The Legacy Of A Tetris Champion
(Note: This story is written by Adam Cornelius, director of Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters and co-organizer of The Classic Tetris World Championship)
“I’m a company man.”
That’s a Jonas quote that has always stuck with me. It’s one of those things someone says that strikes a chord with you and replays in your head, but you’re not entirely sure why. Now, in the wake of his passing, I think I understand.
Sometime in 2012, Classic Tetris World Championship organizer Vince Clemente helped coordinate a live stream exhibition with a gaming media company called Machinima. The event streamed from the Machinima studio in Los Angles and featured Jonas as well as some other star players from Ecstasy of Order. The film had just become widely available, and we were starting to get a sense of how much interest Classic Tetris could generate.
Watching the stream from Portland, I was happy to see Jonas had shown up wearing an Ecstasy of Order T-Shirt. The movie was still new and we were all hyped about it. When someone complimented Jonas on the shirt, he simply stated, “I’m a company man.”
The comment was tinged with his sly, multi-layered sense of humor. For starters, at that time there wasn’t much of a company, as in business entity, to speak of. It was also a fun nod to a somewhat bygone era, and carried the self-knowledge that any attempt he made to blend in would never really work. In one sense, Jonas was the opposite of a company man: a model of individualism and an entrepreneur who could easily switch careers and cut a path of excellence for himself wherever and however he chose.
But in a more general way, those four words summarize so much about him. He lived for the group, for the long game, and, in the case of the Classic Tetris World Championship, for the grand vision of the project we all shared.
Even watching the stream from afar, those four simple words filled me with a sense of support, gave me confidence in what we were doing, and made me feel like I was really a part of something. If Jonas was in your company, you knew everything was going to work out. You knew you were headed somewhere amazing, and that the project at hand would be 100% worth doing. He gave us courage and resolve, and he made it fun.
This is why his loss to Joseph Saelee in 2018 was his greatest moment. When he turned and cheered as Joseph overtook his score and claimed the title, it demonstrated his authentic desire to serve the group and the larger project of Classic Tetris. For years, he had studied and trained to be nearly unbeatable — not to edify himself, but to ensure that when someone finally came along who could decisively beat him, it would really mean something. He did it all out of the ultimate respect he had for the sport and community we were all working to create. He was being a company man.
Like many of us, I have spent too much time in my life feeling alone, even when I am surrounded by friends. It is an unfortunate glitch in my psyche. But the amazing thing is that, whether it was an all-too brief hangout during the CTWC, or a quick check-in on his Twitch channel, Jonas always had a unique power to immediately override that feeling and lift me up. It’s the one thing he was as good at as he was at Tetris — making people feel like they weren’t alone. This is why you see such an overwhelming outpouring of grief these past few days. He shared that gift as much and as widely as he could, and we will always love him for that.
Jonas spent the last ten years of his life striving to lift up the Classic Tetris community and share it with the world. Now, the rest of us — players, commentators, organizers, and fans — have a chance to return the favor by continuing the Classic Tetris project in the same spirit of kindness, adventure, integrity, and exuberance that he did. By following his example and carrying on with our tournaments far into the future, we can ensure that his legacy will never be forgotten.