Tetris 99

“	This is my daily meditation. I play Tetris 99.	”
Chris in 2019

Chris playing Tetris 99 with Copitz (middle), while TheGamerFromMars (left) looks on.

Once they see falling blocks, the T-spot unlocks
and they start to sing like this:
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
WE LOVE TETRIS, LA LA LA LA

Tetris 99 is an online version of the tile-matching video game Tetris, developed by Arika, and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch in February 2019. The software is free to download, but playing online requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Incorporating elements of the battle royale genre, Tetris 99 has up to 99 players competing simultaneously to complete rows with falling tetrominoes, which in turn send attacks in the form of "garbage rows" to other players with the goal of knocking them out of the game.

Chris downloaded the game in 2019. His username is CWCSonichu. It has since become one of his most-played games on the Switch, and he has gone so far as to describe it as part of his daily routine. As of July 2021, Chris had put 565 hours into playing Tetris 99. The game is further notable for being one of the few things that Chris is genuinely good at, his performance documented by several individuals who have encountered him in this game. Chris has taken pride in his Tetris 99 skills, going as far as to brag about his success in this game on Twitter.

Chris was forced to stop playing Tetris during the Jail Saga, but resumed playing after his release, having 590 hours in the game as of August 2023.

Notable sessions (pre-Jail Saga)

9-10 March 2019

In a tweet on 11 March 2019, Chris claimed to have gotten #1 position on 5 Tetris 99 sessions over the preceding weekend, with him getting 3 wins in a row on Saturday, 9 March.

In Response to @Tetris_Official tweeting:

The Tetris Maximus Cup is LIVE this weekend from March 8 - March 10. The 999 players with the most 1st place wins will win 999 My Nintendo points! 🥇

Chris Tweeted:

I got Five Number Ones in my plays on #Tetris99 this past weekend. Three of them were in a row last Saturday. I was pleased to make such an achievement. ⚡️💙⚡️ I’ve clocked in MANY, MANY hours on Tetris on my old Game Boy; made it beyond the 999 Level Cap.

28 July 2019

Final result of Chris' first Tetris 99 session with /u/mkicon.

Reddit user /u/mkicon encountered Chris in Tetris 99 on the night of 28 to 29 July 2019. /u/mkicon was first in this game. Chris arrived in second, having been knocked out.

/u/mkicon described his experience as follows:

Last night after I won, I said out loud "please be real, PLEASE BE REAL" while laughing. A quick search showed me that a user on KF befriended him on Switch and apparently Chris plays Tetris 99 a lot. In the thread they showed that he had a lot of hours on some ps4 Tetris, with all but the co-op achievements, so I though there's a good chance this was actually Chris.

28 December 2019

Final result of Chris' second Tetris 99 session with /u/mkicon.

Reddit user /u/mkicon encountered Chris on Tetris 99 for a second time on 28 December 2019. Just as in the first encounter, /u/mkicon was first in this game, and Chris arrived in second, having been knocked out.

After this session, /u/mkicon gave the following comment:

Not gonna lie, both times I beat Chris I wondered who I was playing because they did did good enough that I thought I might know them This time I almost topped out before comboing down to win

30 December 2019

On 30 December 2019, TheGamerFromMars and Copitz visited Chris Chan's home to shoot footage for a then-upcoming Chris Chan documentary, The Chris Chan Conspiracy. During this visit, Copitz and GFM both played Tetris 99 against Chris locally. During this session, Chris described the game as part of his daily routine.

22 July 2021

Final result of Chris' Tetris 99 session with /u/thatonedrewguy, whose Tetris 99 username is Drewdog.

On 22 July 2021, shortly before the incest arrest, Reddit user /u/thatonedrewguy played Tetris 99 with Chris. /u/thatonedrewguy finished first, and Chris finished third.

/u/thatonedrewguy described his experience as follows:

I just kept countering attackers, but I noticed there was one that was a bit more tenacious. I wish I'd recorded the match, but you never know who you've beaten until it's over.

I was just bored and blazed out of my mind, and when I managed to win I squinted and said: "No way, there is NO way."

During the Jail Saga

8 November 2021

In Jail Letter - 8 November 2021 (Stories from the Penitentiary), Chris stated the following as an aside:

Playing Tetris99 and watching videos through internet streaming; these ammenities, at least.

Going by the format of the rest of jail letter, this was presumably an answer to a question, although the exact question that was answered can not be determined. It may be presumed that Chris was trying to say that he missed playing Tetris 99.

9-10 April 2022

On 9 April 2022, Copitz uploaded a video titled "Tetris 99 with Chris Chan ft. TheGamerFromMars". This video showed the session that Copitz had with Chris in December 2019. In the comment section of this video, he had a conversation with Drewdog (/u/thatonedrewguy on Reddit), who had also played Tetris 99 with Chris.

Drewdog 19:57, 9 April 2022

I still can't believe I beat Chris in Tetris 99. It happened about a week before....THAT happened.

Copitz 20:20, 9 April 2022

nice job chris is pretty good at tetris!

Drewdog 14:24, 10 April 2022

@Copitz I wish I could have seen his face, he was clearly trying to wipe me out, and I had NO clue that he was my opponent until the game was over.

Notable sessions (post-Jail Saga)

20 November 2023

Chris streamed himself playing Tetris 99 in First JCWCSP Gaming Live Stream. He did quite well, placing 9th out of 100 in the first game (though he says 8th) and 3rd in the second game. He remained calm and focused throughout, even while answering questions. Notably, he had 999 tickets earned from completing daily challenges, which is the maximum. This is likely after he has already spent enough tickets to unlock everything in the game.

See also

• Tetris 99 on English Wikipedia
• Chris and video games