For players from the arcade era, the idea of seeing a “kill screen” is not only a daunting task, but a joyous occasion. While people have known that Tetris on NES contained a kill screen — which is when a game’s code has looped so many times that it forces a crash — it was thought impossible to achieve by human means. The only way we’ve ever seen one is through the use of AI trained to be perfect at Tetris.

33 years after the release of the puzzle classic, the impossible has been achieved. 13 year-old Tetris prodigy Blue Scuti has finally made it to Tetris’ kill screen after playing the game for 38 consecutive minutes. When reality sank in, the kid couldn’t believe what had just occurred. The feat happened during a stream on December 25th, 2023, held by YouTube channel Classic Tetris. The kill screen has been archived on Blue Scuti’s personal YouTube for posterity and his victory was dedicated to the memory of his father, who sadly passed away just a few weeks earlier.

The news was first broken by 404 Media and includes a short history of Blue Scuti’s competitive prowess. After having emerged onto the Tetris scene in December 2021, Blue Scuti quickly climbed up the ranks and won various tournaments throughout 2023. Scuti consecutively held the records for “Overall Score,” “Level Achieved,” and “Total Number of Lines.” They are truly on another level.

Congratulations to Blue Scuti for being an absolute legend.