In March 2024, Alex T was the first player to reach the 10 million point score and claimed the fan-funded bounty. He was playing on a ROM that patched the game crash. With the bounty claimed, he set his sights on other Tetris goals.
On the evening of April 2, 2024, Alex T was live streaming on a voice chat in the Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) Discord server. He was playing NES Tetris with the ROM patch removed, determined to become the 4th player to crash the game. To the general public, this was referred to as beating the game.
In that game, he opted for the Level 19 start. At Line 71, he was going for a T-spin but missed it, causing the stack to get higher. Eventually, Alex digs through the stack.
Since he was streaming in a Discord voice chat, he was talking in real-time with other people in that voice chat. At Level 21 – Line 154, Alex T decided to have some fun. He purposefully dropped 3 pieces in the middle of the stack, causing it to be messy. Shortly afterward, dropped 2 more pieces in the middle of the stack.
At Level 147 – Line 1411 (E11, E=14), Alex T decided to go for a Tetris on the upcoming Charcoal level (Level 148), where the pieces are hard to see. When he reached that level, he did not get a Tetris but managed to survive the level.
Starting at Level 155, that is where it is possible to crash the game. Here is the spreadsheet that shows where it could happen.
The first possible game crash happens when you clear a single during the transition from Level 154 to 155. That was Alex T’s opportunity to beat the game, but he had other goals. He wanted to achieve a world record for the highest level and line count before game crash. Alex cleared a double during the Level 155 transition to avoid the game crash. (Volume alert if you are watching that moment)
At Level 157, scoring a single had a high chance of crashing the game. Alex T scored a single, which caused a specific visual glitch known as a “Satan Spawn” in the Classic Tetris community. This allowed him to keep playing, but he scored another single afterward that crashed the game.
Alex T became the fourth player to “beat” NES Tetris.
While Alex T was playing the game of his life, you can hear him chatting with people in the Discord voice chat. That might have allowed him to perform so well. Here’s the full video of that game.
Going for Back-to-Back Game Crash: Beating NES Tetris Twice
Alex T was on a roll and decided to go for the back-to-back game crash. He opted to start on Level 14. The Discord conversation continued in the background.
Around this time, I went through Discord on my phone and saw that the voice chat was active on the Classic Tetris Monthly server. I decided to join the call, not knowing that Alex T had crashed the game earlier.
As Alex T approached the Dusk Level (Level 146), he decided to go for the first-ever Dusk Tetris. He was unable to pull it off and immediately prepared to go for the first-ever Charcoal Tetris.
As the Charcoal Level (Level 148) was approaching, Alex T set up a Tetris well in preparation to get a Tetris on that level. I watched as he pulled off the Tetris and made it past the difficult-to-see Charcoal level. At the time, I worried he would top out because I wanted to see the game crash live. And it would be amazing to see someone get it back-to-back.
Like the previous game, Alex T attempted to dodge the game crash. At Level 154, he set up a center well to score a Tetris during the Level transition. Fortunately, the long bar came in time to get the Tetris and avoid the earliest point where the game crashes. However, he scored a single on Level 157, leading to a game crash.
Alex T became the first player to get a Back-to-Back game crash. Becoming the first player to beat NES Tetris twice.
