Classic Tetris World Championship 2022 - 2 - The path from 2018 to 2022

Summer 2022

Alas, the excitement of Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) 2018 faded away to a dusty corner of my mind so I didn’t realize the significance of Joseph Saelee’s win, nor the importance of hypertapping. I never checked in on the new era.

In 2022, three unrelated factors came together that would send me to CTWC.

1. I realized that one of my photographic goals was to shine a light on people who were passionate about something.
   

2. I had a United Airlines offer where they would give me a $200 credit if I bought a United ticket costing more than $500.
   

3. The CTWC announced that they were returning to the Retro Portland Gaming Expo in October 2022 for their first in-person event since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What did I have to lose? I sent a project proposal for a photo essay to the CTWC organizers and got the approval to come down for CTWC 2022.

When I walked through the doors of the Oregon Convention Center, I had no idea that the era of Joseph Saelee and hypertapping had already passed and that we were already on the precipice of a third Tetris era.

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What happened since CTWC 2018?

Aftereffects of CTWC 2018

The CTWC community was collectively motivated by the idea of beating Jonas; he had been standing at the top since 2010. He was everyone's final boss but beating him had seemed unattainable.

Joseph becoming the 2018 CTWC champion upended the Tetris status quo. He wasn't the first hypertapper. That honour belongs to Thor Aackerlund who invented hypertapping in 1990 and competed in the first CTWC in 2010. However he was the first one to win and in doing so in such a dominant fashion, would establish hypertapping as a viable competition technique to pursue.

And Joseph was only 16! While there were no gatekeepers and anyone could play, the average age of CTWC competitors did trend older. Joseph winning was an inspiration to younger people and they would flock to the community in droves contributing to significant growth but also to the start of a larger demographic shift where the average age decreased by a noteworthy amount.

Many of these new competitors took a fresh look at hypertapping. As the number of hypertappers grew, the concept of playing past Level 29, the vaunted kill screen, changed. At that Level, Tetris pieces descend at speeds of 1 row per frame, preventing DAS players from moving pieces fast enough to survive. As the technique was refined, hypertappers found they could play even further beyond the kill screen, but they too were physically limited by their input speed and topped out eventually.

The Youtube algorithm would pick up CTWC 2018, extending CTWC's reach and reinforcing the community's growth.

The Joseph v. Jonas match was the catalyst for a new era.

CTWC 2019

As an outsider, researching CTWC 2019 was difficult as there was so much more coverage dedicated to Joseph's legendary run at CTWC 2018 and its effects on the community. So much so that it almost seemed like CTWC 2019 was inconsequential. While nothing truly groundbreaking would occur, it laid down the groundwork for future CTWCs.

First and foremost was the start of the demographic shift. With Joseph's win in 2018, younger competitors were coming out to CTWC. And while some of these younger competitors didn't get far, others, such as 15-year-old Batfoy, would surprise everyone with how far they progressed in their first competition and set the stage for future competitors.

Secondly, there weren't just more younger competitors. There were just more competitors period. To qualify in CTWC, you had to sign up for a station and attempt to score the highest number of max-outs. But as people showed up for their assigned time, they would soon discover that they still had to wait for 45 minutes in a line that stretched throughout the halls of the Portland Convention Center.

Thirdly, the minimum point score required to qualify had increased dramatically. Scores that would have easily qualified in previous CTWCs were now insufficient. The difference in point score for the last seed between CTWC 2018 and 2019 was almost 100K. The community was collectively improving.

The old guard was suddenly vulnerable. Stalwarts with impeccable credentials were being upset in Round 1 including:

• Harry Hong, winner of CTWC 2014 and before Joseph, the sole person to beat Jonas, would fall in the first round to Matt Martin;

• Jeff Moore, 2nd place in CTWC 2016 would lose to Microblizz;

• And most surprisingly, Jonas Neubauer would lose in Round 1 to MegaRetroMan.

Everyone realized this would be the first CTWC finals without Jonas.

With the idea of a rematch between Jonas and Joseph lost to the wind, the focus shifted to those still competing in the tournament. The quarterfinal match between Joseph and Greentea would be hailed as one of the most epic due to the first double max-out in tournament. Despite a valiant effort by Greentea, Joseph earned his berth in the Grand Finals to defend his title against Koryan, in a rematch of the CTWC 2018 semifinals.

