Well before video gaming became a mainstream form of entertainment a little puzzle game caught the imagination of people around the world: Tetris. The Russian block-twisting game became an instant classic when it hit arcades, home computers and Nintendo consoles in the late 1980s.
While numerous versions of Tetris have continued to come out to this very day, the original Nintendo Entertainment System version remains one of the most popular versions ever produced. In recent years the trend with the NES version has been to join the short-list of gamers who have maxed-out the score, done by racking up 999,999 points and forcing the game to stop counting points any further. While many NES-era games have a maximum score, the speed of the later levels combined with the popularity of the game make the Tetris max-out the only one that matters in many gaming circles.
Few are confirmed to have reached this milestone. Documentary film Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters explores the importance of this feat in detail and why it is so difficult to achieve.
Recently another gamer stepped up to the challenge and not only maxed-out the score but did so in record-setting fashion. By topping out his Tetris score on Level 26, Matthew Buco of Larchmont, NY has reached the promised land faster than any gamer in history.
"I'm very happy and relieved that I have it," Buco said. "I knew I could for a while now."
Buco's history with Tetris goes back to a young age.
"My first memory would be getting the game when I was about six or seven," he said. "I got it from the Tooth Fairy. I still used that cartridge until about a year ago."
Two years ago, Buco found himself invited to take part in the Tetris World Championships in Los Angeles, an event covered in the Ecstasy of Order film. It was at that time he decided to start trying for the 999,999 point score and had a series of close calls on his way to glory.
"I had three games within one Tetris (four line score) of the max-out," Buco recalled. "I had a 983,000 game this past June. A month later I got a 976,000 and a week before my max-out I had a 990,000 game. It was getting rough getting close so many times but I knew I could get a max score. It was just a matter of getting the right pieces at the right time and playing well at the max speed."
You can check out the video of Buco's 999,999 point run to the left of this article.
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