On the 21st of October 2011, “Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters” premiered at the Austin Film Festival. Eventually, it received the Audience Award in that event. The film has also been highly praised on G4’s Attack of the Show.
This documentary film tracks down the journey of a group of Tetris Masters as they prepare for the 1st Annual Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). Anyone that is a fan of the CTWC should check out the film, which is available for free.
The People Behind Ecstasy of Order
These 3 people worked together to create the first ever CTWC. The one thing they also have in common is that they are all listed as Producers in the film.
Adam Cornelius: The Director
Adam Cornelius was the person that wanted to do a short video on Harry Hong’s Max-Out Score, this was the 1st official score. But then, other players started to emerge with their Tetris Accomplishments, which lead to a feature film for him to direct.
Since the 1st CTWC in 2010, he has continued to be one of the organizers of the annual event. There were also a few occasions where he could be heard commentating the tournament.
As a CTWC competitor, he qualified in 2015 and 2016, with a seeding rank of #27 and #25, respectively. In both of those years, Adam faced Quaid in the first round.
He still continues to work as a filmmaker, where he recently released the documentary, The Palindromists.
Learn more about him in his interview on the Official Tetris Page.
In 2023, he retired from his role as CTWC Organizer
Robin Mihara: The Host
Robin Mihara’s first experience as an esports competitor was at the 1990 Nintendo World Championship. He finished in third place, having been defeated by Thor Aackerlund. He was interviewed on his local news station.
In 2009, he met Adam Cornelius at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE). From there, they both realized that they wanted to find out who the best Tetris player is. As seen in the trailer for Ecstasy of Order, Robin had wondered why Tetris did not have a champion.
So, he goes on this journey to track down some of the high achieving Tetris Players and learn more about them. I’ll let the documentary speak for itself on how that went.
After the filming of Ecstasy of Order, he has become a regular participant at the CTWC. Robin qualified for the CTWC from 2011 to 2019. Some of his most notable CTWC achievements includes finishing in the Top 4 in 2011. In 2012 and 2013, he finished in the Top 16.
At the CTWC, Robin has faced many notable opponents including Jonas Neubauer (2-times), Alex Kerr (3-times), Josh Tolles, Matt Buco, and Koryan.
Vince Clemente: The Producer
Vince Clemente was in charge of producing and directing the first CTWC. One scene that was cut from the film was him handing out flyers on Venice Beach.
Ever since the documentary, he has been an organizer for the CTWC every year.
He is also a regular participant at CTWC, having qualified for the tournament from 2012-2017. In all the years he made the first round, he faced Trey Harrison, Ben Mullen, Mike Winzinek, Chad Muse, Jani Herlevi, and Koryan.
He continues to work as a filmmaker, where he directed “The Palindromist“.
Follow Vince on his Twitch Channel, classicvomce.
To learn more about Vince, check out his interviews on the Official Tetris website and the Piece Dependency Podcast.
The Players in Ecstasy of Order
I have done an article on the players that qualified for the 1st Annual CTWC as a way of celebrating the tournament’s 10th Anniversary. This time, I will be talking about some of the players that participated, but did not qualify.
Alex Kerr
In the film, Alex Kerr is shown to be a top-notch player in the Tetris The Grand Master. The Grand Master series is primarily an arcade version of Tetris.
Alex has participated in the 1st Annual CTWC, which uses NES Tetris. In the qualifying rounds, the Top 3 players that get the highest score with 25 lines qualifies for remaining spots in the tournament. Although, Alex manages to score every Tetris possible, 3 other players does the same thing but score higher than him by scoring more push down points. (You can earn points by pushing down on the controller.) This earns him the 9th place spot in the tournament.
Ever since the 2010 CTWC, he continues to participate at every tournament. Alex has been able to qualify for the CTWC from 2011-2020. His most notable achievements includes being a Finalist in 2011 and 2017. He has had the opportunity to face Jonas Neubauer four times, including the times that he faced him in the finals.
Sean “Quaid” Ritchie
Although Quaid is not shown in the staff credits, he makes an appearance as an audience member.
(If you want to find him in the documentary, he is seen standing by the wall after the preliminary rounds have been completed. He is wearing an “America” shirt while standing behind Harry Hong.)
He participated at the 2010 CTWC and did not qualify. But he did get to declare Matt Buco as the People’s Champ.
After that tournament, he also participated in 2011 and did not qualify. But he managed to qualify for every single CTWC since 2012. His most notable achievement is making it to the Finals in 2015.
In 2016, Quaid said that he retired after being being eliminated in the Top 8. In 2017, he actually comes back to the tournament with a disguise and goes undercover as Hauser. After being eliminated in the Top 4, Hauser reveals himself as Quaid and this happened.
To watch Quaid live, follow the Twitch Channel, TotalRadNES, where he makes regular appearances with Steve Deluca.
Learn more about Quaid in this documentary and in his interview on the Piece Dependency Podcast.
The CTWC Commentator in Ecstasy of Order
Commentating the CTWC is one of the many factors that brings new audience into the Classic Tetris World Championship. Anyways, let’s learn more about Chris Tang.
Chris Tang
Chris Tang has participated in various esports tournament including the 1990 Nintendo World Championship and the 1994 Rock the Rock Sega Tournament. He talks more about his accomplishments in Ecstasy of Order.
After commentating the 1st CTWC, he went on to commentate the tournament every year. He is notable for his catchphrase, “Boom! Tetris For [Name]”. His phrase went viral when he said it constantly in the 2016 Finals, which turned “Boom! Tetris For Jeff!” into a meme. The phrase stems from the 1990 Nintendo World Championship where the announcers would occasionally say “Boom Tetris!” after a player does a Tetris Line Clear.
You will see him commentate alongside James Chen during the Top 8 of the CTWC.
Final Thoughts
It’s amazing to see that people have been a part of the CTWC since it’s debut. For me personally, it’s amazing to see how Chris Tang’s phrase made the CTWC go viral and the tournament grew exponentially from there.
There will be a follow-up film, called “Best of Five: The Tetris Champions”, that will cover the events of the 2014 CTWC. Check out the trailer here.
