Eric Tolt, known online as EricICX, is an American classic NES Tetris player from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. He is best known for winning the 2022 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), earning the highest winning score record, and being the first person to reach levels 37, 38, and 146: the latter of which being the first glitched color level of the game.
Tolt became interested in the game around 2018 and began to play competitively by late 2019. He soon after began to achieve a number of records, and competed in the 2020 and 2021 CTWC's. During the August 2022 Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) tournament, Tolt achieved the records of highest winning score and first to reach level 146: the first glitched color level of the game caused by a glitch at very high levels. Two months later, Tolt won the 2022 CTWC after defeating the following year's winner, Justin Yu, in the finals. Since the 2023 CTWC, Tolt has largely stepped back from competitive play, but has remained active in the Tetris community and on YouTube.
A number of his achievements were furthermore highlighted as important stepping stones leading up to the eventual "beating of the game" on December 21, 2023, by fellow Tetris player Willis Gibson.
Personal life
Tolt is an American who lives in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.[1]As of 2025[update]: Tolt's YouTube channel description states he is a college freshman, but it is unknown when this description as last updated.[2]
Tetris career
Tolt, known online as EricICX, discovered classic NES Tetris in 2018 after watching videos of the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) finals online, in particular the most recent 2017 finals.[3] He then began to play causally starting in mid-2018, and more competitively by late 2019.[3] Shortly after becoming competitive, Tolt began to achieve a number of records: including being the first person to achieve a "maxout" on the PAL version of Tetris, a point in the game where the score becomes so high that it no longer registers correctly on-screen, in November 2019,[3][1] and being the first person to reach levels 37 and 38 of the game in 2020.[3][4][5] In regards to major competitions, Tolt competed in his first CTWC in 2020 where he finished in the top 24.[3] The following year, Tolt competed in the 2021 CTWC where he placed in the top 32.[3]
Tolt during the 2022 East Coast Regional, an event he later won
Following the 2021 CTWC and leading up to the 2022 CTWC, Tolt achieved two additional high score records: including being the first person to achieve a three million point score in April (breaking the previous record by 1.4 million points), and the record for highest winning score at 6,492,500 points in August.[1][6] The latter achievement took place during the August 2022 Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) tournament,[3] breaking the previous record set by Andrew Artiaga (known online as "P1xelAndy") three months prior by over 4.3 million points.[7] During the same tournament, Tolt also became the first person to reach level 146 of the game: first the glitched color level on the NTSC version of Tetris,[3][6] where the color pallet becomes incredibly dim due to a glitch in the code.[5] On September 27, 2022, Tolt broke the world record for fastest time to beat the game mode "Shirase" in Tetris: The Grand Master 3 – Terror‑Instinct, a game mode in which the pieces speed up dramatically fast as you continue to play, with a time of 4:05:30.[8] Tolt's record, which he referred to as his most proud achievement to date, marked the first time in 13 years the record had been broken, with the previous record of 4:09:16 being made by a player with the online name "ZAB".[8]
From October 14–16, 2022, Tolt competed in the 2022 CTWC.[3] In the qualifying rounds on October 14, Tolt achieved 14 maxouts alongside Justin Yu (known online as "Fractal"). But because Tolt's highest non-maxout score during the qualifier was lower than Yu's, he was placed in the #2 seed.[3] After earning a bye due to his high seed, Tolt worked his way up to the semifinals, where he defeated the two-time and most recent CTWC champion Michael Artiaga (known online as "Dogplayingtetris") 3–0 in a series of games.[3] In the finals, Tolt defeated Justin Yu 3–1, with the third game being the first in which both players reached two million points in a CTWC match.[3][9] During the entire championship, Tolt only lost two games.[1] The win made Tolt the fifth individual person to win the CTWC since it began in 2010.[1]
Tolt has largely stepped back from competitive Tetris scene since the 2023 CTWC,[note 1] but has remained active on YouTube: creating an analysis video on Willis Gibson (known online as "Blue Scuti") after he became the first person to "beat the game" on December 21, 2023.[4] Upon Gibson "beating the game", a number of sources including the American tech website Ars Technica, Philippine broadcaster GMA Network, and Canadian publisher TheGamer, highlighted Tolt's achievements as important stepping stones leading up to the event.[4][5][10]
Playing style
During his early Tetris career and his 2020 and 2021 CTWC's, Tolt used a playing style called hypertapping[3] which emphasizes vibrating the buttons rapidly over pressing them; a technique first popularized by Saelee in his winning 2018 CTWC tournament.[11][12] After the 2021 CTWC, however, Tolt began to use another technique called rolling,[3] a new technique created by fellow Tetris player Christopher Martinez (known online as "CheeZ") before the 2020 CTWC, which involves rolling the back of the controller with all five fingers to position the game pieces more quickly.[7][12] He has since used this technique to achieve various records, including the first three million point score, first to reach the glitched colors levels, and to win the 2022 CTWC.[3] During his winning 2022 CTWC, Tolt's strategy revolved around outlasting his opponents after the reaching the "killscreen" at level 29, in which the game pieces begin to fall at their maximum speed.[3] In a post-game interview after defeating the two-time and most recent CTWC champion in the semi-finals with this strategy, Tolt commented 'you can win by outlasting your opponent [...] "because everybody makes mistakes eventually"'.[3]
Competitive record
This table lists notable Classic Tetris tournaments in which Gibson competed in and their outcomes. It includes any appearances at the CTWC, 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.[13]
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