'Unbeatable' Tetris Finally Beaten by 13-Year-Old Gamer "Blue Scuti"

13-Year-Old Phenom 'Blue Scuti" has officially beaten the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version of Tetris, a rendition of the classic game that is thought to simply be unbeatable because of its supposed unending nature, Associated Press reports.

The feat, though reportedly considered by the whole gaming community as beating it, is technically reaching a "kill screen" in the game, a point where a Tetris code bug causes the game to crash indicating that the player achieved a record that stretched the boundaries of hardware and software. A highly sought-after accomplishment, most especially in the original Tetris software that is designed to run endlessly.

The phenom behind the achievement is YouTuber "Blue Scuti," who NBC News reports posted a video on YouTube, playing the well-known puzzle game until reaching the "kill-screen." "Blue Scuti," who started playing Tetris at the age of 11 as per USA Today, is a third place finisher in the October 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship.

'Blue Scuti's' Triumph

Polygon reports that throughout the 38-minute film, Scuti's tension seemingly increased as the gamer got closer and closer to reaching the record. The phenom then reportedly yanked off his gloves as he realized he got the game to crash.

As per a USA Today interview from its intermediary The Oklahoman, "Blue Scuti" says that other competitive players will now keep striving to get to the "kill screen" with a greater score and more effective play. The Tetris phenom reportedly dedicated his victory to his father, who passed away on December 14 at the age of 39.

Creators of the game itself, reportedly lauded the feat, wherein a statement from Tetris CEO Maya Rogers congratulated "Blue Scuti" for accomplishing to 'beat' the game, which defies all expectations of this classic game. This year marks Tetris' 40th anniversary, according to Rogers, who also referred to Willis' triumph as a "monumental achievement."

Beating NES to Beat Tetris

"Blue Scuti" was able to beat the game with a strategy that Polygon describes as a culmination of the skills that more modern players had been honing recently. These more recent techniques, such as "hypertapping" and "rolling," lets users use the NES controller even more quickly than the buttons by tapping the device's underside. The majority of participants in the CTWC by 2022 reportedly employed these tactics in one form or another.

The Associated Press reports that according to David Macdonald, a gaming YouTuber who has been covering the gaming business for years, People in the Tetris community did not even know how to get to these higher levels in the beginning.

Players reportedly just did not know how to advance, so they were trapped in the levels around 20 and 30. A particularly difficult obstacle on Level 29 was described by the YouTuber as the blocks starting to fall faster than the in-game controller could react.

Players eventually discovered strategies to advance, as Macdonald documented in his in-depth documentary on Willis' triumph. Using a method known as "hypertapping," which allowed players to move the game controller faster than the game's default pace, one person reached Level 30 in 2011.

In 2020, a player coupled a multi-finger method, first seen on arcade video games, with a finger on the bottom of the controller to press it against a finger on top, to create the next great thing. This far faster method, known as "rolling," allowed one player to achieve Level 95 in 2022.