# 13-Year-Old Becomes First Person to Ever Beat Tetris

by Jason Koebler
Jan 2, 2024 at 10:11 AM

34 years after its release on NES, Blue Scuti has become the first
human to ever reach Tetris' Kill Screen.

A 13-year-old competitive Tetris player has become the first known
human to beat the game on the original NES by forcing it into a kill
screen. In doing so, the player, Blue Scuti, broke world records for
overall score, level achieved, and total numbers of lines in the
34-year-old game. Previously, only an AI had broken Tetris.

The feat took Blue Scuti about 38 minutes, as shown in a video he
posted to his YouTube. As he nears the feat, Blue Scuti says "Oh I
missed it," after misplacing a block. He recovers, then says "Oh my
God," as it seems like he'll be able to do it. "Please crash," he
says as the blocks careen down the screen impossibly fast. He gets
another line and the game freezes: "Oh my God! Yes! I'm going to pass
out," he says. "I can't feel my hands."

Blue Scuti is a Tetris prodigy who employs the "rolling" controller
technique, a new way of holding and using the NES controller that was
popularized in 2021. Rolling surpassed "hyper tapping," which
requires players to tap the controller's D-pad 12 times per second,
as the fastest and best way of playing Tetris. Rolling is a method
where players roll their fingers on the bottom of an NES controller
and use that pressure to push the controller into their other hand,
which presses the D-pad to move the blocks. With rolling, players can
push the D-pad at least 20 times per second, which is fast enough to
theoretically play the game until it breaks. The technique has
completely revolutionized competitive Tetris over the last few years.

"With rolling players could theoretically play forever ... or as long
as the game can handle it," the Classic Tetris YouTube channel
explained on a video of Blue Scuti breaking the game.

In an interview with streamer ITZsharky1, BlueScuti said he had
previously gotten close to game crash and began grinding after the
feat.

"My biggest struggle was when the nerves started kicking in after 30
minutes of play," BlueScuti said. BlueScuti dedicated the game to his
dad, Adam Gibson, who died in December.

From: <https://www.404media.co/
13-year-old-becomes-first-person-to-ever-beat-tetris/>