Previously only bots and AI had got game to its ‘kill screen’ but Willis Gibson managed to get game to freeze with score 999999

A 13-year-old in Oklahoma is believed to be the first person ever to beat Tetris since the game’s release more than three decades ago.

Previously, only bots powered by artificial intelligence had forced the game, first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), to its “kill screen”, where its signature blocks are falling so fast that the game itself can’t continue. In a video documenting his feat and posted on Tuesday, the Oklahoma teenager, known as Blue Scuti online and by his legal name, Willis Gibson, plays for roughly 38 minutes and reaches level 157 before saying, “Oh, I missed it,” believing that a misplaced block scuttled his attempt.

But he recovers, and as blocks zip downward, he says, “Please crash,” and completes another line of blocks, the mechanism for scoring points in Tetris. The game freezes, the de facto victory, and he says: “Oh my God! Yes! I’m going to pass out. I can’t feel my hands.” His score read “999999”.