7-time 'Tetris' world champ Jonas Neubauer passes away

Jonas Neubauer, which Vice once called the “greatest Tetris player in the world,” has passed away. His camp has announced his passing from a “sudden medical emergency” on January 4th through his Twitter account, promising more details when they become available. Neubauer helped popularize Tetris as an esport and won the Classic Tetris World Championship seven times, including its inaugural year back in 2010. He also placed second twice in the 10 years since the tournament was launched.

The official Tetris account called him “ one of the greatest classic Tetris players of all time in skill, spirit and kindness.”

In his interview with Vice, Neubauer compared his playing style to a jazz pianist in that it could be pretty chaotic and that he always improvised instead of sticking to a plan. Aside from participating in the Classic Tetris World Championship, Neubauer has also been streaming on Twitch under the handle NubbinsGoody in the past few years. While he obviously streamed a lot of Tetris games, he also did videos featuring other games like Last of Us 2 and even Dungeons and Dragons.

The Classic Tetris World Championship’s website has posted a statement remembering Neubauer as a person and as a legend in the community. It includes a clip of his last match at the 2020 tournament, wherein he played against Jacob "Huffulufugus" Huff.