An Oklahoma teenager is believed to have become the first human player to beat Nintendo’s classic video game Tetris, 34 years after its release…

Willis Gibson posted a video on his YouTube channel of the moment he reached level 157, causing Tetris to crash. The 13-year-old fell back in his chair, saying: “I’m going to pass out, I can’t feel my fingers.” It took him just 38 minutes to beat the game.

It is noteworthy that until a few years ago, players believed that you could only play until level 29…

The popular video game – in which players arrange falling blocks into perfect horizontal rows at increasing speed – was initially created by Soviet engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It became popular after its 1989 debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Nintendo Game Boy handheld consoles. His story was recently featured in a movie.

Today, the game can be played on many consoles and platforms, including mobile phones. Tetris was among the best-selling games for the NES console and the Nintendo Game Boy.

In 2010, professional competitive player Thor Aackerlund managed to reach level 30 using a technique called hypertapping. Then, the player vibrates their fingers to move the controller faster than the in-game speed.

As a result, other players have used this and other techniques to see how far they can go, but until last month, only the AI could reach the game’s true kill screen.

The kill screen occurs when the player reaches a level that causes the game to crash. At the end of the 38-minute run, Willis’ screen crashes and blocks no longer come down as he beats the game. The teenager – who goes by the name Blue Scuti on YouTube – has been playing the game since he was 11 years old. He has already participated in several competitions.

“When I started playing this game I never expected to ever crash the game, or beat it,” he wrote on his YouTube channel. According to Willis, in addition to beating the game, he also broke the total score and three other Tetris world records.

Now, other players are attempting to break the 13-year-old phenom’s records, with many documenting their attempts on social media and video streaming websites.

Source: The Guardian