Tetris Champ

The video game Tetris is all about the number 4. It gets its name from tetra-, which means 4. Each game piece is made up of 4 blocks. You earn bonus points for clearing 4 lines at once. And it took 4 decades for someone to beat it. Last year, Willis Gibson, now 14, became the first human to beat the game!

Tetris was also designed to go on 4-ever. As you make horizontal lines with the falling pieces, they’re cleared from the playing area. If your stacks of pieces reach the top of the screen, it’s game over! Since the game goes on until you lose, there’s no way to win it.

Games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man are also endless. But both have a point where the game glitches and can no longer be played, which is known as a kill screen. Since it’s technically an ending, reaching a kill screen is considered beating the game.

Have you ever played the video game Tetris? If so, you may have noticed something: it’s all about the number 4. Each game piece is made up of 4 blocks. You earn bonus points for making 4 lines of bricks disappear. The game’s name is even related. It comes from tetra-, which means 4. And it took 4 decades for someone to beat Tetris. Willis Gibson, now 14, became the first person to do it last year!

Tetris was designed to be endless. To play, you fit the falling pieces together. When you fill a horizontal row, it’s cleared from the playing area. But if you don’t clear rows fast enough, pieces start stacking up. When they reach the top of the screen, it’s game over! Since the game goes on until you lose, there’s no way to win it.

Games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man are endless too. Both of those games have a point where the game glitches and can no longer be played. That’s known as a kill screen. Since the game ends when you reach the kill screen, players consider it beating the game.

So Tetris players hunted for a kill screen. The game’s downfall turned out to be addition. Players earn points for clearing a line. Points earned per line clear goes up by 40 points each level. But the game is programmed to add, not multiply. To find the value of a line clear at level 100, the game has to add 40 points 100 times in a row. “If it takes too long to add up the score, the game crashes,” Willis says.

“Originally, when they made the game, they thought it was impossible to get past level 29,” Willis says. Scores big enough to break the game start at Level 155. Some thought there was no way a human player could play that well. (A computer program reached the kill screen in 2021 after 237 levels.) But Willis still wanted to try, so he practiced for hours every day.

And on December 21, 2023, Willis reached the kill screen at level 157. “Normally in life I can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes,” Willis says, “but when I’m playing Tetris, it’s the one thing I can actually focus on.”

Tetris players hunted for a kill screen. For years, no one could reach it. But Willis finally found the game’s weak spot. It turned out to be adding up the score!

Players earn points for clearing a row. The number of points per row goes up by 40 for each new level. The fastest way to find the value of a cleared row at level 100 would be multiplying 40 by 100. But the game is programmed to add, not multiply. So it has to add 40 points 100 times in a row. That takes more computing power. “If it takes too long to add up the score, the game crashes,” says Willis.

The game’s designers didn’t expect this to be a problem. “When they made the game, they thought it was impossible to get past level 29,” explains Willis. Scores big enough to break the game start at Level 155. A computer program reached the kill screen in 2021 after 237 levels. But computers can play perfectly. Some thought there was no way a human player could do it. Willis still wanted to try. So he practiced for hours every day. 

And on December 21, 2023, it paid off! Willis reached the kill screen at level 157. “Normally in life I can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes,” he says. “But when I’m playing Tetris, it’s the one thing I can actually focus on.”