Joseph Saelee

Classic Tetris World Championship

He debuted in the in-person scene with the 2018 world championship, coming just "to qualify", and was able to secure a spot as the 5th seed and a first round bye.^[4][5] During his qualifying games, he set a record, being the first player to reach level 30 in a live tournament.^[6] In tournament play he defeated former champion Harry Hong and the number 1 seed, Japanese Tetris Grandmaster Koji “Koryan” Nishio to make it too the finals.^[7][5] In a upset he swept the then 7-time champion (and at the time reigning champion), Jonas Neubauer, 3–0.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} Saelee won $1,000 as prize money from winning, and was the youngest to win the championship at the time, at the age of 16.^[13] After the match, Neubauer is quoted as saying how it's "truly an honor to pass the torch to the new generation of Tetris players".^[14] This match went viral on YouTube, and many new competitors since have cited this match as their inspiration to play the game, like the two time CTWC winners Alex Thach and Michael Artiaga as well as Artiaga's brother, Andrew.^[15][16] The YouTube video of the match as of February 2025 now has over 20 million views, as well as a replay being shown on ESPN2 during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16][17]

Saelee's utilized a unique play style called "hyper-tapping". While there have been hyper-tapping players in the past, notably Thor Aackerlund and Koji Nishio, the later who inspired Saelee to become a hyper-tapper, Saelee was much more adept at the high speed play.^[3][5][16] He was able to press the D-pad at speeds of up to 15 times per second, being the first person to reach levels 31 through 35 and being cited as the innovator of post level 29 play.^[3][5][18]

In the 2019 tournament, which had begun to feature more younger players, Saelee qualified as the number 1 seed and he again advanced to the finals to play against Nishio again, who was the number 2 seed. The match between the two hyper-tappers went to a deciding game 5, which Saelee won, achieving back to back titles.^{[1][4][19][20]} Alexey Pajitnov, the original creator of Tetris, personally handed the trophy to Saelee after his victory.^[21]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 tournaments were held online. Due to the nature of it being online, they were able to accommodate 64 players, separating them into group brackets A-H with a loser's bracket. In the tournament, Saelee was able to make it into the top 8 bracket but fell in the initial match to Jacob "Huffulufugus" Huff. The 2021 tournament was the first to have the newest playstyle of rolling, which was then still a very undeveloped technique. Saelee advanced to the semifinals before playing against Huff again. The match went to a decider that Huff would win.^[22][23][24]

World records

After the 2018 CTWC, Saelee would go on to set multiple NES Tetris records. As mentioned above, he was the first person recorded to reach the levels 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 38.^{[3][5][18][25][26]} On an alternative account called "1975TylerP" he set a high score world record of 1,298,840.^[27] In December 2018 he set a new high score world record with the first 1.3 million in NES Tetris history. He would go on to beat his record twice with scores of 1.375 million and 1.390 million respectively.^[27] On June 14th, 2020, he would allegedly score 1.4 million points, however, it was unrecorded, and only a handful of people watching through a shared Discord call were able to witness it.^[27]

Hiatus and return to Tetris (2021–2025)

Saelee, following the 2021 World Championship, would step back from the competitive scene, with the new playstyle called "rolling" beginning to outclass hyper-tapping.^[16][27] He would make a return in 2025 in the Classic Tetris Monthly Tap Masters tournament, a tournament solely dedicated to hyper-tapping, where he would qualify for the 10th seed.^[28] He would advance to the semi-finals, where he would play Michael Artiaga, also known as dogplayingtetris. The best of 5 match would go to a decider that Artiaga would eventually win.^[29]