Rules – Classic Tetris World Championship

2026 CTWC – Official Rules

2026 CTWC Schedule Regional Tournament Rules

Format: 8-bit Nintendo Tetris (not Tengen).

NES consoles, NES Tetris carts, and NES controllers will be provided for competitors to play. Competitors can use the provided NES controller or bring their own controller. The controller can be any standard unmodified original NES controller, NES “dog bone” style controller, Hyperkin “Cadet” style controller, or “Goofy Foot” style controller. CTWC officials may disqualify any controller other than those listed here (including but not limited to other 3rd party controllers, controllers with turbo features, etc), and any games played with those controllers, at any time.

Qualifying Round

The Qualifying Round will determine the seeding of a 48-player Gold tournament (Main Event), as well as a 32-player Silver tournament and 32-player Bronze tournament

Entry fee is $50 (plus applicable fees from Start.gg). The entry fee entitles each player to a live 90 minute qualifying session.

Qualifying round will be held on Friday, June 5 in the CTWC area. See Schedule below for details.

Qualifying attempts will be on type A Tetris for highest score.

Players will be provided name-tags to affix to their assigned television. At the end of each game for which a player would like to have their score recorded, players must leave their game on the rocket screen and raise their hand to call a judge. (Do not proceed to the high score screen until a judge has verified your score!) The judge will then snap a picture of the screen and show it to the player for approval. Once a player approves the photo, the player may continue on to the next game.

We will be using the “point system”. In this format, points scored in excess of a million points WILL count.
Players will play on a modified version of classic Tetris that allows the player to exceed the “maxout” score of 999,999 and “uncap” the score so that it is calculated in a 7-digit format.
Players earn “points” for reaching the 1 million point threshold and continue to receive points for every 100k earned in score.
The point system works as follows:

0-999,998 – 0 points (your high score will be considered your “kicker score” and recorded the same as in previous years)
999,999-1,099,999 – 2 points
1,100,000-1,199,999 – 1 additional point
1,200,000-1,299,999 – 1 additional point
1,300,000-1,399,999 – 1 additional point
1,400,000-1,499,999 – 1 additional point
1,500,000-1,599,999 – 1 additional point
1,600,000-1,699,999 – 1 additional point
1,700,000-1,799,999 – 1 additional point
1,800,000-1,899,999 – 1 additional point
1,900,000-1,999,999 – 1 additional point
2,000,000+ – 2 additional points
Potential max “points” in a single game: 13

When a player’s 90 minutes are up, they will be allowed to finish whatever game is currently in progress.

The top 48 seeds will compete in the Gold Tournament. Seeds 49-80 will compete in the Silver tournament. Seeds 81-112 will compete in the Bronze Tournament

Note: In a 48-seed bracket, the top 16 seeds effectively earn a “bye” out of Round 0. The bottom 32 seeds must compete in Round 0 to reach Round 1.

48-seed Gold Tournament

Gold Tournament Rounds 0 and 1 will be completed on Saturday, and Rounds 2-5 (Top 16) will take place on Sunday.

All matches in the Gold Tournament will be best-of-five.

All matches must be played on level 18.

All games will be set to a level 39 super killscreen.

Before each game, the referee will provide a “seed” to be entered by both players.

The players will set their games to the seeded sequence and push start simultaneously at the prompt of the referee.

The player with the highest score wins. If one player tops-out and the other player already has a higher score, the game is finished. If one player tops-out and the other player has a lower score, that player will continue until they either top-out (having lost) or exceed the other player’s score, thus winning the game.

Players may ask for an update on their opponent’s score from the referee at any time. Referees will promptly inform players of the score needed to overtake their opponent in the event their opponent tops out with a higher score.

“Mullening” (continuing to play once the victor has been determined) can be cut off at any time by referees or CTWC officials.

Bad sportsmanship will not be tolerated. Players are allowed to talk to each other and the referee, but making loud noises, wild movements, or using insensitive or harmful language could result in disqualification.

Live commentary will be audible to the players. The commentary may provide information, but may also be a distraction. It is up to each individual player if they want to wear headphones or ear plugs. Players should never rely on commentary to find out if they won a game or not. They should keep playing until the judge has confirmed the result.

If an NES console or TV freezes, loses power, or otherwise becomes unplayable, both players will be stopped by the referee and the games will be reviewed. Considering the scores, line counts, and piece stacks of each player at the time of the malfunction, along with any other circumstances deemed relevant, tournament officials will decide to either have players replay the game or, in very rare cases where a player is deemed to have amassed and insurmountable lead, award a win to the player who had the higher score at the time the malfunction occurred.

If an NES console or TV experiences a momentary glitch, interference, or visual disruption, the affected player must attempt to make the judge/referee aware of the problem and must keep playing to the best of their ability. After both players have topped out, the affected player may request an official review. This is the only time a review can be requested. If a review is not requested, the results of the game will be accepted and can’t be subsequently changed for any reason. If a review is requested, considering the scores, line counts, and piece stacks of each player at the time of the malfunction, along with any other circumstances deemed relevant, tournament officials will decide to either accept the results of the game or have players replay the game. Under no circumstances will a win be awarded to a player who was trailing at the conclusion of the game.

Final Rankings will be determined by, in order of importance
1.) round advanced to
2.) games won in a losing match
3.) combined score of the two losing scores in the losing match (this eliminates the possibility of being penalized for winning a game with a very low score).

32-Seed Silver Tournament

The Silver Tournament will be completed on Saturday. If time constraints do not allow for the completion of the tournament on Saturday, then Rounds 4-5 (Top 4) will take place on Sunday morning.

