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Most days, Jonas Neubauer gets up just before noon and goes to work as a repair center manager in Southern California or his other job, where he helps run a leisure marijuana business. But today, the 37-year-old Los Angeles native got out of bed a little earlier, always sounded, to speak on the phone of his other life – the world's largest and most public – as a biggest Tetris player in the world.
It's a title that is becoming more and more important as Neubauer wins championships after the championships. Eight tournaments of the Tetris Classic World Championship (CTWC) have been held since the start of the competition in 2010. Neubauer has won seven.
On one side, Neubauer is just an ordinary guy who works in a bar, drinks a lot of coffee and plays video games in his spare time. On the other hand, he is a niche rock star in a growing electronic sports community that hopes to one day be represented at the Olympics, with Neubauer as spokesperson. "It's a kind of blacklisted celebrity," laughs Neubauer. "But in a certain circle, you are very popular."
This weekend, the reigning champion will compete for his eighth world title against the biggest and most competitive field he has faced. Players from around the world travel to Portland, Oregon, to attend the tournament, including European champion Svavar Gunnarsson, Japanese grandmaster Tetris and famous hyper-tapper Koji "Koryan" Nishio and the American prodigy Joseph 15 years old, Joseph Saelee.
"It's basically the whole field against Jonas," says Adam Cornelius, who hosts the CTWC tournament every year and who directed the documentary. Order Extase: The Tetris Masters. Neubauer is an ordinary man who wakes up late and works in a bar for 362 days of the year. But during the CTWC tournament, he is the most respected man in the room.
Jonas Neubauer plays Tetris at home. © Coley Brown
Most of the time, Neubauer goes to work and goes home without mentioning his fame. It took years for colleagues to find out. Neubauer recalls entering the dining room one day and hearing a teasing voice shout, "Bastard! I saw a video of you playing. Why did not you tell me? "Some days, when his hobby is at the rendezvous, he signs autographs, takes pictures and humiliates the challengers at the bar with a fast game, stacking blocks quickly and effortlessly.
Neubauer uses a unique and chaotic approach to playing Tetris, stacking big blocks from left to right, spinning the pieces quickly and placing them in the right position at the very last minute. It's a hectic strategy that makes you think he can not find a way out until he miraculously does it.
"What makes Jonah so scary and dominant, is that he's sort of the strongest, strongest, and lightest player on his feet and creative at the same time," he said. Cornelius. "He looks like Tim Duncan one minute, then Steph Curry to the next."
Neubauer compares his playing style to that of a jazz pianist: chaotic, unpredictable and improvising always without too much project. His style of play echoes his personality, which his wife Heather Ito describes as interesting, witty but ironically unconscious. When Neubauer asked Ito to marry her, she replied, "Are you sure?", Just to be sure that he thinks about it before. Ito has seen him playing Tetris almost every day for more than five years. If anyone knows how much he can be spontaneous with his decisions, that's it.
"In fact, I was exhausted playing this way for a while," says Neubauer. "It's a stressful way to play Tetris. Especially if you are in a tournament and in front of a crowd, because it is an active thought with your brain before, and that is the part that is submerged and distracted. "
However, when he plays, Neubauer looks as cool as a cucumber. He began broadcasting his games on Twitch under the name of "NubbinsGoody" user last year, attracting tens of thousands of viewers. As blocks bounce off the screen, Neubauer mocks comments and casually answers questions from viewers, sharing tips and strategies as they go. Often, he hijacks his screen to check something in the room or chat with Ito, who is also a very competent player. Both make an entertaining couple.
In the early days of the tournament, Neubauer would only play Tetris in the month before the championship to reduce his abilities. Now, between streaming on Twitch and the practice to face more competitive opponents, "I play all the time," said Neubauer. "[Tetris] was not a big part of my identity, but it's now. "
Jonas Neubauer and Heather Ito. © Coley Brown
Spread his workouts on Tetris is also sharing his game book. "You can not grow something when you have the same guy [winning] tournaments every year, "says the champion. "I want to equip people with a more confident and stronger game so that they can continue to come every year and wait."
Saelee, the 15-year-old prodigy who makes his first appearance at CTWC this year, is one of many new players who have learned Tetris' strategy by watching Neubauer play online. "I look at Jonah's Twitch channel whenever I can," says Saelee, who became the first player to reach Classic Tetris level 31 at the end of September. Something, even Neubauer, has not done it yet. "I would say most of my game is based on Jonas's. I'm trying to play exactly like him for the most part. "
Neubauer and Ito often say that it would probably be better if someone else wins the tournament. Harry Hong is the only player to beat him in 2014. "It's called a" world championship ", but it's really these two guys from Los Angeles who have won every year," says Ito. "Now, there are people coming from Japan, Finland and Iceland, and if anyone from the rest of the world could really win, that would really legitimize the tournament."
It is clear that we are discussing with Neubauer the future of Tetris as well as its future. He talks about becoming a teacher and a sports ambassador as if it were his duty – to give back to a video game that, in many ways, has shaped his life and helped him overcome difficult times.
© Coley Brown
Neubauer participated in the 2010 tournament shortly after the death of his father, earlier that year. "It was this new adventure in which I could start and try to chart a positive trajectory in a deplorable situation," he says. "I might have needed that first [win]. Those who came next were the icing on the cake.
Neubauer describes navigating the obstacles of life in the same way as his strategies with the virtual blocks of Tetris. "You can not control what happens to people in your life, but you can control what comes next," he says. As he says so well, the secret of the game is to deal with your decisions and make the best decision based on your current situation.
"The way he plays Tetris, he never decides on a move," said Ito. "There is always more. There is always another way of seeing things, even if it will not always work for you. Although this is not the optimal choice, it is still worth considering. "
Ito was seduced by the "obsessive" personality they described to themselves when they met. She's always curious, she says, and is constantly interested in new topics and trying to learn as much as possible about her hobbies, which recently included craft beer, hand-ground coffee, and provide his own jeans. Japan.
But Tetris left Neubauer caught in an invincible loop since the age of ten. "I'll never have that kind of moment [of closure] with Tetris, "he says," It's a bit of both a blessing and a curse, it put me on an adventure, that's for sure. "
Jonas Neubauer. © Coley Brown
Neubauer has always been the best at Tetris, since he was young, he played against friends in the basement of his parents. By the time he was a teenager, no one wanted to play against him because they knew that they would lose. Neubauer, however, continued to train, reaching the highest level possible. His loss in 2014 was shocking. Nobody expected it. He had become so good at Tetris that his defeat is a bigger story than his victories.
Last year's tournament was Neubauer's most challenging event for the nerves. There is more pressure as his legend balloons in the community of players. But no matter how long of his reign as world champion, the influence of Neubauer will undoubtedly feel. This is already seen in players like Saelee, who is one of 39 other competitors looking to dethrone him this weekend. The pitch gets bigger and better, and Neubauer knows it's only a matter of time before he gets overshadowed.
"I found it easier to manage what was out of my control with Tetris," says Neubauer. "You get a certain sequence of pieces in Tetris, and that's out of your control, but what you do is under your control. […] I do not think there is much regret if you simply trust that you are doing the right thing and that some things are out of your reach. "
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This article originally appeared on VICE US.
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