An American teenager is the new Tetris world champion

A 16-year-old Californian boy was the surprise winner of the grand finale of the Classic Tetris World Championship in Oregon.

The famous computer block stacking game is 13 years older than him.

Joseph Saelee beat Jonas Neubauer, seven-time winner of the last eight years of the tournament.

He told the BBC that he had started playing as a hobby after watching the championships in 2016, and that he was playing on an original Nintendo 1985 NES console.

He stated that he was training a few hours each day on the device, connected to a "blocky" CRT television screen rather than a modern thin screen.

Saelee said he prefers to use the old monitor because there was less latency – a tiny difference in time between the controller and the visual.

"My friends tell me what this guy is playing," he said.

"Tetris is easy to learn but it can take years to master."

He added that he intended to participate in the competition next year.

"I feel I could still improve – it's not a one-off thing."