Miracle of rebirth: the player was the first in history to complete Tetris to the end

The legendary puzzle game “Tetris” continues to excite the minds of fans 40 years after its release. An achievement that was considered impossible was recently achieved by one persistent player.

Image source: Atari

The impossible record was chalked up by American Michael Artiaga, a 16-year-old professional Tetris player and two-time champion of the Classic Tetris World Championship, better known under the pseudonym dogplayingtetris.

Artiaga was able to complete the NES version of Tetris (released in 1989) for the first time in history, something that had previously only been achieved by AI. The gamer reached level 255 and reached the mythical “rebirth” – the moment when the game starts anew.

First-ever “rebirth” achievement on an unmodified NES version of Tetris using AI

From level 155, the road to “rebirth” is littered with killer screens where the game freezes. Theoretically, a person can avoid all these situations, but in practice, tracking and constantly keeping them in mind is unrealistic.

Because of this, Artiaga used a modified version of the game that was protected from killer screens. However, even with such a relaxation, dogplayingtetris faced a mountain of difficulties, including the terrifying level 235:

• In Tetris for NES, players move from one level to another by clearing ten lines of blocks on the screen;
• Due to the vagaries of the code, level 235, however, lasts not ten, but 810 lines, making it a real test of endurance;
• Adding to Artiaga’s difficulties was the level’s broken color palette—dark green blocks on a black background.

Dogplayingtetris moment of triumph (image source: dogplayingtetris on YouTube)

«The gamer reached Rebirth in 80 minutes, 20 of which were spent reaching level 235, after which he continued playing from the beginning and reached level 91 (see entry here). Its result was 29.4 million points – 12 million more than the previous record.

Artiaga called unlocking “rebirth” his best achievement in Tetris, which he has no intention of surpassing yet: “Oh my God, I’m so glad the game is over. I never want to play it again… I was starting to go crazy.”