Blocks fall before 13-year-old Oklahoma native Willis Gibson’s eyes as he quickly adjusts them to fit through the gaps between the blocks that have already landed. As an L-shaped block falls into place, an entire row vanishes and Gibson’s score reads 999,999. Gibson stares in awe at his screen and begins to celebrate his record-breaking achievement. On Dec. 21, Gibson beat Tetris Classic, reaching such a high score that the game freezed.

Tetris was created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. To play, one must stop falling block shapes from accumulating by strategically placing the blocks to create complete rows. Completed rows disappear, creating more space for additional shapes. Tetris began to gain popularity after video game designer Henk Rogers discovered it at a Las Vegas trade show and pushed to release it as part of Nintendo.

Originally, many people considered beating Tetris impossible, because it was believed that the program could continue generating blocks forever. As more and more people began playing the game, players learned that the code for the game would stop working when the values became too high to process. Considered the “end” of Tetris, this point had never been reached through normal means until December of 2023.

Willis Gibson first started playing Tetris competitively in 2021 and has become one of the top players in the community. He brought about a new era of Tetris, with more players trying to replicate his accomplishment.