All matches in the Silver Tournament will be best-of-three until the Semifinals and Final, which will be best-of-five.

All other rules are the same as Gold.

32-Seed Bronze Tournament

The Bronze Tournament will be completed on Saturday. If time constraints do not allow for the completion of the tournament on Saturday, then Rounds 4-5 (Top 4) will take place on Sunday morning.

All matches in the Bronze Tournament will be best-of-three until the Semifinals and Final, which will be best-of-five.

All other rules are the same as Gold.

PRIZES

Gold bracket players will be eligible for a prize, funded through Matcherino. Payout will be determined by the final number attained via crowd funding at the conclusion of the tournament.

2026 CTWC Tournament Schedule

Friday Qualifying & TGM 4 Championship

10:00AM – SoCal Expo opens for Classic Tetris area only (Expo is closed to the public). Only those with the 3-day Tetris pass or a spectator pass may enter
10:30AM-12:00PM – Qualifying Session 1
12:30PM-2:00PM – Qualifying Session 2
2:30PM-4:00PM – Qualifying Session 3
4:30PM-6:00PM – Qualifying Session 4
12:00PM-5:00PM – TGM4 Tournament Qualifying
7PM-10PM – TGM4 Tournament | Top 8

Saturday Qualifying

10:00AM-11:30AM – Qualifying Session 5 (limited to special request). Make sure to get the Tetris 3-day pass to enter
11:00AM – SoCal Expo Opens
11:30AM – Qualifying Ends. Brackets to be finalized
12:00PM – Class Picture (after qualifying, before tournament kickoff)

Saturday Brackets

Gold Tournament Rounds 0 & 1 (48-player single elimination bracket. All times subject to change)
12:30PM – Round 0 (Block A)
1:15PM – Round 0 (Block B)
2:00PM – Round 0 (Block C)
2:45PM – Round 0 (Block D)
3:30PM – Break
4:00PM – Round 1 (Block E)
4:45PM – Round 1 (Block F)
5:30PM – Round 1 (Block G)
6:15PM – Round 1 (Block H)

Silver Tournament (32 single elimination bracket. All times subject to change)

12:30PM – Round 1 (16 continuous Bo3 matches)
3:30PM – Round 2 (8 continuous Bo3 matches)
5:00PM – Round 3 (4 continuous Bo3 matches)
6:30PM – Round 4 (2 continuous Bo5 matches)
7:30pm – Round 5 (Finals Bo5 match)

Bronze Tournament (32 single elimination bracket. All times subject to change)

Sunday Brackets

Gold Top 16 (All times subject to change)

10:00AM – Pre-Show/Tetris Anthem
10:30AM – Part 1
11:30AM – Part 2
12:30PM – Break/Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation

Gold Top 8 (All times subject to change)

1:00PM – Part 1
2:00PM – Part 2
3:00PM – Semifinal 1
4:00PM – Semifinal 2
5:00PM – Break
5:15PM – Grand Finals
6:15PM – Wrap-up

Official CTWC Regional Tournament Rules

Note: Schedule and Official Rules MUST be posted in an easy-to-find section of the hosting events website.
CTWC Regional Tournaments are played in 4 rounds:

Qualifying Round
Round 0 & 1
Semi-Final Round (Top 4)
Final Round

Qualifying Round

During this round, competitors will play NES Tetris A-Type and try to get the highest score possible. The qualifying round will run for 60 minutes. The qualifying round will determine the seeding of the tournament.

A designated group of NES machines will be used for the Qualifying Round. Players will be required to register prior to the event at the listed registration site of the organizer’s choosing. Walk ups will be accepted the day of the qualifying at the discretion of the organizer.
Qualifying format will be determined in advance and should be reviewed by competitors prior to attending. Format rules will be posted on the events page of each regional.
Each player is allowed to play a single game, starting on level 9 or higher.

When the player’s game is over, they can choose to submit their score to a tournament official or leave the score unrecorded. If they wish to submit their score, they should raise their hand to get the attention of a tournament official. The tournament official will then record their name and score. If the player wants to play another game, they must return to the back of the line.

If two or more players have identical scores, then the players’ 2nd-highest scores (and 3rd-highest, 4th highest, and so on as necessary) will be used to determine their positions on the leaderboard. Only officially submitted scores will be considered for tie-breaking purposes.
Players must officially submit, at the time the score is achieved, any score that they want to be considered in the calculation of the official leaderboard ranking.

Tournament

The remaining rounds consist of two player NES Tetris A-Type matches. Before the first game of each match, players will be given 1-2 minutes of “warm up” time. After the warm up time, the player with the higher seed will choose the starting level. The standard available starting level options for CTWC events are typically level 18 for Gold bracket matches, level 15 and 18 for Silver bracket matches.

After the first game, players take turns choosing the starting level (Silver tournament only). When the players are ready, a tournament official will issue a 3-2-1 countdown, at which point the players will simultaneously begin their game by pressing start on their controller. Game play will continue until one of the following scenarios occurs:

1) both players have topped out
2) one player has topped out and the other player has a higher score

In either scenario, the player with the highest score wins the game.

*Some Regional tournaments may allow players to start on levels as low as 9, depending on the anticipated skill level of the competitors and time available. Tournament officials will make this known at the tournament venue in advance.

Round 0 & 1 Matches
These matches are best-of-3. The first player to win 2 games will advance to the next round.

Semi-Final (Top 4) and Final Round Matches
The semi-final and final match are best-of-5. The first player to win 3 games wins the match and tournament.

Equipment and Controllers