Michael Artiaga

Michael Khanh Artiaga was born on November 20, 2007,^[1][2] to Van and Randall Artiaga and is from Fort Worth, Texas.^[3] He and his brother Andrew Artiaga grew up around electronics, as their father was a web developer.^[3][4] At 5 years old he learned basic coding, and further experimented in computing and gaming in elementary school.^[3][4] He and his brother practiced the skills they learned by creating characters and music for several of his father's gaming apps.^[3] In an interview with The Guardian, Michael stated his school work took precedence over his gaming, and that math was his favorite subject.^[4] Outside of Tetris, Artiaga also practiced speedrunning in other retro games including Super Mario Bros.^[5]

Artiaga was introduced to Tetris at 8 years old in elementary school, after playing it on the original Game Boy at home.^[3][4] He collaborated with his brother on their shortcomings while they practiced the game to better their playing.^[3] He was originally attracted to the game's need for quick-thinking, speed, and skill.^[3][4][5] Michael and Andrew, at 10 and 13 years old, respectively, began to play more intently after watching 16-year-old Joseph Saelee's victory against the 37-year-old reigning champion Jonas Neubauer in the 2018 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), marking the beginning of a new generation of Tetris players playing the game.^[3][6][7]

After purchasing twin famiclones, Artiaga began to compete in tournaments under the name "dogplayingtetris" or simply "Dog", in reference to his avatar being a dog holding a Nintendo controller, while his brother took the nickname "P1xelAndy".^[6] In November 2019, Artiaga created his own Tetris tournament called "Classic Tetris Brawl" (CTB),^[8] which is made up of a number of events including three-player matches, level 0 to 19 speedruns, and a quarterly "Brawl Championship".^[5] In December 2019, he became the youngest person to complete a "maxout", a point in the game where the score becomes so high it no longer registers correctly on-screen.^[6][8]

During the COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States, both brothers began to practice more often while also learning from their competitors on Twitch.^[3] At 13 and 15, respectively,^[6][7] both Michael and Andrew qualified for the 2020 CTWC; Michael scored 1 million points in six games, making him the top seed in his double-elimination playoffs group.^[3][9] Michael was the second-youngest competitor there^[4] and the youngest to make it to the top eight.^[7][10] After beating fellow competitor Jacob Huff (known online as "Huffulufugus"),^[9] Michael made it to the final round with his brother Andrew, where they competed against each other at home due to COVID-19 restrictions.^[3] Michael won shortly after reaching level 29, winning $3,000, which he used to buy a real Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a Donner guitar, an electronic drum set, and invested in cryptocurrency.^[3][4] Andrew celebrated the victory with Michael, giving him a high five immediately after the match; Michael remarked that the "great [thing] about being in the top two is that we both get great trophies".^[3] At 13 years and 16 days old, Artiaga set a Guinness World Record as the "Youngest Tetris World Champion".^[1]

After his 2020 CTWC victory, Artiaga stated that while he would "always go down as a 13-year-old world champion", he was motivated to win again at the next championship.^[4] The following year, Artiaga secured a back-to-back win in the also-virtual CTWC 2021, where he beat 19-year-old Jacob Huff 3–1 to secure another $3,000 prize.^[2][3][11] His back-to-back win was in the 2023 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records.^[12] On April 9, 2022, Artiaga set another world record for the highest-scoring game on a level 29 start with a score of 2.2 million.^[13] From June 7–9, he competed in the 2024 CTWC, where he lost to Alex Thach (known online as "Alex T") in the finals, finishing second in the championship.^[14][15]

On October 6, 2024, Artiaga became the first person to achieve a "rebirth" of the game after successfully clearing the highest level of the game, level 255, triggering the game to restart back on level 0.^[16] After achieving rebirth, he continued to play the game from level 0 to level 91,^[17] where he finally ended the game with a time of 121 minutes, a final score of 29,486,164 points, 346 levels reached, and about 3,300 lines cleared.^[16][17][18] The score of 29.4 million points beat the previous high score record set by Alex Thach by more than 12 million points.^[18] The high level reached also had Artiaga achieve the first "line count overflow" in the game, which began at level 30 after the rebirth or level 285.^[19] Artiaga, who had live-streamed the game on Twitch, celebrated by putting his hands on his head and exclaiming "Am I dreaming, bro?" and "I'm so glad that game is over".^[16] The achievement, which had only previously been possible through the use of AI scripts,^[17] was completed by using a modified version of the game which prevents the game from crashing after opportunities begin at level 155.^[18]

From June 6–8, 2025, Artiaga again competed in the Classic Tetris World Championship. He was eliminated in the round of 16 after losing 2–3 against Tristan Kwai (known online as "Tristop"), ending his five-year streak of reaching at least semifinals.^[20]

From June 5–7, 2026, Artiaga won the Classic Tetris World Championship for the third time, defeating "Meme" 3–2 in the final. The victory made him the second player, after Jonas Neubauer, to win three CTWC championships.^[21]

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.^[24]