Eric Tolt


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, 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 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. : Tolt's YouTube channel description states he is a college student.

''Tetris'' career

Tolt, known online as EricICX, discovered classic NES Tetris in 2018 after watching videos of the Classic Tetris World Championship finals online, in particular the most recent 2017 finals. He then began to play causally starting in mid-2018, and more competitively by late 2019. 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, and being the first person to reach levels 37 and 38 of the game in 2020. In regards to major competitions, Tolt competed in his first CTWC in 2020 where he finished in the top 24. The following year, Tolt competed in the 2021 CTWC where he placed in the top 32.
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, and the record for highest winning score at 6,492,500 points in August. The latter achievement took place during the August 2022 Classic Tetris Monthly tournament, breaking the previous record set by Andrew Artiaga three months prior by over 4.3 million points. 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, where the color pallet becomes incredibly dim due to a glitch in the code. 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. 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".
From October 14–16, 2022, Tolt competed in the 2022 CTWC. In the qualifying rounds on October 14, Tolt achieved 14 maxouts alongside Justin Yu. But because Tolt's highest non-maxout score during the qualifier was lower than Yu's, he was placed in the #2 seed. 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 3–0 in a series of games. 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. During the entire championship, Tolt only lost two games. The win made Tolt the fifth individual person to win the CTWC since it began in 2010.
Tolt has largely stepped back from competitive Tetris scene since the 2023 CTWC, but has remained active on YouTube: creating an analysis video on Willis Gibson after he became the first person to "beat the game" on December 21, 2023. 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.

Playing style

During his early Tetris career and his 2020 and 2021 CTWC's, Tolt used a playing style called hypertapping which emphasizes vibrating the buttons rapidly over pressing them; a technique first popularized by Saelee in his winning 2018 CTWC tournament. After the 2021 CTWC, however, Tolt began to use another technique called rolling, a new technique created by fellow Tetris player Christopher Martinez before the 2020 CTWC, which involves rolling the back of the controller with all five fingers to position the game pieces more quickly. 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. 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. In a post-game interview after defeating the two-time and most recent CTWC champion in the semi-finals with this strategy, Tolt commented that victory can be achieved by outlasting an opponent because "everybody makes mistakes eventually".

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.
YearTournamentSizeSeedScorePlace
2020CTM May MastersN/AN/AN/A
2020CTM August MastersN/AN/AN/A
2020Classic Tetris World Championship N/AN/AN/A
2021CTM March ChallengersN/AN/AN/A
2021CTM July MastersN/AN/AN/A
2021Classic Tetris World Championship N/AN/AN/A
2022CTM March Masters1680–1rowspan="2"
2022CTM April Mega Masters3221–1-
2022CTM May Masters1611–1
2022CTM June Masters1613–1
2022CTWC East Coast Regional824–0
2022CTM July Masters16101–1
2022CTWC Ohio Regional 362†4–1
2022CTM August Masters16142–1rowspan="2"
2022CTM September Masters1652–1-
2022Classic Tetris World Championship482†5–0
2022CTM November Masters1661–1rowspan="3"
2022CTM December Masters1661–1-
2023CTM January Masters1671–1-
2023CTM February Masters1662–1
2023CTM March Masters1611–1
2023CTM May Masters1672–1rowspan="2"
2023CTWC B14NK's Garage Regional101†1–1-
2023CTM June Masters1623–1
2023CTM Lone Star 24240–1
2023CTWC Ohio Regional 3213†3–1
2023Classic Tetris World Championship48480–1
2024CTM March Mega Masters64490–1
2024Classic Tetris World Championship48311–1
2025Classic Tetris World Championship48460–1
2025CTM July TAP Masters3212†1–1