After eating tater tots, I was back at the CTWC area to report to the Stats Team.
Chris Foryst was on the laptop, typing in submitted qualifying scores on a Google Spreadsheet. The second qualifying slot was still going on.
When I showed up, he already inputted a stack of scorecards into the Spreadsheet. Each card contained a score along with the player’s name.
Playing Solitaire With Scorecards
Foryst wanted me to organize the cards by arranging them in separate decks and grouping them by player. (Ex. Stack all of Fractal’s scores in one deck.) That way, we can recount the scores to ensure all of them were inputted correctly to the spreadsheet. I was playing Solitaire with the scorecards.
Meanwhile, score runners showed up to the Stats team table to deliver scorecards. I made sure to collect them from the score runners while Foryst was updating the spreadsheet.
Updating the spreadsheet automatically updates the qualifying rankings and displays them on the big screen. That let the commentators know the current number of maxouts and the qualifying ranks of the players that were on stage during their 2-hour qualifying session.
At a certain point, we had to review a player’s score. So Foryst held off on updating the scores to join me in playing Solitaire with the scorecards.
Moments later, Pumpyheart informed us that the commentators noticed the scores were not updating. We decided to have Foryst update the spreadsheet while I continued organizing the cards.
Later on, it took longer to stack the cards because there were a lot of players currently qualifying. It took a while to find the player’s name from the multiple decks of cards that I had already arranged on the table. So I arranged the cards in alphabetical order to make it easier to find the player’s name from the multiple decks of cards.
Fractal Misses A Maxout
In front of the stats table, I could see the CTWC stage. There was an audience sitting on the chairs as well as an audience standing in the large area behind the chairs. On one occasion, I heard the crowd scream. I looked up and saw that Fractal was close to getting a maxout but was unable to get it. He was 100 points away from a maxout, one more line clear would have given it to him. Instead, it was a new high kicker (non-maxout score) for him.
Once the second qualifying slot ended, it put more relief on the Stats team. No more submission cards were coming in for now. Chris Foryst inputted the remaining scores, while I completed my game of Solitaire with scorecards.
After that, it was time to double-check the score submissions. In Google Sheets, one of the sheets will automatically arrange each submitted score by the player’s name in alphabetical order. This sheet made it easier for us to double-check the scores, it was an internal sheet.
For each player listed, Foryst would count the cards to make sure it matches the qualifying scores. Especially, the number of maxouts the players got. Once all the cards were accounted for, we placed them in a small box.
First Marriage Proposal at the Classic Tetris World Championship
During the 30-minute gap between the qualifying slots, I was able to wind down for a bit. During the break, I suddenly heard crowd applause behind me. I turned around and saw Packie and Larvae hugging. They just got engaged. I always wondered if anyone would do a marriage proposal at a CTWC event, and there it was.
Before the proposal, I had talked to Packie about our qualifying scores because we were in the first slot. Thinking about it now, he was probably more nervous about the proposal than his CTWC qualifying performance.
To provide some background, they met at the Dr. Mario Championship (DrMC). Both are top competitors at the tournament. They also contribute to CTWC as players and/or volunteers. Congrats to Packie and Larvae!
The Next Qualifying Session Begins
The next qualifying session (third session) was about to begin. Counting the number of players in this session, it was very unlikely that I would make the bronze bracket.
Foryst had the laptop prepped to input the scores. We cleared the table, so I was ready to organize the scorecards. This time, I arranged the cards by the player’s name alphabetically, making the process much easier.
Bumped Off The Bronze Bracket
During this qualifying slot, I looked at the qualifying leaderboard on the laptop. I was in 73rd place in the qualifying standings before it started. As Foryst inputted score after score, I watched as my name slowly dropped in the qualifying ranks. I was inevitably bumped off the Bronze Bracket.
The only chance I had to make the Bronze Bracket was if I was close to getting a new Personal Best (PB), but that would have been difficult to do in a 2-hour qualifying session. So I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t make it in any of the CTWC brackets.
Anyway, there was no need for me to think too much about my failure to qualify, score runners were arriving with more scorecards for Foryst to input. I continued to play Solitaire with the players’ scores.
At one point, Foryst needed to talk to Pumpy about one of the scores in question, so Marfram took over in handling the spreadsheets.
DMJ was the judge who recorded that score, so they wanted him to show up to review that score. Eventually, DMJ showed up to review that score with Foryst. DMJ had the photo of the score in question and showed it to him. Once the issue was resolved, Foryst took over card handling for the rest of the qualifying session since I had already handled them in the last session.
