More than 30 years have passed since Tetris debuted on the NES in 1989. Since then, the Holy Grail, the "true kill screen," has been out of reach; after 34 years, a flesh-and-blood human being has finally beaten Tetris.

Some explanation would be in order: a "kill screen" is a term used in the retro gaming community. The YouTube channel aGameScout has an excellent explanation, using Pac-Man, which crashes around level 256, as an example.

In Tetris, the "kill screen" informally applies to level 29, but it is not really a kill screen in the classic sense. The game does not crash, but it moves too fast for most players to survive.

In 2011, however, a player managed to overcome this unofficial kill screen by "hypertapping"; in 2020, hypertapping was replaced by "rolling." Rolling is essentially a finger-tapping on the back of the controller to apply pressure to the buttons. This allowed competitive player Cheez_Fish to move blocks faster than any player before him, and it quickly became the standard way of doing things. Another big advantage is that it does not strain the hands.

Since the game's speed doesn't increase past level 29, you might think it's only a matter of time before you reach the "true kill screen" in Tetris, but that's not necessarily the case. Not only does the game throw glitched-out colors at you, but the conditions that cause the crash are super-specific.

Initially, it was thought that the game's true kill screen would begin on level 237. However, its AI was based on a slightly modified version of the game's code. Fortunately, Tetris enthusiast Hydrant created a spreadsheet that pinpoints the earliest possible kill screen, which is triggered by clearing a row of blocks on the transition to level 155.

As for the colors, aGameScout explains: "The line of code that is supposed to determine the level color glitches out of level 138 and starts getting data from outside the color table. Dim pieces, almost black pieces - they don't speed up, but they definitely get a hell of a lot harder. These levels are given names by fans naming them, such as "dusk" or "charcoal."

In other words, it's about 40 minutes of high-difficulty Tetris where players must focus on the laser, pinpoint physically demanding techniques, go through levels with almost invisible blocks, and clear only one line at a particular moment.

Out of nowhere, 13-year-old American prodigy player Willis Gibson, a.k.a. Bruce Scuti, was kicking blocks and making a name for himself in professional tournaments, and on December 19, 2023, Scuti reached level 153, setting a new world record. He cleared the block of his prized True Kill screen in just 18 lines. It was so close.

On December 21, 2023, he made his final attempt. The next trigger point was level 157, where clearing one line has about a 70% chance of causing a crash. The next trigger point is level 157, and there is about a 70% chance of causing a crash with one line clear. The game crashed and Scooty made Tetris history. The whole thing can be seen below.

In an interview with ITZsharky1, Scuti said: "The hardest part for me was when I played for about 30 minutes and the nerves started running. " Asked if he had anything to say to the young athletes, Scuti replied: 'If you set your mind to something and put your heart into it, most likely you will get it.'

In another touching moment, Scooty was asked if he wanted to dedicate his historic run to anyone, to which he replied: "I want to dedicate it to my father." Scuti's father had died the same month, December 2023. At the end of the interview, he proudly stated: "My grandparents made this for me," and proudly held up a hoodie with "Blue Scuti" embroidered at the top, with a freeze frame of his crash printed in the center, and below it, "It never ends It never ends."

When asked about his future plans, he replies with a faint smile of determination: "If someone takes my record, I want to go after it and get it back."