While Thor Aackerlund invented hypertapping in 1990, Koryan may have been the first to truly succeed in using it in a tournament setting. In 2019, the final match was now between hypertappers; one who first succeeded using the technique competitively and one who popularized the technique.

Joseph would win again, becoming a two-time CTWC champion.

The COVID-19 pandemic

2020 was a year of constantly shifting expectations. What was allowed? How much longer would the lockdown last? I don't think anyone could have anticipated that we would be in lockdown for two years.

With no sports events being allowed, ESPN suddenly had a dearth of content and would pick up CTWC on ESPN 2.0, extending Tetris's reach even further than before. And with each successive lockdown, the pull for people to try something new grew. The end result? A lot of people gravitated to Tetris. But with the closure of in-person events, players were itching to find some way to play against a real person. Pre-existing online communities such as Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM), Classic Tetris Gauntlet (CTG) and Classic Tetris League (CTL) would address the demand handily due to already having the necessary infrastructure and experience.

CTWC 2020

CTWC, like so many other events in 2020, had to transition hard and fast. What would an online tournament look like? How do we shift our infrastructure to support an online event? How do you keep the excitement of an in-person event when you don't have a room packed to the brim celebrating every achievement?

In response, the organizers would pivot and focus on the act of qualifying for the tournament. For a full week, potential competitors streamed two hours of their gameplay in an attempt to qualify for CTWC 2020. For people who loved Tetris, this was heaven. Tetris at pretty much all hours of the day? Sign me up! There was always Tetris action happening with the most memorable qualifying action possibly being Joseph's qualification run with 12 max-outs.

As incredible as it may be, Joseph's 12 max-outs was not the most unbelievable event that would occur at CTWC 2020. No, that most likely belongs to its Grand Finals, a battle between two hypertapping brothers going at it in different rooms in the same house, 13-year-old Dog and 15-year-old PixelAndy. Dog would win and become the youngest CTWC champion.

Besides crowning the youngest CTWC champion ever, CTWC 2020 was significant for other aspects as well. The shift to online play made the tournament more accessible, with competitors participating from 26 countries instead of only those who could afford the trip to Portland. And the demographic shift in the age of players was definitely perceptible this year with the final 8 having an average age of 17.

A new technique

In November 2020, Cheez_Fish (otherwise known as Cheez), a newer player to the community, would showcase a new grip adapting an older technique discovered by Hector Rodriguez back in the 1980s and make it viable for competitive play. This technique was “rolling."

Instead of tapping the D-pad, Cheez would push the controller into their left thumb by running their right-hand fingers along the back of the controller. Cheez was able to attain speeds of 20 button presses/second, far faster than what hypertappers could achieve.

Soon enough, rolling's competitive potential was demonstrated in two separate events.

• In March 2021, Cheez would get a 1.3M point score game at the Classic Tetris Open 5

This was the first 1.3M score in competition and first time anyone scored 4 Tetrises

past Level 29.

• In September 2021, jounce_, an alternate account for HydrantDude, would break records using rolling, scoring 1.6M points.

With a faster input speed than hypertapping, rolling changed the game at a fundamental level. While DAS and hypertappers always had to prioritize scoring as high as possible before the kill screen and valued skills such as efficiency, rollers only had to survive and could prioritize reactive adaptability. Depending on which technique you chose, you would be playing an entirely different game. Rollers would soon post videos of their exploits, getting as far as Level 95.

In combination with the decreased physical strain and complexity of rolling compared to hypertapping, high level Tetris play was more accessible than ever.

Jonas Neubauer's legacy

Jonas passed away in January 2021, a few days after moving to Hawaii with his wife Heather. He was 39.

Jonas was obviously well known for his 7 CTWC victories and his stellar DAS play. But it was his personality that endeared him to everyone. He was gracious in victory. There was none of the "popping off" in tournaments that is seen in other e-sports. A quiet hug, a shake of the hand, a few words of congratulations. He took his victories in stride but they weren't something he used as a conversation starter. Most people didn't even know he was the Classic Tetris champion unless they heard about it elsewhere.

Jonas was also gracious in defeat. There was always respect for his opponent; showing his support by clapping or cheering them on. And despite his loss, there was no bitterness or hard feelings.

At a fundamental level, he understood that as the CTWC champion, he was an ambassador for Tetris. He might not have asked for it, but he embraced the role wholeheartedly and set off to build the CTWC community.

