The 2018 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) is the 9th annual tournament. “Boom! Tetris For Jeff!” meme made the 2016 finals go viral. It brought new fans to the tournament, including 16-year old Joseph Saelee. This year, the organizers brought in Arda Ocal, who joined as a commentator and host. The tournament format changed in […]

The 2017 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) is the 8th annual tournament. James Chen makes a debut appearance as a commentator, commentating alongside Chris Tang during the Top 8. The tournament format remained the same. The same piece sets returns for a second time. Despite the introduction of the 7th digit in the score counter […]

The 2016 Classic Tetris World Championship was the 7th Annual tournament. For the first time, the tournament used a modified cartridge that allowed players to compete with the same piece sets. Also, the cartridge had a 7th digit for the score counter which allowed the game to score to exceed the Maxout score of 999,999. […]

The 2015 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) was the 6th annual tournament. It became the first tournament to feature the “Treyvision” display which drastically improved the viewing experience for the audience. Mainly by recording the game’s standard definition (SD) display and converting it to high definition (HD). I write more about this when talking about […]

The 2014 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) was the 5th annual tournament. Buzzfeed did a documentary on this tournament, specifically focusing on Tetris competitor, Eli Markstrom. There will be more footage in the future when the Best of Five documentary comes out. For now, the only publicly available match is the Finals. 2014 CTWC Timestamps […]

The 2013 Classic Tetris World Championship was the 4th annual tournament. The format remained the same as last year. With the usual 32-player tournament bracket. This was the first year to introduce the iconic T-Piece trophy. The winner got the Golden trophy, while the 2nd place finisher (Finalist) got the Silver trophy. Just like last […]

In 2012, the Classic Tetris World Championship had a permanent venue which was the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE). This was a fitting venue since the tournament appealed to the expo’s target audience. With the venue taken care of, the organizers were able to expand the tournament bracket from 8-players to 32-players. They even had […]

The tournament was held at USC, in a nearly empty auditorium. The organizers lost a lot of money from the event and put the tournament in danger of becoming extinct. I wrote about the aftermath of this tournament in a previous article. Surprisingly, footage of the entire tournament exist. For years, most of the Classic […]

The documentary, Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, showcases the beginning of the tournament. It features the qualifying round and the matches. A must watch for anyone that is a fan of the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). The format of this tournament was complicated. It would be easier to watch the documentary or read […]