Andrew Artiaga, known online as P1xelAndy, is an American Tetris player from Texas. He is best known for placing second in the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championships (CTWC) and third in the 2022 CTWC. In 2024, Artiaga also became the third player to "beat the game" by triggering a game crash. Seven days later, Artiaga further broke the high score record for the game by around two million points, for which he was recognized by Guinness World Records.
From a young age, Andrew and his younger brother Michael Artiaga experimented with coding, computing, and gaming, with their father being a web developer. Practicing classic NES Tetris occasionally on their Game Boy at home, both brothers were inspired to pursue the game further after 16-year-old Joseph Saelee's victory against the 37-year-old and previous champion Jonas Neubauer on YouTube in the 2018 CTWC, marking the beginning of a new generation of Tetris players in the competitive scene. Artiaga has since placed second in the 2020 CTWC, where he lost against his brother, third in the 2022 CTWC, and became the third player to "beat the game" by triggering a game crash on January 4, 2024, only days after it was done for the first time. Along with briefly holding the high score record for three months, Artiaga has continued to remain competitive since, placing high in his seed for every CTWC since 2020, and placing particularly well in Delayed Auto Shift (DAS) Masters events since they began in July 2024.
Personal life and upbringing
Andrew was born to Van and Randall Artiaga, and is from Fort Worth, Texas.[1] He and his younger brother Michael Artiaga grew up around electronics, as their father was a web developer.[1][2] Artiaga further learned to experiment in computing, coding, and gaming in elementary school.[1][2] He also practiced the skills he learned with his brother by creating characters and music for several of their father's gaming apps.[1]
Tetris career
Artiaga was introduced to classic NES Tetris alongside his brother in elementary school, after playing it on their dad's original Game Boy at home.[1][2] Both him and his brother at 13 and 10 years old, respectively, began to play the game more intently after watching 16-year-old Joseph Saelee's victory against the 37-year-old and previous champion Jonas Neubauer on YouTube in the 2018 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), marking the beginning of a new generation of Tetris players to the competitive scene.[3][4][1] Both brothers practiced more on separate Nintendo consoles at their home, and they collaborated on their shortcomings to better their playing.[1] After purchasing twin famiclones, Andrew began to compete in tournaments under the name "P1xelAndy", while his brother Michael adopted the name "dogplayingtetris" or simply "Dog".[3][2]
During the COVID-19 lockdownsin the United States, both brothers began to practice more often while also learning from their competitors on Twitch.[1] At 15 and 13 years old, respectively,[3][4] both Andrew and his brother qualified for the 2020 CTWC, with Andrew obtaining the top seed in his double-elimination playoffs group after scoring one million points in six games.[1][5] Andrew made it to the semi-finals, where he won against fellow competitor Nenu Kariko to make it to the finals.[6] In the finals, Andrew was placed against his brother Michael, where they competed against each other in the same house due to COVID-19 restrictions preventing them from playing at a large venue.[1] He placed second to his brother shortly after reaching level 29, but he celebrated the achievement with him by giving him a high five immediately after the match's conclusion.[1]
Andrew (closest to the camera) and his brother Michael (second closest) competing at the 2022 CTWC
In the 2021, CTWC, Artiaga placed second in his seed after achieving eleven "maxouts", a point in the game where the score becomes so high that it no longer registers correctly on-screen, in his qualifying rounds.[7] In the semi-finals, Artiaga lost to his brother, Michael, who went on to place first in the CTWC again,[1] ultimately finishing in fourth behind his original inspiration for the game, Joseph Saelee.[4][8] In the lead-up to the 2022 CTWC, Artiaga broke the world record for the highest winning score in a single game at 2.1 million points during a monthly competition in May.[4] In the 2022 CTWC, Artiaga placed fourth in his qualifying seed after achieving 13 maxouts within two hours of playing.[7] He placed third at the end of the championship, beating his brother, who came in fourth. In the 2023 CTWC, Artiaga placed sixth in his qualifying seed, losing in the quarterfinals to Justin Yu (known online as "Fractal161"), who went on to win the championship.[7]
On January 4, 2024, Artiaga became the third player to "beat the game" by triggering a game crash, something which can only occur at very high levels. He did so just days after fellow competitive Tetris players Willis Gibson (known online as "Blue Scuti") and Justin Yu had done so for the first time.[7][9] Shortly afterward, on January 11, Artiaga broke the record for highest score achieved on NES Tetris, with a total score of 8,952,432 points, later recognized by Guinness World Records.[9][10] Artiaga's score broke the previous record by around 2 million points, which was regarded by the entertainment website GamesRadar+ as an accomplishment which separated him from his "little brother's shadow".[11] Artiaga held this record for two months until it was surpassed by Alex Thach on March 11, 2024, with a score of 16,248,080.[10]
From June 7 to 9, Artiaga competed in the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship. After already struggling in qualifying, the round of 16 saw him losing 0:3 to Eve "Sidnev" Commandeur, the previous year's runner-up.[12][13]
On June 7, Artiaga was one of 8 selected players to participate in a promotional Tetris side event for the ModRetro Chromatic, a Game Boy Color clone console. He ended up winning the event decisively, including a 3:0 win in finals over Willis Gibson. [14] The event which also featured celebrity invitees, notably Logan Paul who lost to Gibson, would later be subject of a 15 minute documentary uploaded to Paul's YouTube channel.[15][16][17]
From June 6–8, Artiaga returned to compete in the 2025 Classic Tetris World Championship. Albeit securing seed 8, Artiaga was eliminated early once again in the round of 16, this time losing to Sam "SV" Vaughan, who in turn would lose his next match to the eventual champion Alex Thach.[18][19]
Playing style
Artiaga began his Tetris career as a Delayed Auto Shift (DAS) player, which involved shifting falling pieces repeatedly while holding the buttons to increase the speed the pieces are turned.[20] Before the 2020 CTWC, however, Artiaga adopted hypertapping,[7] a playing technique popularized by Saelee in the 2018 CTWC, which emphasizes vibrating the buttons rapidly over pressing them.[3][21] This was done to keep up pace with his brother, who had adopted the technique earlier.[20]
During the 2021 CTWC, Artiaga continued to utilize hypertapping as opposed to rolling,[7] a new technique created by fellow Tetris player Christopher Martinez (known online as "Cheez") before the 2020 CTWC, which involves flicking the back of the controller from behind ("rolling") with as many successive fingers as needed to position the game pieces more quickly.[4][21] The success of the technique at the championship led to it being adopted by a number of top players, including Artiaga, before the 2022 CTWC.[4][7]
Competitive record
This table lists notable Classic Tetris tournaments in which Artiaga 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 Andrew Artiaga in Classic Tetris
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
