It was 7:30 a.m at the high school. The second day of school had just started and everyone was still getting used to the aspect of being back in school. Not one student knew what epidemic was about to happen and were not ready for its effects. My name is Ben K. and this is the story about how everyone in my school became addicted, especially me . . .

I walk into the library to see one overachieving pioneer kicking ass in this game. This game consists of controlling certain blocks and creating patterns. The goal of the game is to send as many lines as possible and to KO your opponent 5 times. KO means knocking your opponent out by sending them to many lines and causing their blocks to go above the screen. I had never seen this game before and I was very confused. I start looking at this guys screen, who later turns out being my best friend, which says, “You have just beaten your high score by sending 101 lines and sending 5 KO’s.” Most people in the school had not yet been exposed to this epidemic, but as I watched I became more and more addicted. An entourage built up behind him adding 20 people every hour. This man’s name was Alex and he was the Tetris champion. People began to train day and night just so they could challenge and beat the unsurpassable champion Alex.

Alex had always been a straight A student, but when he learned about tetris through his friends at camp he became addicted. It was last period of the first Friday in the year and Alex had not attended one class. He just sat at his computer trying to become the best in the world and getting closer and closer to his goal. People began to follow his lead, because who could be a better role model than Alex?

One day, Alex had his first challenger from school and he was very ready to beat this little freshman. He did not know that this freshman had been practicing every day since he saw Alex send his first 101 lines. This freshman was me, Ben, and I was ready to kick his ass. Throughout the school, everyone was in a ruckus, making bets on who would win or exactly how many lines one would send. It is now monday and my battle against Alex takes place this Friday. I decide not to go to any of my classes and try to level up my facebook account exactly to the level of Alex. Alex had just reached level 106 and I was only level 75. I lost sight of reality, my friends were dropping like rain drops from the sky, constantly and rapidly. I leveled up each day about 5 times a day but never reached my goal of 106. The rest of the week I spent going to class and doing homework instead of training for this tetris battle because I thought I was ready.

The day has finally come and it is time for the battle what I did not know is that while I was busy doing pointless things like studying and doing homework a whole tournament was being developed and the epidemic was spreading to other schools around the Great Los Angeles Area. The tournament was moved to this Saturday at 3:00 taking place at non other than our school. I was the last person to enter into the contest and was very lucky that one of the other freshmen did not take my spot. The first game was about to start, Alex S. v. Lee H. Lee was ranked in the top ten in the world because of his strategy which involved using geometry along with the skills he had learned in his AP Engineering class. Lee was a very fierce competitor who took the lead early on. Lee did not know that Alex always ended with a bang so when on the boards Lee had sent 200 lines and had KO’d Alex 3 times, he became very cocky and less concerned about the game. Alex knew this was going to happen. Due to the fact that in Tetris the amount of lines sent is not as important as the amount of KO’s sent Alex builds up his tower to create a perfect pocket for him to put the following blue tetris pieces. Alex sends more lines at once than any person ever has in the history of tetris causing Lee to KO twice in a row and Alex to win with 300 lines and 5 KO’s. The speaker stated, “Alex has just qualified for the finals.”

I was up next battling the player Amad from Brentwood school. Since I was so new to the game Amad was very cocky and very excited when he learned I would be his opponent. I had been studying Amad’s moves and realized that is weakness came when a person sent not 10, not 8, but only 2 lines because he had not dealt with this often and became confused during these games. I start out with 2 KO’s in the first 30 seconds causing Amad to KO once. Amad is in the lead now with 3 KO’s on me and 134 lines sent. I decide to use my knowledge and send two lines at a time to Amad. Amad begins panicking because he is not understanding the situation. He freaks out so much that he begins to simply press the space bar continuously causing me to win by default with 5 KO’s.

The speaker announces, “ Ben has just moved on to the finals. We will take a 30 minute break before the final battle between Ben and Alex, both coming from the high school.” During these thirty minutes I began to formulate a strategy. My strategy was that I would use Alex’s only weakness against him. Alex is a very cocky tetris player so I strategized and realized the best strategy would be allowing him to always be one step ahead of me for the first 30 seconds of the match. This is when his cockiness builds up to its fullest extent and I make my move. Around the thirtieth second Alex starts to change his strategy around so he does not have to think as much about the game. At the thirtieth second I will send 24 lines causing him to KO. After this I will play as I normally do and hopefully win because of his confusion. My plan is ready. I approach the stage where we will be battling and shake hands with Alex. Due to the fact that I was a lower rank than him a handicap was put in place only to make the battle fair. The match starts out with us both sending 50 lines in the first 30 seconds. The next 1 minute and 30 seconds is a blur to me. I remember going ape s*** and trying the hardest i have ever tried in anything. At the end of the match I hear, “Congratulations to Ben for becoming the best tetris player in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Your prize is a scholarship of $15,000 to any college you get into once you are a senior.” Although the prize was nice, it did not satisfy me because my addiction had taken control of me and I needed to be the best in world . . .