.

1:37:57Oh my god.

1:37:58What? He did it. He did it. WAIT, HE GOT

1:38:01IT. OH MY GOD.

1:38:03LET'S GO.

1:38:04Blue Scoody had defeated Tetris. This is

1:38:07the game's true kill screen. It's where

1:38:10Tetris gives up and says you win.

1:38:13Had Scoody missed this one line clear,

1:38:16it's unlikely he would have been able to

1:38:17get another one before topping out. And

1:38:20he also had a bit of luck on his side.

1:38:22According to Hydrant Dude's spreadsheet,

1:38:24this line clear only had a 73% chance of

1:38:28crashing the game. But it all lined up.

1:38:31It all worked out and Blue Scoody

1:38:34crashed the game.

1:38:35But even crazier than the achievement

1:38:37itself was what happened over the next

1:38:40few days.

1:38:41A Game Scout published a video talking

1:38:44about Scoody's accomplishments. And it

1:38:46went viral. 10 million views in a matter

1:38:49of days. Soon, media outlets were

1:38:52picking up on the story.

1:38:54Articles were written. News segments

1:38:57were broadcast. Blue Scoody was

1:38:59interviewed on morning news shows. And

1:39:01then he got to meet the creator of

1:39:03Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov.

1:39:06It was a media phenomenon. One of the

1:39:09biggest stories of the week.

1:39:12And in the background of it all was

1:39:14Fractal.

1:39:16This was supposed to be his achievement.

1:39:18He'd spent years looking into the crash,

1:39:21helping discover what conditions were

1:39:23needed and what caused it. And after

1:39:25years of build up, somebody else had

1:39:28swooped in and beaten him to it.

1:39:30Now, credit to Scoody. He'd done an

1:39:33amazing job closing out his games. But

1:39:36Fractal had come so close to getting it

1:39:38first. Now, he could only watch as

1:39:42Scootie's accomplishment made headlines

1:39:44around the world.

1:39:46Fractal had to face the facts. He could

1:39:48no longer be the first person to get the

1:39:50game crash, and he wasn't going to get

1:39:52the wave of attention that Scootie got.

1:39:55But he could still finish what he

1:39:56started. So, Fractal continued trying to

1:40:00get his own game crash.

1:40:02It took a couple weeks, but on January

1:40:053rd, 2024, he cleared a single line on

1:40:08the transition into level 155.

1:40:117 8 9

1:40:21This wasn't the first game crash, but it

1:40:23was the world record for the earliest

1:40:26game crash. Level 155 versus Scootie's

1:40:29level 157.

1:40:31And while there weren't news stories or

1:40:33Good Morning America interviews for

1:40:35Fractal, the Tetris community knew what

1:40:38he had accomplished.

1:40:40And now, hopefully all of you do, too.

1:40:53Thanks to the game crash, the Tetris

1:40:55community had a spotlight on it. New

1:40:57players were getting into the scene, and

1:40:59veterans were playing more than ever

1:41:01before.

1:41:02But now that the game crash was out of

1:41:04the way, people turned their attention

1:41:06back to the score record. It had become

1:41:09a bit lost in all of this, but the

1:41:11highest score of all of these games was

1:41:14Blue Scootie's first game crash, 6.85

1:41:18million points.

1:41:20And it was beatable. Scootie was playing

1:41:22as safely as he could to make it to the

1:41:24crash. So, he only got three Tetris's

1:41:28after hitting level 29, leaving lots of

1:41:31points on the table.

1:41:32If someone had the guts to go for a

1:41:34Tetris after reaching the glitched

1:41:36colors, it would be worth over 166,000

1:41:41points. Land a few of those and you

1:41:43could crush the score record.

1:41:46Several players ended up going for the

1:41:48record here, but the player who

1:41:49ultimately broke it was PixelAndy.

1:41:53On January 11th, he started a game that

1:41:55made it to level 29 and for a while, he

1:41:58wasn't going for any Tetris's.

1:42:01But then, they started to pour in.

1:42:04choice

1:42:06nice

1:42:08nice

1:42:11Yes, dude. Yes, man.

1:42:13By level 130, Andy had already broken

1:42:16the score record before even reaching

1:42:19the glitched colors. But he didn't stop

1:42:21there. He continued landing them,

1:42:24scoring over 170,000

1:42:26points each time. This hyper-aggressive

1:42:29play style was working. His game could

1:42:32end at any moment, but in the meantime,

1:42:34he was racking up the points.

1:42:36Finally, in level 148, Andy topped out.

1:42:40His final score was 8.9 million points,

1:42:45more than a 2 million point improvement

1:42:47to the world record. That's the power of

1:42:50landing Tetris's late. Scaling comes

1:42:52into play and your score adds up fast.

