Alex Thach

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Alex T
Thach in a black shirt holding a golden J-Piece trophy
Thach after winning the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship
Personal information
NameAlex Thach
Born (2008-11-07) November 7, 2008 (age 16)
Career information
GamesClassic Tetris
Playing career2020–present
Career highlights and awards
  • 2× World Championship winner (2024, 2025)
  • 1× Regional winner (2022)
  • 7× Masters winner (2021–2025)
  • 1× TAP Masters winner (2025)
  • Fourth to "beat" NES Tetris (2024)
  • First ever 10 million point score (2024)

Alex Thach (born November 7, 2008), known online as Alex T, is an American classic Tetris player. He is best known for back-to-back victories in the 2024 and 2025 Classic Tetris World Championships (CTWC), becoming the first person to get a score of over 10 million points, and achieving various other records on both original and modified game cartridges which prevent crashes late game.

Thach entered the competitive Tetris scene in 2020 at 11 years old. He originally found success using the "hypertapping" technique of playing but in 2022 adopted the more competitive "rolling" technique as competition improved. Using the new technique, Thach broke multiple records in a more than hour-long game livestreamed on March 11, 2024, where he achieved the highest level reached in one game and a score of more than 10 million, also winning a $2,600 bounty made by the Tetris community for being the first to do so. On June 9, 2024, Thach won the CTWC after beating two-time former champion Michael Artiaga (known online as "Dogplayingtetris"). On June 9, 2025 he became champion again, this time without losing a single game, breaking several records in qualifying and bracket play. Thach is also known for his unique and signature victory celebration of dumping Parmesan cheese on his head.

Personal life

[edit]

Thach was born on November 7, 2008,[1] and lives in the U.S. state of California.[2]

Besides Tetris, Thach enjoys playing Roblox, Minecraft and Valorant. Thach has set himself a goal to become competitive at rock climbing within 10 years.[3]

Tetris career

[edit]

Thach first became interest in playing Tetris at 11 years old after being recommended a video of the 2018 CTWC finals in which Joseph Saelee defeated Jonas Neubauer.[3][4] Still within the same year of 2020, he became the youngest player to ever "maxout" the game, achieving a score of 999,999 points.[5][6] Thach became known to the Tetris community because of these achievements, and in 2022, was able to compete in the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), but was eliminated early and placed 16th.[7]

On March 11, 2024, Thach uploaded a photo showing a score of 9.9 million points,[5][8] which surpassed the previous record of 8,952,432 points set by Andrew Artiaga (known online as "PixelAndy") on January 11 earlier in the year.[9] Thach followed this game up by livestreaming a Tetris game lasting slightly over an hour, in which he broke the records for highest level and highest score reached at 235 and 16,248,080 respectively.[5][10][11] This game, which was played on a modified version of the game cartridge to suppress crashes that normally occur in later levels of the game,[12] won Thach a $2,600 prize created by the Tetris community for the first person to reach a score of 10 million points.[10][13] Thach's 16 million highscore was also recognized by Guinness World Records as a record for the modified version of Nes Tetris.[9]

An angled photo of Artiaga and Thach sitting down and playing Tetris, with Artiaga facing closer to the camera
Michael Artiaga competing against Thach in the 2024 CTWC Finals

On April 3, 2024, Thach broke the original game cartridge records for highest score reached and latest game crash achieved, simultaneously becoming the fourth person to ever "beat the game" by triggering a game crash.[5][6][2] He also became the first to trigger a rare visual glitch nicknamed "Summoning Satan" by the community.[8] On April 15, 2024, Thach again broke the record for highest score reached on a modified game cartridge after scoring 16,700,760 points.[12] On June 9, 2024, Thach beat two-time previous champion Michael Artiaga (known online as "Dogplayingtetris") to earn his first CTWC title.[14] The golden J-Piece trophy was given to Thach's mother to give to Thach, instead of being awarded by the event's host.[14]: 1:03:30 

On March 22, 2025, Thach appeared on German television channel RTL participating in their game show Drei gegen Einen ("Three versus One"), easily defeating his challangers in a '100-line sprint' (first to clear 100 lines).[15][16]

From June 6–8, Thach again participated in the 2025 Classic Tetris World Championship, this time winning the event without losing a single of his 15 games in five matches. Other notable records broken by him that weekend included surpassing the 1.9 million points barrier in this match versus Willis Gibson and setting a new qualifying record by tying the previous 16 maxouts, but improving the "kicker" score to 971,440 points. [17][18]

Playing style

[edit]
Thach's mother pouring Parmesan cheese over Thach's head, who is sitting in an inflatable pool, looking up
Thach's mother pouring Parmesan cheese on her son's head after winning the 2024 CTWC, his signature victory celebration

