Best of Five: The Classic Tetris Champions

In 2014, the Classic Tetris World Championship was at a crossroads. For the first four years, Jonas Neubauer won every time. In its fifth year, a documentary crew followed key players as they set out with one goal in mind: Beat Jonas. This 6-episode docu-series brings a deep view of the history of CTWC, as well as nine full tournament matches, with new commentary by Chris Tang and James Chen. This series is presented in 4K UHD. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This film was not sponsored or endorsed by The Tetris Company.

  • Best of Five Ep 1 - A Chance To Win

    48m — 4 text tracks

    This episode introduces the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), which began in 2010. First we recount the history of the tournament leading up to 2014, its fifth year. Then we meet some of the key players we'll follow. We see qualifying for the tournament, fill in (most of) the bracket, and...

  • Best of Five Ep 2 - Careful What You Wish For

    39m — 3 text tracks

    We learn how players have trained for the tournament. Some have extreme training regimens...and some haven't played in a year. We meet Trey Harrison, who has programmed a Tetris simulator to help him train for the tournament. We also learn about his history with Tetris legends Thor Aackerlund and...

  • Best of Five Ep 3 - The Buzzer Beater

    44m — 3 text tracks

    We start by exploring how Tetris experts think about the game. Then we learn about how, in the small Classic Tetris scene, close friends often compete and feel bad about it—each person wants to win, but nobody wants their friend to lose. Finally, two friends do battle, in an intense match dubbed ...

  • Best of Five Ep 4 - Some Kind of Zen

    1h 22m — 3 text tracks

    We learn how the environment of the tournament—its noise, lights, cameras, and chaos—affects players. Jonas Neubauer explains how he embraces that aspect of the competition, while competitor Terry Purcell works to block it out and concentrate on the game. We learn why the CTWC uses old CRT TVs fo...

  • Best of Five Ep 5 - Showdown
    1h 6m — 3 text tracks

    Best of Five Ep 5 - Showdown

    1h 6m — 3 text tracks

    Writing a full description of this episode would spoil the show, so we're going to be vague here. Two players ended up on top in Episode 4. We review their competitive history and what's at stake for each of them. Then we see the episode best-of-five final match. After that, the winner is intervi...

  • Best of Five Ep 6 - What Kind of Legacy

    1h 48m — 1 text track

    Jonas Neubauer's interview, filmed in 2015, in its entirety. Topics include: early history with Tetris, family, first maxout, creating the template for competitive NES Tetris, cargo shorts, and more. The latter half of the interview involves Jonas reviewing game tape of his final two matches in C...