It was Sunday, the final day of the tournament. I showed up 40 minutes early, so the Tetris area was nearly empty.
Ben Mullen was there, so I decided to take the opportunity to talk to him about a Tetris documentary that he appeared in. After that, I got a photo with Ben Mullen and his wife, Mary Mullen.
Later on, Ben Mullen wanted to take a photo on his phone, so he handed it over to someone else. I had already stepped away at that point, I was not sure if Ben wanted me in this photo with him and Mary. It turned out that he wanted me in the photo, since Ben had plenty of photos with his wife.
aGameScout was also here, so I decided to get a photo with him. When I first met him on Thursday, it did not occur to me to get a photo.
What Is Happening On Stage?
Sergio Elisondo (of Sergio and the Holograms) was on stage doing a soundcheck for the Tetris Anthem on his guitar. It was fascinating to watch, as if I was early for a concert. Since 2017, the Tetris Anthem on the last day of each event.
Also on the stage were 3 of the Jonas Neubauer Trophies on display. The World Champion was going to get the Gold trophy, while the Runner-up would receive the Silver Trophy.
Behind those 2 trophies was another one placed behind them. That was going to go to the person that won the Lifetime Achievement Award, I will talk about that later.
While the stage was empty, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the production area. This was where the crew was broadcasting the matches on the large LED screens and the livestream.
Picking A Seat
While the audience area was still mostly empty, I was trying to figure out where to sit. I knew that they reserved the first 2 rows for Blue Scuti’s family to accommodate the documentary crew. However, they roped off most of the front rows. There was an opening in the aisle that let’s you in the area.
I asked Vince Clemente about which seats were reserved. He explained that people with a VIP sticker were guaranteed a seat in that area. The Top 16 players and their family members had the sticker. Although, anyone else can sit there if there is space. Vince ended up giving me a VIP sticker.
It was pretty cool to get the sticker, especially since this was my first time here. I had a hard time peeling off the sticker, so I decided to use my name tag to stick it on my shirt.
Eventually, I picked a seat in the third row. One of the player’s family members thought I was one of the Top 16 players.
Photo Shoots
Before the tournament started, the photographers were doing photo shoots. They wanted all the CTWC staff and volunteers on stage for a group photo. So I went up on stage to do the photo shoot.
After that, I went back to my seat while the photographers gathered the Top 16 competitors to do a photo shoot.
Blue Scuti’s Documentary Crew
During the photo shoot, Blue Scuti’s Documentary Crew were filming his family as they made their way to their seat.
The crew would be there for all of Blue Scuti’s matches. I was rooting for Blue Scuti to win the tournament so that the documentary would have the best ending.
Tetris Anthem
To start off the last day of the tournament, Sergio performed the Tetris Anthem. A few camera operators crowded in front of the stage to record the performance.
Top 16 Rounds Begin
It was Round 2 of the competition.
In the first half of the Top 16, there were 4 matches happening. Coal vs Blue Scuti and Fractal vs Tristop were on the CT1 stream. Huff vs DMJ and Alex T vs Sodium were on CT2.
I decided to mainly focus on the matches happening on CT1. I did not want to exhaust myself quickly by focusing on four different matches across 2 giant LED screens at once.
Blue Scuti won the first game against Coal, while Tristop won the first game against Fractal (the defending champion).
In Game 2, Blue Scuti and Coal were having a conversation in the middle of a match. That surprised me because I thought the matches were going to be intense for them, since this was the Round of 16.
Coal topped out at Level 21, giving Scuti the win in Game 2. Scuti led the match, 2-0.
With that game done, the commentators focused on the second game between Fractal and Tristop. Both players topped out at Level 32. Fractal finished with the higher score to win the game. This tied the match, 1-1.
Just like the previous games, Game 3 of both matches started at the same time. In those matches, all 4 players reached Level 29 around the same time.
In the Coal vs Scuti match, Coal was trailing by over 100K points (about 4 Tetrises behind) going into Level 29. While Coal had a center well at Level 31, he misdropped a long bar which eventually cascaded into a topout. Blue Scuti wins Game 3 to sweep the match and advance to the Quarterfinals (Top 8).
“Go Back To The Game!”
Coal and Blue Scuti hug each other after their match ends. Meanwhile, the game between Fractal and Tristop was still going on. Fractal topped out with a small lead, leading to a chase down situation for Tristop. Tristop just needed to line it out (clearing lines that are not Tetrises) to win the game, he did not need to go for Tetrises.
The producers forgot that there was another game happening. While we were watching Tristop chase down Fractal’s score, the producers switched the scene over to Coal and Scuti hugging.
Commentator, Chris Bidwell, was urging the producers to show the game.
