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
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
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]
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
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
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
1 2 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.
1 2 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.
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