TetrisAlexT | |
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![]() Thach after winning the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship | |
Personal information | |
Name | Alex Thach |
Born | [1] | November 7, 2008
Career information | |
Games | Classic Tetris |
Playing career | 2020–present |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Alex Thach (born 7 November 2008), known online as TetrisAlexT or Alex T, is an American-Vietnamese[2]: 25:54 [a] classic Tetris player. He is best known for his victory in the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championships (CTWC), becoming the first person to get a score of over 10 million points, and a number of other smaller records achieved on both original and modified game cartridges which prevent crashes late game.
Born in 2008, Thach entered the competitive Tetris scene in 2020 at 11 years old. He originally found success using the "hypertapping" technique of playing, but in 2022 was forced to adopt the more competitive "rolling" technique as competition improved. Using the new technique, Thach broke multiple records in a more than hour-long game livestreamed on March 12, 2024, where achieved the highest level reached in one game, and became the first to get a score of more than 10 million, winning a $2,400 bounty made by the Tetris community for the first to do so. On June 9, 2024, Thach won the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) after beating two-time former champion Michael Artiaga ("DogPlayingTetris"). Thach is also known for his unique and signature victory celebration of dumping Parmesan cheese on his head.
Thach entered the competitive Tetris scene at 11 years old in 2020, the same year becoming the youngest player to ever maxout out the games score counter at 999,999 points.[2]: 2:48 [a] On June 2, 2021, Thach further became the first player to reach level 41.[8][2]: 3:07 This was Thach's last major achievement however, before he was forced to adopt a better playing technique called "rolling", as his current playing style called "hypertapping" became increasingly obsolete among top players.[2]: 4:34 Thach had switched to rolling full time to compete in the 2022 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), but performed worse than expected due to inexperience with the new technique, and unlucky droughts on certain game pieces.[2]: 5:15 In the April 2023 CTWC Masters Event, Thach won his first major competition since adopting the rolling technique.[2]: 5:41
On March 11, 2024, Thach uploaded a photo on Discord of a game with the score of 9,903,960 points, which would have beat the previous high score record for the game, but was disregarded by the Tetris community as the game was not recorded or livestreamed, which was needed for proof.[2]: 9:58 On March 12, 2024, Thach followed up on his claims by livestreaming a Tetris game lasting slightly over an hour, in which he broke the records for highest level reached and highest score reached at 235 and 16,248,080 points respectively on a modified game cartridge, which suppressed crashes in the later levels of the game.[2]: 31:26 The highest score record specifically won Thach a $2,600 bounty created by the Tetris community for the first person to reach a score of over 10 million points.[9][10] This highest score record was also recognized by Guinness World Record for the NES version of Tetris, which far surpassed the previous record of 8,952,432 points set by Andrew Artiaga ("PixelAndy") on January 11 earlier in the year.[11]
On April 2, 2024, while on a video call with a number of top Tetris players including Justin Yu ("fractal161"), Thach broke the original game cartridge records for highest score reached[2]: 37:40 and latest game crash achieved, simultaneously becoming the fourth person to ever "beat the game" by triggering a killscreen.[3][4][2]: 37:05 He also became the first to trigger a rare visual glitch nicknamed "summoning satan" by the community, after clearing a single line of blocks on a level where doing so has a 70% chance of crashing the game.[5][2]: 36:48 On April 15, 2024, Thach again broke the record for highest score reached on a modified game cartridge after scoring 16,700,760 points,[2]: 38:19 , and currently maintains this record.[12] On June 9, 2024, Thach beat two-time previous champion Michael Artiaga ("DogPlayingTetris") to earn his first Classic Tetris World Championship title.[13] The golden J-Piece trophy was given to Thach's mother to give to Thach, instead of being awarded by the event's host.[13]
Thach began playing NES Tetris in 2020 using "hypertapping", a technique which emphasizes vibrating the buttons rapidly over pressing them; first popularized by Joseph Saelee in his winning 2018 CTWC tournament.[14] Thach found much of his early success using this technique, using it to reach level 41 for the first time in 2021.[2]: 2:20 Shortly after winning the January 2022 CTWC Master Event,[2]: 3:26 however, Thach was forced to adopt to a new technique created by fellow Tetris player Christopher Martinez ("Cheez") before the 2020 CTWC called "rolling", which involves rolling the back of the controller with all five fingers to position the game pieces more quickly.[15] Much of Thach's recent success has come since adopting and mastering this technique, using it while breaking the Guinness World Record for most points scored in a game.[12]
In terms of attitude while playing, Thach often makes jokes and uses comedic body language, which he has admitted helps soothe his nerves when getting through difficult levels of the game.[2]: 32:18 Thach has also become well known for destroying his set-up and dumping various odd items on his head to celebrate victories: most notability Parmesan cheese, which became his signature victory celebration after he poured the cheese over his head in his room to celebrate beating multiple records on his March 12, 2024, livestream.[10] He continued the tradition after winning the 2024 CTWC, where an inflatable pool was brought out to collect the cheese as it was poured on him by his mother and hosts of the tournament.[13]
Below is a table of the Tetris tournaments Thach participated in and their outcome. It should be noted the table is likely incomplete, as results on the CTM website prior to February 2022 only list the name of a competitor if they won or were the runner-up, not including the names of those who competed otherwise.[16]
Year | Tournament | Score | Finishing place | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | CTM December Challengers Event | 4–0 | 1st | [17] |
2021 | CTM June Masters Event | 3–1 | 2nd | [16] |
Classic Tetris World Championship | N/A | 25th | [18] | |
CTM December Masters Event | 4–0 | 1st | [16] | |
2022 | CTM January Masters Event | 4–0 | [16] | |
CTM February Masters Event | 3–1 | 2nd | [19] | |
CTM March Masters Event | 2–1 | Contender | [20] | |
CTM April Masters Event | 3–1 | [21] | ||
CTM June Masters Event | 1–1 | [22] | ||
CTM July Masters Event | 1–1 | [23] | ||
CTM August Masters Event | 2–1 | [24] | ||
CTM September Masters Event | 3–1 | 2nd | [25] | |
Classic Tetris World Championship | N/A | 16th | [18] | |
CTM December Masters Event | 2–1 | Contender | [26] | |
2023 | CTM January Masters Event | 0–1 | [27] | |
CTM Mega Masters | 6–0 | 1st | [28] | |
CTM Lone Star Championship | 3–1 | Contender | [29] | |
CTM August Masters Event | 2–1 | [30] | ||
CTM September Masters Event | 1–1 | [31] | ||
CTM October Masters Event | 1–1 | [32] | ||
CTM November Masters Event | 1–1 | [33] | ||
Classic Tetris World Championship | N/A | [34] | ||
CTM December Masters Event | 3–1 | 2nd | [35] | |
2024 | CTM January Masters Event | 2–1 | Contender | [36] |
CTM February Masters Event | 3–1 | 2nd | [37] | |
CTM Mega Masters | 4–1 | Contender | [38] | |
CTM April Masters Event | 4–0 | 1st | [39] | |
CTM May Masters Event | 4–0 | [40] | ||
Classic Tetris World Championship | N/A | [13] | ||
CTM July Masters Event | N/A | Scheduled | [41] |
Mere weeks later, Alex Thach nearly doubled Artiaga's record with 16,248,080 points, winning $2,600 and becoming the first person to exceed 10 million.