Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters

A simple task: arranging seven different shaped blocks ("Tetrominos") to form and clear horizontal bars, at an ever more frantic pace. This, in essence, is the classic computer game Tetris. Like Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers, almost everyone has played it at one time or another. But most of us can only dream of the world record scores that the real top players achieve. The highest score of all time for the most bars - 296 - was set by Ben Mullen, while Harry Hong shares the world record for points with a very select group of elite players, as the Tetris score counter stops at 999,999. One feat above all speaks to the imagination: Thor Aackerlund is said to be the only player to have ever reached the feared level 30, past the "kill zone" in which the shapes fall almost too quickly for the human eye to follow. The legend of his great achievement, the doubts surrounding it, and his purported ability to vibrate his thumbs casts a large shadow over the proceedings as we follow these computer heroes in their preparations for the Tetris World Championship in 2010. They explain their highly diverse game plans, wistfully reminisce about their playing careers (which have often spanned decades), and freely admit that after intensive Tetris sessions, they sometimes even dream of the falling, rotating shapes. The key question is if Thor will turn up to demonstrate his almost superhuman performance.