In January 2024, the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) announced that it was relocating from Portland, Oregon, to Pasadena, California. As someone from Southern California, that was exciting news. It meant that I was going to be there.
In the days leading up to the event, it did not sink in that I would be there.
The 2024 CTWC was happening Friday through Sunday, June 7-9. I had signed up to volunteer at the tournament. So I was to report to the staff meeting the day before the tournament.
On June 6, I arrived at the Pasadena Convention Center, where people were setting up for the SoCal Retro Gaming Expo. That was the new venue for the Classic Tetris World Championship.
As I made my way to the convention center, I saw a couple sitting on a bench. One of them was holding up a “Blue Scuti” jersey. They were Blue Scuti’s grandparents. I chatted with them about how his achievements made the global news. They told me that they tried their best to watch him compete at Tetris tournaments whenever they could. Seeing that “Blue Scuti” jersey made me realize I was closer to meeting Blue Scuti.
This Is The Place
When I entered the building, I walked to the Tetris area. I saw Chris Foryst walking to the water cooler. I did not to get his attention because I wanted to sneak into the CTWC area.
As I walked into the Tetris area, it was exciting to see the stage where the competitors would compete. The stage had 2 large LED screens in the back where the audience would watch the tournament. It was still hard for me to believe that I was here.
As I headed for the audience section of the tournament, I walked past aGameScout, Eunha, and Kingsman and quickly walked over to sit in one of the chairs.
I had a moment to take in the scenery. I looked around to observe the entire CTWC stage. It was surreal to be here.
I have been writing about this tournament since I founded Tetris Interest in September 2019. Finally, I was at the tournament, the one that I have been writing about for years.
Someone Spotted Me
Pumpyheart was doing stage setup, so I waited for him to turn around so that I could wave at him in surprise.
As I waited in my seat, I turned around to observe the scene behind me. Barrett (3arrett) walked by the rows of chairs and saw me. He immediately recognized me and asked if I was Wingfryer, which I confirmed. That got the attention of aGameScout, Eunha, and Kingsman, as they realized I was here.
I went to the trio and was excited to meet aGameScout in person. He immediately thanked me for an article that I recently wrote, noting that he shared it with his family. Pumpyheart heard the commotion and came up to meet me.
My exploration continued as I walked near the entry point to the Tetris area of the expo. Each of the 2 corners had 4 CRT TVs set up. One corner would livestream the Silver Bracket, while the other would livestream the Bronze Bracket.
Someone was testing out the microphone at one of the stations, in preparation for tomorrow. It was working.
I continued to interact with more players as they showed up.
It’s Blue Scuti
Later on, Blue Scuti showed up. I introduced myself even though he probably already knew who I was.
Everyone else pointed out that Blue Scuti got taller since the 2023 CTWC back in October. Obviously, I did not know because this was my first time at a Tetris tournament.
After the interaction, Scuti walked to one of the gaming stations at the “Bronze Bracket” corner and played some Tetris. I wanted to see the rolling technique done in person. I watched as Scuti casually practiced Level 19 starts with the gloves on. (Gloves reduce friction between the hand and controller.)
Moments later, his friend, Coal, sat next to him. I had a small chat with him about how this was my first time here. He asked if I was Wingfryer, which I confirmed. That got the attention of Chris Bidwell who was sitting in the commentator area in that same corner. He got excited at hearing that I was there.
Having interviewed a few people, Eunha interviewed me for a CTWC Instagram reel. My interview is towards the end.
The Staff Meeting
As time went by, the staff meeting was about to begin and all the volunteers went to the audience section to take a seat. Pumpyheart and Kingsman went on stage to start the meeting.
Pumpyheart started the meeting by asking everyone to take their phones out so that we take notes.
The first thing that Kingsman said was that all of the volunteers would receive a CTWC cap and fanny pack. He made another special announcement, Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers were going to be at the tournament on Saturday where people would be able to get a picture and autograph with them.
(If you don’t know who they are, I will tell you in the next article.)
Kingsman also noted that Alexey and Henk requested that we leave them alone for most of the tournament because this was their first time seeing the Rolling technique at the tournament.
Kingsman and Pumpyheart wanted us to take notes on all the difference volunteer roles. We may end up doing other volunteer roles.
Tasks In Qualifying Round
The first topic involved the qualifying rounds.
The referees/judges (either term is fine) were to stay in their assigned area. They also needed to stay attentive to any player that wanted to submit their score.
Players had to raise their hands to submit their scores. Otherwise, the score may not count.
The players will have their name tag, which is a sticker with their name on it. They would put the name tag on the TV, above the screen. This was important because the referees would use their smartphone to take a photo of the TV, which will feature the submitted score along with the name tag.
Once that was done, the player could start another game. Then, the referee takes out the Official CTWC Scorecard and writes down the player’s score along with the player’s name and the referee’s initials. The referee needed to include their initials and smartphone photos in case of discrepancies with the score submissions.
Throughout each of the qualifying sessions, Score Runners collected scorecards from the referees and handed them to the Stats Team. The Stats team would submit the score on a Google Spreadsheet document.
The Front Desk
And then, they discussed the role of people at the front desk. They checked players in. They had an attendance list.
The next topic in the meeting was managing the tournament itself, where players compete in knockout rounds.
They noted that, unlike the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (the previous venue), the SoCal Retro Gaming Expo would close earlier in the day.
Running The Tournament Smoothly
CTWC was bound by the Expo’s schedule, they were not allowed to stay past closing time.
To keep the tournament within schedule, there would not be any breaks in between games within the matches (30 seconds max). Although, there are warm-up stations backstage where players can practice beforehand.
Once the players were at their tournament station, they had a 2-minute warm-up before their match started.
The referees enforced the time limit. They were also in charge of making sure the players were starting at the same level and piece sets.
CTWC uses an exclusive custom cartridge that lets players compete with the same piece sets. It has 9,999 piece sets. Before each game, the referee rolls a pair of dice to determine which piece set they get. The piece sets change every year.
The custom cartridge also has a 7-digit score counter, which will count scores beyond a maxout (999,999).
Other Roles
As for other roles, “gophers” searched for the players when it was their turn to play their matches.
Audio technicians adjusted the volume of the commentators’ microphone.
OBS stream technicians controlled the display shown on the giant LED screen. The display also appeared on the livestream.
They put in what round the tournament was in and the name of the players competing. They also updated the number of games that players won in a match, labeling them with hearts.
Collecting CTWC Merchandise
After the meeting was over, I went to get the CTWC cap and fanny pack. I had more conversations with a few people.
DaniDoodles was asking me what I thought about the design of the cap. I was telling her that it looked good, and then it just occurred to me that she was the one that designed it.
Of course, I have to take a selfie for my first time here. It was amazing to have CTWC merchandise after showing up for 2 hours.
What A Day
When I went back home for the day, I reflected on what had just happened, it was not fully sinking in for me that I was just at the venue. One thing that I realized was that I was introducing myself to others when I did not need to, they already knew who I was.
I’m glad I went because I got to meet some of the Classic Tetris community. It meant I could relax the next day when I interacted with some of the Tetris players again.
The next day was officially the first day of CTWC, find out more in Part 2.
- Part 1: Meeting the Classic Tetris Community For The First Time
- Part 2: Qualifying for the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship
- Part 3: Meeting The Creator Of Tetris
- Part 4: Judging The Qualifying Round
- Part 5: The Tournament Begins
- Part 6: Round 1 Begins, Blue Scuti’s Documentary Crew Gets Ready
- Part 7: Final Day Of CTWC 2024
- Part 8: Fire Alarm In The Top 8
- Part 9: Final Four
