A teenager broke 6 world records in Tetris on the NES - and won a cash prize as the first player with 10 million points

The previous record set in Tetris NES last year was 6.8 million points, however, 15-year-old Alex Tach has now played up to 16.7 million points.

In total, Alex broke at least six world records in the game during March and April of this year, as reported by Tom`s Hardware. Twice he exceeded the 10 million point mark, achieving the highest result of 16.7 million points, for which he received several thousand dollars, and surpassed the previous record of a player with the nickname Blue Scuti, finishing level 157 (first with one line, and then with six).

Despite his young age, Alex can be considered a "veteran" of the Tetris game. He became known when he was recognized as the youngest person in the world to reach the maximum on the NES Tetris scoreboard (scoring over 999,999 points) when he was just 11 years old.

March of 2024 turned out to be the most productive for Alex - probably he was inspired by Blue Scuti's achievement (the first in 34 years since the game was launched), or the $2300 prize fund earned by the previous record holder.

Since Alex set records in a modified game, of course, it was not without controversy. Therefore, the guy quickly repeated the record in the original version, as reported by Games Radar. The teenager's efforts can be seen on video:

• The original Tetris was developed in 1984, and its most popular classic version was released on the 8-bit NES console in 1989. There is still an active community of players who hold competitions and record achievements.
• In 2011, player Thor Akerlund reached level 30, vibrating his fingers in a special way - after this, the "hypertapping" technique became widely accepted. The player's record stood for seven years until 2018 when Joseph Sali reached level 31, and then several times beat his own record, reaching level 35 in 2020.
• A major update to Tetris NES players' arsenal occurred in 2020 when player Cheez introduced the "rolling" technique. Vibration on the bottom of the controller allowed for pressing buttons twice as fast as the fastest hypertapper. Gamers gained much more control, making passes through level 29 much more frequent. Thanks to the new method, player Cheez reached level 40 in 2021, and in 2022, EricICX reached level 95.
• Interestingly, after level 138, the colors of the blocks can blur and make them invisible against the background. These visual obstacles slowed the climb to higher levels in the 2020s, but PixelAndy still reached level 148 in November 2023. And it was this record that was broken by Blue Scuti, and then Alex Tach.