Meeting Tetris Legends
With my volunteer task over, I continued to interact with the community. Then, a man showed up with a dazzling red suit and red glasses, it was the 2015 CTWC Finalist Quaid. He did not sign up for this year’s tournament, so I was not sure if he was going to be here. But there he was, making a surprise appearance in style. I watched as Quaid interacted with his friends with that same entertaining personality that he had at the tournaments.
Also showing up was 2016 Finalist Jeff Moore, the one from the “Boom! Tetris for Jeff!” meme. He was there with his wife and 2015 competitor, Kim (CrafteeKim). It was a pleasure to meet them. Kim wanted a picture with me, so Jeff took the photo. After that, Kim took a photo of me with Eliwa and Jeff.
I will be saying this a lot, but it was very surreal to meet everyone in person. In addition to watching them compete in various Tetris events, I listened to their interviews on Tetris podcasts, such as the Piece Dependency Podcast and Tetris Gal Talk.
You can check out their interviews below.
Competing for the #1 Seed
While I was interacting with all these amazing people, the qualifying session was still going on.
With five minutes left in the session, Blue Scuti and Noah Dengler had 15 and 14 maxouts, respectively, in their qualifying round so far.
Later on, Dengler gets another maxout. Both of the players had 15 maxout. Meanwhile, Blue Scuti was going for Maxout #16, but tops out with a score of 649,940 which was a new kicker for him.
About 90 seconds remained in the session, giving both players time to start one more game and attempt another maxout. Blue Scuti and Noah Dengler were tied with 15 maxouts.
When time expired, both players were allowed to finish their current game. Dengler finished the game with a maxout, giving him a qualifying score of 16 maxouts and no kicker.
Moments later, Blue Scuti finishes his game with another maxout, giving him the #1 seed. He had 16 maxouts and a 649,940 kicker. (Kickers were used as tiebreakers).
In the last 2 tournaments (2022 and 2023), the #1 seed made it to the Finals and lost. I thought to myself, he has a good chance of winning this tournament.
The next day, there would be one more qualifying session before the knockout rounds begin.
Meeting the Creator of Tetris
To end the day, Alexey Pajitnov (The Creator of Tetris) made a guest appearance at the event. He was joined by Henk Rogers (Founder of the Tetris Company) and Maya Rogers (CEO of the Tetris Company).
Fun Fact: All three of them are portrayed in the Tetris movie from 2023.
Alexey and Henk went in front of the CTWC backdrop so that people could get a photo with them. People quickly lined up for that opportunity.
As I waited in line, it was unclear if they were doing autographs as well. Maya Rogers let everyone in line know that they were not doing autographs today because they wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to get a photo. I liked how she pretended that she was not a big deal in the Tetris company. It was tempting to call out that she was Maya Rogers, but it was best to respect her privacy.
Moments later, it was my turn to meet Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers. I made sure to stay calm as I approached them. Once I was ready for the photo, I handed my phone to the photographer so that she could take the photo. That moment happened so quickly, it did not sink in for me that I had just met them in person.
The last time Alexey and Henk were at CTWC was in 2019 and 2011, respectively. Needless to say, it was an honor to meet both of them.
Meeting the “Best of Five” Director
After the photo shoot, I walked over to the area in front of the stage.
There was Chris Higgins, who was the one that produced the Tetris docuseries, Best of Five.
Two weeks before the tournament, he had given me early access to the docuseries so that I could write a review on it. During that time, he was looking forward to meeting me since he knew I would be at this year’s tournament.
Well, there I was, meeting Chris Higgins at the area in front of the stage. (He is also the camera operator at CTWC.)
When I decided to get a selfie with him, he wanted to get Alexey and Henk in the background. I tried my best to get a good photo.
Concluding Thoughts on My First Day
This was my first official day at the Classic Tetris World Championship. Even though I was not too happy with my qualifying run, I was really there to meet the people in the Tetris community. That part was easy for me because I was not a stranger in the Tetris scene. It also made the experience strange for me because I felt new to the community but everyone knew me.
The international component of the community was fascinating. I was meeting players who had come from all around the world to compete at the tournament.
To end the day with a photoshoot with Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers was very surreal. When I look at that photo, it still does not seem real that I met them in person.
The next day would feature the last qualifying session and then the knockout rounds begin. Of course, I have a lot to write about in the next article, Part 4.