He started streaming Tetris on Twitch, under the Twitch handle of NubbinsGoody, often alongside his wife. This was a virtual space known for its coziness, for the warmth that Jonas would exude and where both newcomers and veterans could come together to have extensive conversations on Tetris strategy. Jonas was an ambassador and by ensuring that everyone was welcome, there was no gatekeeping.

He also created a Youtube channel under his name, which he used for more structured videos imparting advanced knowledge and strategies. Collectively, this content was a boon to new players, who would study them feverishly and come into the game with a far more advanced and nuanced understanding of the game than new players in the recent past. The result? The new generation of players were improving and maxing out at a far faster pace than before. He upskilled the entire community, even if it meant that others would surpass him.

As the Tetris ambassador and often the first person of note that someone meets on the subject of Classic Tetris, Jonas' warm and open nature set the foundational plank for the community. It is Jonas’s values that have defined the Classic Tetris community and still pervades today.

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After the announcement of his sudden death, an outpouring of tributes would come in from far and wide. I am sure that I have only read a tiny fraction of these tributes in research for this photo essay but these stand out:

• CTWC posted a short but touching tribute speaking to Jonas's personality;

• Adam Cornelius, one of the CTWC organizers, wrote a piece speaking to Jonas' legacy and relationship to Classic Tetris as an ambassador for the scene;

• aGamescout, a Youtube content creator dedicated to the Classic Tetris scene and also a Tetris player himself, made a video tribute to Jonas;

• Jonas's Discord server where there is a permanent channel dedicated to memories of Jonas and showcases just how much of an impact he had on individual lives and the overall community; and

• Finally, the collective tributes to Jonas in the comments section of any Youtube video relating to Jonas in any way.

He loved the community and the community loved him back.

CTWC 2021

Two things stand out about this tournament.

First, this was the first tournament without Jonas and his absence was felt at a primal level. Throughout the event, tributes were being said in his memory.

In perhaps the greatest tribute of them all, the CTWC honoured Jonas' memory by changing the trophy design from a T piece to a J piece with a quote from Jonas’s 2018 interview with Arca Öcal

“If you’re a high visibility player, it’s on you to move the community in a positive direction.”

Second, this was rolling's first year at CTWC. Throughout the lead-up to CWTC 2021, Cheez had kept improving their technique. Others had taken note of the technique and had incorporated rolling into their gameplan, either completely or in a hybrid format to deal with the kill screen. But despite its scoring potential and speed of play, the technique was still immature and hadn't yet been perfected.

Greentea would keep the DAS dream alive, going further in his bracket than anybody had anticipted but was ultimately eliminated. Hypertapping would show that it was still powerful enough to stage a fight against rolling, with the Grand Finals being a match between a tapper, Dog, and a roller, Huff. Ultimately, Dog would win his second CTWC championship.

Breaking the game

In 2014, an article was published on Meat Fighter that dived into the Tetris code and established how the game assigns colours to Tetris pieces depending on the Level. Without typing an essay about the technical details (seriously, that's what the link is for), the game references a colour table that is reused every 10 Levels. This means that the colour of the pieces for Levels 1, 11, 21, 31 are identical. However, for whatever reason, the game doesn't reference the colour table at Level 138 and beyond. It references a random bit of code, which creates the glitched colours.

Of course, Level 138 seemed impossible in the past. Getting to Level 138 starting from Level 19 means clearing 1320 lines. One Tetris clears 4 lines. That's 330 Tetrises. But with rolling, what was impossible now seemed possible, if not incredibly difficult. Fractal, one of the community's strongest players (and overall lover of Tetris challenges), saw an opportunity and decided to take up the challenge. Over a period of 5 months, Fractal would grind out PAL Tetris, using its slightly slower playing speed of 50 FPS to take advantage of its slower killscreen speed, in an attempt to get to Level 138. In February 2022, he succeeded.

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Summer 2022

During summer 2022, a Facebook post announced that CTWC 2022 would return to the Oregon Convention Center as part of the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. After so many changes to the meta, there were many questions. How would rollers fare in in-person play at CTWC? With rolling rapidly becoming the technique to beat, were tapping or DAS still viable? And with the large influx of new younger players coming in, how would CTWC continue to change?

And in an age with viable online play . . . did in-person CTWC still have a purpose?

A new era in competitive Classic Tetris was once again, upon us.

In the midst of all of this was me. Without any knowledge of any of this, I walked through the doors of the Oregon Convention Center, not realizing what I was getting myself into.