STILLWATER, Oklahoma – An Oklahoma teen has been on a whirlwind media tour since becoming the first documented human to beat the classic video game Tetris.
The latest part of the bonanza came with a pair of special guests for 13-year-old Willid Gibson.
During a segment with NBC News that aired Friday afternoon, Gibson and his mother, Karin Cox, were surprised during a Zoom call when game creator Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris Company founder and Chairman Henk Rogers, who helped broker the deal to land the Russian-made game in the hands of Nintendo, joined the interview.
“I never thought I would be able to talk to you guys,” the Stillwater teen was quoted in a written story on the NBC News website.
Prior to surprising Gibson, Rogers spoke with NBC News about watching the moment the original Nintendo version of Tetris was beaten for the first time.
“Of course, his reaction is great,” Rogers said with a smile. “That’s like the epic achievement. But what it took for him to get there was incredible determination.”
Gibson, who goes by the gamer name Blue Scuti in the Tetris community, then received perhaps the biggest surprise of the interview when Pajitnov introduced himself over the Zoom meeting.
“Congrats for you, guy, to beat the program that kind of existed for many years and played by hundreds of millions of people,” Pajitnov said in broken English. “That’s quite [an] achievement, I would say.”
Gibson was clearly in shock to be talking over the internet with the creator of the global phenomenon that has spawned multiple iterations over the past 40 years. He couldn’t find the words when asked what he thought in reaction to the comments from the Russian programmer.
“Thank you,” is all Gibson could muster while grinning ear to ear.
In the complementary story on the website, another portion of the interaction that did not make the video segment was included.
Pajitnov tried to humble the Stillwater Junior High student, who is slated to compete at a live Tetris tournament in Waco, Texas, on Jan. 20-21, with a proclamation to Gibson.
“He didn’t crash my game. He crashed the program which was created 40 years ago by NES engineers. So, the game is not crashable at all,” NBC News quoted Pajitnov as saying in the Zoom meeting.