1:42:56Now, the community had a dilemma. Andy's

1:42:59score record landed so many late

1:43:01Tetris's that beating it by scoring more

1:43:04points wasn't too likely. Instead,

1:43:07players would have to beat his record by

1:43:09playing further than he did. And with

1:43:11the game crash just a few levels away,

1:43:14there didn't seem to be much room there.

1:43:16So, they had two options for how to

1:43:19proceed.

1:43:20Option number one, crash dodging.

1:43:24Starting on level 155, many levels have

1:43:27some trigger that can cause a game

1:43:29crash. Initially, it's how many lines

1:43:31you clear and in later levels, it's what

1:43:34pieces you drop. However, these

1:43:36conditions had all been mapped out. So,

1:43:39in theory, someone can memorize what to

1:43:41avoid on each level, then dodge crashes

1:43:44to keep playing indefinitely. However,

1:43:47the combination of playing at this speed

1:43:49in the first place, with memorizing

1:43:51conditions on every level, and then

1:43:54executing it at the same time,

1:43:57it would be a lot, even for these

1:43:59amazing players.

1:44:01But, there was also an easier option.

1:44:04Players could simply go back to playing

1:44:06on Tetris Gym, which patched the crash,

1:44:09and not have to worry about crash

1:44:11dodging at all. Now, some might argue

1:44:14that this isn't exactly fair, because if

1:44:16you played Tetris on the original

1:44:17cartridge, the crashes would all be

1:44:19present. Why are you allowed to just

1:44:22patch them out like this? There's a wide

1:44:24range of opinions on this topic, and you

1:44:26can come to your own conclusion about

1:44:28what's fair.

1:44:29But, there's no denying that removing

1:44:31does simplify things quite a bit. And

1:44:34ultimately, players had been using the

1:44:37Gym ROM for years. The race for the game

1:44:40crash was a fun one-off challenge, but

1:44:42now, most agreed it was back to playing

1:44:45on Tetris Gym. And with the crash

1:44:47patched, and players breaking new

1:44:49boundaries, these guys had a new race in

1:44:51front of them. The race for 10 million

1:44:54points.

1:44:57The Classic Tetris YouTube channel began

1:45:00hosting weekly race to 10 million

1:45:02events, where Blue Scooty, Fractal,

1:45:05PixelAndy, and a few others all played

1:45:08to break the score record. On top of

1:45:10that, there was a community-funded

1:45:12bounty of $2,600

1:45:14for the first 10 million point game.

1:45:17There was a lot of anticipation. And

1:45:20with so many top players trying,

1:45:22expectations were just as high. However,

1:45:25weeks passed, and not only was there no

1:45:2810 million point game, but nobody even

1:45:31improved their high score.

1:45:33Playing long enough to score 10 million

1:45:35points required immense concentration.

1:45:37And when factoring in the pressure to be

1:45:39the first to cross the barrier and the

1:45:42cash bounty at stake, each good game was

1:45:44like a mental battle.

1:45:46Fractal, Blue Scooty, PixelAndy, Dog,

1:45:50Gerald Freeman, these guys were all good

1:45:52enough to reach 10 million. Yet week

1:45:55after week they came up empty.

1:45:58But then, on the night of March 11th,

1:46:002024, someone started messaging players

1:46:04in the Classic Tetris Monthly Discord

1:46:06server.

1:46:07These were from another top player, Alex

1:46:10Thatch.

1:46:12And this is what he sent.

1:46:20This was a new world record and just

1:46:23short of the 10 million point barrier.

1:46:26But it was also unrecorded. Now, Alex

1:46:29was definitely a good player, holding a

1:46:31few various records over the years. He

1:46:34used to be one of the fastest hyper

1:46:35tappers and was good at rolling, too,

1:46:38but had never officially held the score

1:46:40record before.

1:46:42He was claiming to have crushed his

1:46:44recorded PB offline and without video

1:46:47proof.

1:46:49Alex said he was practicing late at

1:46:50night while listening to Moist Critical

1:46:53and out of nowhere he got this crazy

1:46:55game.

1:46:56The general consensus was that the score

1:46:58was likely legit, but without a video it

1:47:00couldn't be considered official. So, the

1:47:03very next day, Alex Thatch began

1:47:06streaming attempts to prove himself.

1:47:09Now, expecting to match or beat

1:47:11yesterday's score was unreasonable, but

1:47:13if he could put up some decent scores on

1:47:15command, that would help substantiate

1:47:17his 9.9 million claim.

1:47:20Alex sat down and started playing some

1:47:22Tetris. But little did he or anybody

1:47:26watching know

1:47:27that this was going to be the greatest

1:47:30game of Tetris ever performed.

1:47:35It started off like any other. He

1:47:37reached level 29 and decided to play

1:47:39conservatively in hopes of getting a

1:47:41deep game.

1:47:42Slow and steady like wins the race, you

1:47:44know?

1:47:45He kept climbing through levels and for

1:47:47the most part his stack stayed very low.

1:47:50And eventually he passed level 100.

1:47:53Yes, level 100. Shoo, the three digits.

