39 years later, someone finally beat Tetris
Nearly four decades on from its release, a mythical kill screen that marks the "end" of Tetris has been found by one brilliant 13-year-old.
03rd Jan 2024 15:45
SEGA | Blue Scout
39 years later, someone finally beat Tetris
Nearly four decades on from its release, a mythical kill screen that marks the "end" of Tetris has been found by one brilliant 13-year-old.
03rd Jan 2024 15:45
SEGA | Blue Scout
Ah, Tetris, the game that started a movement. It's a title that you can play over and over again until it literally infects your brain and manifests in your dreams. Look up The Tetris Effect - we're not lying.
Tetris is a compelling game with endless reimaginings turning the experience upside down, with the most notable example of recent years being Tetris Effect, the game that brought the blocky puzzle into an enveloping VR experience.
There's a lot going for Tetris in its most recent and most primitive forms - but it's kinda tough to just beat Tetris. Luckily, someone's managed it after nearly four decades. Oh, and we neglected to mention - it was achieved by a 13-year-old.
A 13-year-old has "beaten" Tetris
No, really. Tetris was once thought impossible to actually beat, as a game that is technically endless - but one 13-year-old Tetris expert has brought the game to the end of its road. He managed to trigger the mythical kill screen that has never been seen before.
The player made it all the way to Tetris' peak, reaching level 157 and capping out at 999,999 Score. The original video of his success, as shared in a video essay by aGameScout, shows that Willis "Blue Scuti" Gibson has outpaced the game to such a degree that it hits a glitch, refusing to load any more Tetriminoes.
This is the technical "end of the game" that we've officially never seen before, and four decades after Tetris' creation, the streamer has made history.
Tetris fans are already trying to usurp Blue Scuti
As will come as no surprise when considering just how long competitive Tetris has been on the go, there are others hoping to use this new broken record as a springboard for their own records. They're already attempting to see how close to the kill screen they can get without triggering it - even making attempts to surpass it.
It's typical of a bunch of hardcore gamers to try to smoke the record of a 13-year-old (we only need to look so far as the Christmas noobs that flood Call of Duty every year for proof), so we're hoping that Blue Scuti holds his record for a little longer. He's just made history, so let him have that for five minutes.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