Thach began playing NES Tetris in 2020 using "hypertapping", a technique where the player rapidly vibrates their arm to press the buttons on the controller. This technique was used by Joseph Saelee in his winning 2018 and 2019 CTWC tournaments.[19] Thach found much of his early success with hypertapping, but was compelled to adopt a new technique called "rolling" around 2023 and 2024, as hypertapping was becoming obsolete among top players.[5] Rolling, which was created by fellow Tetris player Christopher Martinez (known online as "Cheez") before the 2020 CTWC, is a technique where the player rolls the back of the controller with all five fingers to position the game pieces more quickly.[20][21]

In terms of attitude while playing, Thach often makes jokes and uses comedic body language, which he has admitted helps soothe his nerves when getting through difficult levels of the game.[11]: 46:44  Thach has also become well known for destroying his setup and dumping various odd items on his head to celebrate victories, most notably Parmesan cheese. This became his signature victory celebration after he poured the cheese over his head to celebrate beating multiple records in his March 11, 2024, livestream.[12] He continued the tradition after winning the 2024 CTWC, where an inflatable pool was brought out to collect the cheese as he was doused in it by his mother and the hosts of the tournament.[14]: 1:04:20 

Competitive record

[edit]

This table lists notable Classic Tetris tournaments in which Thach competed in and their outcomes. It includes any appearances at the CTWC World Championship, CTWC DAS Jonas Cup, CTWC DAS World Cup, CTM Mega Masters, as well as high placings at related tournaments, such as reaching at least semifinals in other CTWC or CTM events. CTM results prior to 2022 only list the winner and runner-up, and information may be incomplete.[22]

Competitive record of Alex Thach in Classic Tetris
Year Tournament Size Seed Score Place Ref.
2020 CTM December Challengers N/A N/A N/A 1st [23]
2021 CTM January Futures N/A N/A N/A 2nd [24]
CTM June Masters 16 13 3–1 [25]
CTWC World Championship [note 1] 64 30 2–2 17th–32nd [26]
CTM December Masters 16 5 4–0 1st [27]
2022 CTM January Masters 16 1 4–0 [28]
CTM February Masters 16 4 3–1 2nd [29]
CTM March Masters 16 7 2–1 3rd–4th [30]
CTM April Mega Masters 32 14 3–1 [31]
CTWC SoCal [note 2] 12 1† 3–0 1st [32]
CTM August Masters 16 4 2–1 3rd–4th [33]
CTM September Masters 16 9 3–1 2nd [34]
CTWC World Championship 48 8† 1–1 9th–16th [35]
CTM December Masters 16 1 2–1 3rd–4th [36]
2023 CTM April Mega Masters 78 2† 5–0 1st [37]
CTM Lone Star 24 9 3–2 4th [38]
CTM August Masters 16 1 2–1 3rd–4th [39]
CTWC World Championship 48 8† 2–1 5th–8th [40]
CTM December Masters 16 2 3–1 2nd [41]
2024 CTM January Masters 16 1 2–1 3rd–4th [42]
CTWC Genesis 12 2† 2–1 2nd [43]
CTM February Masters 16 3 3–1 [44]
CTM Mega Masters 64 1 4–1 3rd–4th [45]
CTM April Masters 16 1 4–0 1st [46]
CTM May Masters 16 2 4–0 [47]
CTWC World Championship 48 4† 5–0 [48]
CTM July Masters 16 2 4–0 [49]
CTM August Masters 16 2 2–1 3rd–4th [50]
2025 CTWC Genesis 16 3 3–1 2nd [51]
CTM February Masters [note 3] 32 2‡ 3–1 [52]
CTM March Masters 32 1‡ 4–0 1st [53]
CTM April Mega Masters 64 8‡ 0–1 17th–32nd [54]
CTWC World Championship 48 1† 5–0 1st [55]
CTM June Masters 32 4‡ 2–1 3rd–4th [56]
CTM July TAP Masters 32 1‡ 4–0 1st [57]

† high seed after qualifying awarding a single bye
‡ high seed after qualifying awarding a double bye

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ held online due to COVID-19 pandemic
  2. ^ jointly hosted by CTWC & WPL
  3. ^ aka "Faster Masters"