“Go back to the screen! Go back to the screen! Go back to the screen! Go back to the screen! Game! Game! Game! Game! Game! Go back to the game!” exclaimed Chris Bidwell.
Finally, the producers granted his request and showed Tristop’s game. Tristop successfully completed the chase down to win Game 3. Tristop leads the match, 2-1.
If you are wondering why the producers messed up that scene, it was their first time in the production team for CTWC. When the World Championship relocated to Pasadena, they hired a new production crew.
Do not worry, they will not make that mistake next year. They were at the inaugural Jonas Neubauer Cup a few months later, where they showed all the matches in their entirety.
Defending Champion Is In Danger Of Elimination
It was time for Game 4 between Fractal and Tristop. Fractal needed to win this game to avoid elimination.
After a 38 Long Bar drought on Level 22, Fractal’s board was messy. He was unable to get a long bar all the way to the left and hung it, causing a top out.
This was another chase down situation for Tristop. He manages to beat Fractal’s score to win the game and match. With that, the defending champion has been eliminated.
I thought Blue Scuti and Fractal would face each other in the Quarterfinals. It turns out that Blue Scuti would be facing Tristop instead.
Meanwhile On CT2
While Game 4 was going on between Fractal and Tristop, I heard applause from the audience. I looked over on the giant LED screen on my right, which is showing matches on CT2.
Alex T had defeated Sodium. After the match, I watched as the players got into a “fight”.
Last Game In The Group
When the Fractal vs Tristop match ended, there was one match left on CT2. It was between Huff (2021 Finalist) and DMJ in a Game 5 decider.
Huff topped out at Level 23, giving DMJ the win. For the first time, DMJ makes it to the Quarterfinals.
Flex Cam
At last year’s CTWC, Alex T flexed for the camera during an intermission. When the camera was pointed at other players, they started flexing.
This year, the production crew were flex cam ready, they had the logo in place. Once the Alex T Flex Cam logo was placed on the stream, the flexing began. It was really fun to cheer for the people who were flexing for the camera. Of course, Alex T himself was a part of flex cam.
It was one of those experiences where you had to be there with the crowd.
I heard an audience member remark that it was like being at a baseball game.
Last Group of Top 16 Matches
With the Flex Cam over, it was time for the last group of 4 matches to happen.
The following happened in three of the matches.
Dog swept SV
Sidnev swept PixelAndy
Myles swept Cheez
In the match between Dengler and Dillan, Dillan was the only hypertapper in the Top 16, the other 15 players were Rollers.
Dillan had an impressive showing in the last round to make it to the Top 16. He was not going to make the match easy for his opponent.
In Game 1, Dillan was actually in the lead going into Level 29, even making it to Level 31.
Dengler chased down the score to win the first game.
In Game 2, Dillan topped out at Level 30 with a massive 200K lead. Dengler successfully chased down the score after reaching Level 36. During the chase down, he had to score 4 Tetrises at Level 29 speeds to win the game.
This tournament had a Level 39 Super Killscreen that prevented players from playing indefinitely. It also pushed players to go for Tetrises for the entire game, even after Level 29.
Dengler led the match, 2-0.
Game 3 was neck and neck going into Level 29. Dillan had a Long Bar drought going into Level 29 that caused him to top out. Dengler already had the lead, so he won the game.
Dengler swept the match to advance to the Quarterfinals.
Throwing a Beach Ball Around
When all of the Top 16 matches were completed, a beach ball was tossed to the audience. I was ready to hit the ball if it approached me. The ball went to the person in front of me instead, who happened to be on her phone. She hit the ball back.
It was a short intermission so the audience did have fun hitting the beach ball around. Just like the flex cam, it was one of those experiences where you had to be there.
Eventually, Vince Clemente appeared on stage and put an end to the beach ball tossing. He also was there to announce this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Every year, CTWC gives out a Lifetime Achievement Award to someone that has become a pivotal part of the Classic Tetris community. This started in 2022 with Chris Tang being the first one to receive the award. In 2023, Alex Kerr won the award.
Right before Vince announced who won this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, he had the audience stand up and ring the cowbells. (Cowbells were being handed out to the audience moments ago.)
Of course, Chris Bidwell won the award. To give some background, he carries the tradition of standing during competition because that is what they do at the Nintendo World Championship. He also has the tradition of ringing the cowbell everytime a player gets a maxout in competition.
When Chris Bidwell went up on stage, he grabbed a chair and placed it in the middle of the stage. Instead of standing, he opted to sit on the chair to soak in the moment of all of us cheering for him.
From there, he got off the chair and received the Lifetime Achievement Award trophy.
After his speech, it was time for the Quarterfinals which had it’s own surprise. Find out what it was in Part 8.
