Tetris kill screen

After the CTWC in October 2023, Gibson began his attempt to reach Tetris's "killscreen," a point late in the game when the game's code glitches, resulting in a game crash due to hardware limitations within the NES.^[6] This killscreen had previously only been reached by AI.^[7] Gibson was inspired by fellow competitive Tetris player and YouTuber Justin Yu (professional name "Fractal161"), who announced his intentions to reach the killscreen after the CTWC.^[3] To improve his skills in the late-game, Gibson began to practice playing the hardest levels in the game nicknamed "Dusk" and "Charcoal" because of their darker and distorted hues of the blocks caused by a late-game glitch.^[3]

On December 21, 2023, Gibson became the first person on the NES version of Tetris to "beat the game" after reaching level 157 and triggering the killscreen.^[1] The record playthrough lasted 38 minutes, and was uploaded to Gibson's YouTube channel on January 2, 2024, under the title "The First Time Somebody Has Ever "Beat" Tetris".^[7][8] The playthrough was also the highest overall scoring game of Tetris at the time of recording.^[5]

The achievement shortly afterward garnered international notoriety, with The New York Times conducting an interview with him and Good Morning America broadcasting the record-breaking video on television.^[1][3] In a statement, Tetris Company CEO Maya Rogers congratulated Gibson for his "feat that defies all preconceived limits" of the game.^[3][6] President of the CTWC, Vince Clemente, remarked: "It's basically something that everyone thought was impossible"^[1] and that the whole event "is unbelievable".^[9] On January 5, 2024, Gibson's post-victory reaction quote "I can't feel my fingers" became The New York Times quote of the day.^[10] On the same day, Tetris co-founders Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers met with Gibson over a video call, calling his playthrough an "amazing, amazing achievement."^[11][12] At the meeting, Gibson dedicated the achievement to his recently deceased father.^[11]

The American monthly magazine WIRED credited the widespread media attention of the achievement to a recent "cultural obsession" of the game restarting in 2023, and an uptick in negative news starting off the New Year in 2024.^[13] While the media's reaction to Gibson also remained largely positive,^[13] Sky News presenter Jayne Secker remarked that "as a mother, I would just say step away from the screen, go outside, get some fresh air" and that "beating Tetris is not a life goal". These comments attracted considerable backlash.^[14]

Playing style

While playing Tetris, Gibson holds the game controller between his left knee and right foot. He drums on the back of the controller with his right hand fingers, rapidly pushing the buttons into his left hand.

Gibson's playing style was described as "aggressive" by Stillwater News Press.^[4] He first learned to play the game using the hypertapping technique in 2021, but when the faster rolling technique was discovered, his playing style changed to it instead.^[3] The combination of skill, aggression, and mastery of the rolling technique was credited to Gibson's ability to perform well in the game.^[2][3][4] For his set-up, Gibson often plays with the controller on his right foot balanced against his left knee, with his right hand performing the rolling and tapping actions. He wears a glove on his right hand to reduce the friction of the repeated actions.^[4]