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Late Birthday Win. Alex Thach (YouTube). November 7, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  2. ^ a b I Beat The Game Of Tetris Again Back To Back!. Alex Thach (YouTube). April 3, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024. I Did Not Expect Beating BlueScuti, 14-Year-Old Boy In Oklahoma Gets Crushed By The 15 Year Old Boy In California.
  3. ^ a b Franco, Alex (August 11, 2025). "Tetris World Champion "Alex T" Talks Tetris, Rock Climbing and Parmesan Cheese in an Exclusive Interview". The Classic W. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  4. ^ Singh, Ritu (May 1, 2024). "15-Year-Old Gamer Breaks 6 Tetris World Records With The Highest Ever Recorded Score". NDTV. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Tyson, Mark (April 30, 2024). "Teen breaks six Tetris world records — wins cash prize as first to score over 10 million points". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Santabarbara, Seb (April 30, 2024). "15-year-old Tetris Player Breaks Multiple Records With The Highest Ever Recorded Score". Retro Dodo. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  7. ^ "Results". Classic Tetris World Championship. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Sharma, Karan (May 2, 2024). "15-Year-Old Gamer Makes History: Breaks 6 Tetris Records With Highest Score Ever". Mashable. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Highest score on NES Tetris (NTSC)". Guinness World Records. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Sims, Daniel (March 25, 2024). "Forgotten Tetris sequel "Tetris Reversed" resurfaces after a decade". TechSpot. Retrieved July 30, 2024. Mere weeks later, Alex Thach nearly doubled Artiaga's record with 16,248,080 points, winning $2,600 and becoming the first person to exceed 10 million.
  11. ^ a b First Ever 10 Million Score In NES Tetris!. Alex Thach (YouTube). March 11, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Bailey, Dustin (April 30, 2024). "15-year-old kid demolishes the game of Tetris, obliterating every major world record and pouring cheese over his head to celebrate". GamesRadar+. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  13. ^ McFerran, Damien (March 25, 2024). "The Classic Tetris World Record Has Been Smashed, Again". Time Extension. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  14. ^ a b c 2-Time Champ vs 15 Y/O World Record Holder - Classic Tetris World Championship 2024 Finals. Classic Tetris World Championship (YouTube). September 1, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  15. ^ WUNDERKIND spielt Tetris mit den Füßen gegen Knossi, Elton und Tim Mälzer Drei Gegen Einen. RTL_de (YouTube). March 29, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  16. ^ "Pressemappe: Drei gegen Einen – Die Show der Champions" (in German). RTL. March 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  17. ^ "Alex T Wins The 2025 Classic Tetris World Championship". Tetris Interest. June 12, 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  18. ^ "2025 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. June 23, 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  19. ^ Pape, Sam (October 7, 2022). "The Portland Retro Gaming Expo—And Its Tetris Competition—Returns". Portland Monthly. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  20. ^ Sweet, Jacob (March 26, 2021). "The Revolution In Classic Tetris". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  21. ^ Karnadi, Chris (July 21, 2022). "Teens are rewriting what is possible in the world of competitive Tetris". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 15, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  22. ^ "Past tournament results [Masters tab]". Classic Tetris Monthly. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  23. ^ "Past Tournament Results [Challengers tab]". Classic Tetris Monthly. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  24. ^ "Past Tournament Results [Futures tab]". Classic Tetris Monthly. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  25. ^ "CTM June 2021". Classic Tetris Monthly. June 2021. Archived from the original on August 29, 2025. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  26. ^ "2021 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. September 17, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  27. ^ "CTM December 2021". Classic Tetris Monthly. December 2021. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  28. ^ "CTM January 2022". Classic Tetris Monthly. January 2022. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  29. ^ "CTM February 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. February 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  30. ^ "CTM March 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. March 2022. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  31. ^ "CTM April 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. April 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  32. ^ "2022 CTWC SoCal Regional: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. May 11, 2025. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  33. ^ "CTM August 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. August 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  34. ^ "CTM September 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. September 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  35. ^ "2022 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. September 17, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  36. ^ "CTM December 2022 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. December 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  37. ^ "CTM Mega Masters 2023". Classic Tetris Monthly. April 2023. Archived from the original on March 11, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  38. ^ "CTM Lone Star 2023". Classic Tetris Monthly. July 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
  39. ^ "CTM August 2023 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. August 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  40. ^ "2023 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. October 16, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  41. ^ "CTM December 2023 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. December 2023. Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  42. ^ "CTM January 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. January 2024. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  43. ^ "2024 CTWC Genesis Regional: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. May 29, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
  44. ^ "CTM February 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. February 2024. Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  45. ^ "CTM Mega Masters 2024". Classic Tetris Monthly. March 2024. Archived from the original on March 11, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  46. ^ "CTM April 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. April 2024. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  47. ^ "CTM May 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. May 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  48. ^ "2024 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. June 11, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  49. ^ "CTM July 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. July 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  50. ^ "CTM August 2024 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. August 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  51. ^ "2025 CTWC Genesis Regional: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. February 17, 2025. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
  52. ^ "CTM February 2025 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. February 2025. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  53. ^ "CTM March 2025 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. March 2025. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  54. ^ "CTM April 2025 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. April 2025. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  55. ^ "2025 Classic Tetris World Championship: Timestamps". Tetris Interest. June 23, 2025. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  56. ^ "CTM June 2025 Masters Event". Classic Tetris Monthly. June 2025. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  57. ^ "CTM Tap Masters July 2025 Tap Masters". Classic Tetris Monthly. July 2025. Retrieved August 29, 2025.