1:47:57The game was starting to get serious,

1:47:59but Alex stayed very calm.

1:48:01On level 138 he answered the glitched

1:48:03colors and he was cruising. As he

1:48:07reached the dark palettes, he echoed the

1:48:09words Fractal used to lock himself in.

1:48:12Eyes wide open. Eyes wide open. Eyes

1:48:16wide open.

1:48:18It worked. Alex played through the 150s

1:48:21and at this moment, if he was playing on

1:48:24an original cartridge, the game would

1:48:26have likely crashed. But since he was on

1:48:28Tetris Jim, he was able to keep going.

1:48:32And all the while, Alex just kept

1:48:34talking.

1:48:35Yes, redemption. This is redemption. Oh

1:48:39my god. And we're going to keep fighting

1:48:41for this 10 mil. We need to win that

1:48:44bounty. You got nothing on me. I'mma

1:48:46keep going. I'm going for the 10 million

1:48:49and I'm going to get it.

1:48:51This was actually a brilliant strategy.

1:48:53The main thing stopping players on these

1:48:55games was themselves. Nerves caught up

1:48:58to them and they just couldn't hold it

1:49:00together.

1:49:01So to counter that, Alex distracted

1:49:03himself. He hyped himself up and as a

1:49:06result, his nerves melted away.

1:49:09Give it. Bring it on. Come on.

1:49:12On level 185, Alex crossed 10 million

1:49:16points. This was now the official world

1:49:18record and he'd earned the $2,600

1:49:21bounty.

1:49:22And then, he crossed level 190 and then

1:49:25level 200.

1:49:27All the while, he wouldn't be quiet.

1:49:29Oh, this guy's got nothing on me. I can

1:49:32like literally

1:49:33On level 216, Alex landed a Tetris. It

1:49:37was worth over 260,000

1:49:40points.

1:49:41How is this game happening? Could it go

1:49:44on forever? Does Tetris have an end?

1:49:47Well, it sort of does. You can play all

1:49:50the way to level 255 and then the level

1:49:53counter rolls over to zero and the game

1:49:56essentially restarts.

1:49:58This is known as the rebirth. For years,

1:50:01it was known to exist but wasn't

1:50:03considered at all viable.

1:50:05But Alex might have a shot at it right

1:50:08now.

1:50:09However, there is still one thing

1:50:11standing between Alex and the rebirth,

1:50:13level 235.

1:50:16In NES Tetris, levels last 10 lines.

1:50:20However, due to a bug, level 235 is a

1:50:23bit different. It lasts for 810

1:50:27lines.

1:50:29It's an absolute marathon to make it

1:50:31through, especially with the dark green

1:50:33color palette it has on Tetris gym.

1:50:36So when Alex entered level 235 moments

1:50:39later, he knew he had a tough task ahead

1:50:42of him.

1:50:42Oh, wait. What? Wait, this is the 800

1:50:44lines level.

1:50:45Oh my god.

1:50:46He'd cleared 10 lines so far, only 800

1:50:49more to go.

1:50:50For the first time all game, Alex

1:50:52stopped talking. He struggled to see the

1:50:55pieces and needed to use all his focus.

1:50:58For 70 more lines, all went well.

1:51:01But eventually, he began to misdrop.

1:51:04Oh, that might be it.

1:51:15Oh my god.

1:51:17What has

1:51:23Oh my god.

1:51:24Dude, that's redemption.

1:51:26Day one of 10 million. Look what we got.

1:51:45This just completely blew every other

1:51:47game ever played out of the water. To

1:51:50put it in perspective, prior to this

1:51:52game, few people had ever cleared more

1:51:55than 1,400 lines in a game.

1:51:58Alex had just cleared 2,374

1:52:03lines, and his game lasted a full hour.

1:52:07He had figured out the secret formula to

1:52:09surviving in Tetris. Just distract

1:52:11yourself and don't care.

1:52:15A few weeks later, Alex raised the score

1:52:18slightly to 16.7 million, and to this

1:52:21day, nobody else has beaten his score.

1:52:25But there's no doubt that the rebirth is

1:52:28coming.

1:52:29Alex, Blue Scooty, PixelAndy, and others

1:52:32have all been trying to make it there.

1:52:34They're certainly all capable of doing

1:52:36it. And sure, it's going to be a slog to

1:52:39make it through the 810 lines of level

1:52:41235.

1:52:43But if there's one thing we can be sure

1:52:45of, Tetris players are constantly

1:52:48redefining what's possible. And before

1:52:51long, one of these guys will achieve the

1:52:53rebirth.

1:52:54The only question is,

1:52:56who's going to do it first?

1:52:58Thanks for watching.

1:53:02For a behind-the-scenes look at how I

1:53:04made this video and storylines that I

1:53:06couldn't include, join my Patreon page.

1:53:09I only charge when I upload a video.

1:53:11Thanks.