‘Warrior’ widow

The classic computer game Tetris has been around for so long. The brainchild of a Soviet software engineer, the addictive game requires players to rotate and manipulate falling blocks of different shapes to fit together and create solid lines inside a box.

Once a line (or two, three, or four) is formed, it vanishes, leaving more space — and time — to shuffle the following blocks. Blocks fall faster as a player progresses through the levels, all the way up to Level 29, which was believed to be the end of the game, where things move too fast for humans to react.

A computer has reached the point where the code bugs out, and the game stops. On 21 December, Willis Gibson, 13, of Oklahoma, reached the “kill screen” of the Nintendo version of the puzzle game.

It took Willis 40 minutes to beat Tetris, 35 minutes of which saw him mainly sitting motionless while rapidly flipping his fingers across a controller. A video of Gibson’s shocked reaction after completing the last level that stopped the game went viral on social media.

“It’s never been done by a human before,” said Classic Tetris World Championship president Vince Clemente, according to The New York Times.

Fellow gamers and Tetris chief executive Maya Rogers congratulated Willis on the feat, a fitting achievement ahead of the 40th anniversary of the game’s release.

Meanwhile, another very good gamer is recognized as among the best players of Free Fire, a free mobile battle game.

After being introduced in 2020 to the game played by millions worldwide, Maria Elena Arevalo of Chile quickly turned into a gun-wielding warrior in a short kimono and fang mask known as Mami Nena.

Playing in Free Fire’s “Heroic” level — just one short of the topmost “Grandmaster” level that only 300 players compete in — Arevalo amassed four million followers on TikTok and 650,000 on YouTube, where she shares tips with fellow players.

Her amazing gaming skills impressed the makers of Free Fire, so much so that she was made an ambassador of the game and sent on an all-expense paid trip to Mexico City to celebrate its anniversary last year.

While many successful gamers are young, the widow Arevalo is an exception at 81. She’s excelled over 20-year-old grandson Hector Carrasco, who taught her the game to ease her loneliness after her husband’s death.

Earlier this month, Arevalo was named one of Chile’s 100 most important elderly people by the El Mercurio newspaper and the Catholic University for helping break down age stereotypes.

WJG With AFP @tribunephl_wjg