Teenager Claims First Ever Tetris ‘Rebirth’ – Michael Artiaga Makes History
A US teenager, Michael Artiaga, has become the first known person to achieve Tetris rebirth by resetting classic Tetris to level 0 after beating it.
Michael Artiaga, a 16-year-old gamer, achieved this historic moment of “Tetris rebirth” while live-streaming his gameplay of the Nintendo version of Tetris on Twitch. On Sunday, he completed level 255—the game’s highest level—after 82 minutes of intense play. To his amazement, the game restarted from scratch.
“Am I dreaming, bro?” Michael asked his viewers in disbelief, before continuing to play and ultimately finishing with 29.4 million points. “I’m so glad that game is over,” he added. “I never want to play this game again.”
Michael, who streams as “dogplayingtetris,” was reportedly playing an edition of Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that prevents crashes after level 155—a point where many previous attempts have failed.
Earlier this year, another teen gamer, Willis “Blue Scuti” Gibson, reached level 157 in 38 minutes before his game crashed, claiming to be the first to ever beat the game at the time.
Tetris, first created in 1984 by Soviet engineer Alexey Pajitnov, remains a popular classic thanks to its simplicity and challenging gameplay. Players arrange different shapes, each made of four blocks, to create horizontal lines that vanish when completed. The game ends when the blocks pile up to the top of the window.
Michael is among several teenage gamers who have live-streamed their attempts to set new records in Tetris without the game crashing. He became the world’s youngest Tetris champion at the age of 13 by beating his older brother in the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championship final.
“I still cannot believe it… first ever to get Tetris rebirth!” Michael wrote on YouTube after his two-hour-long stream. “I’m so happy about finally getting this after all the attempts. Thanks to everyone for the support over the years.”
Links:
- External Link: BBC
- Internal Link: Kenkou Land
