25 Years of Enhancing Spatial Reasoning
June 6, 2009 12:40 AM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble
You may or may not be surprised to learn that there is a Tetris Wiki with all sorts of information about Tetris and its descendants and instantiations. Not to be missed is the glossary page which indicates that there are some seriously obsessive Tetris fans out there.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:47 AM on June 6, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:47 AM on June 6, 2009 [3 favorites]
I was wondering what was with that Tetris-y Google logo today. 25 years, wow.
I'm so old.
posted by rokusan at 12:47 AM on June 6, 2009
I'm so old.
posted by rokusan at 12:47 AM on June 6, 2009
Oh, and the Tetris Effect is your weird psychological symptom of the day.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:50 AM on June 6, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:50 AM on June 6, 2009 [2 favorites]
Your linked game is one big commercial, here is a better more classic version.
posted by jeffburdges at 1:04 AM on June 6, 2009
posted by jeffburdges at 1:04 AM on June 6, 2009
One of my favorite mugs has one side that says "Super Tetris" on the other side it says, "get back to work."
posted by vespabelle at 1:11 AM on June 6, 2009
posted by vespabelle at 1:11 AM on June 6, 2009
25 years of Tetris.
And still no straight piece at the right time.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 1:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
And still no straight piece at the right time.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 1:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
yeah, if I'm teleported back to say 1975 through 1983 the first thing I'm inventing is Tetris.
1984 ~ 1992, MtG of course.
posted by @troy at 2:20 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
1984 ~ 1992, MtG of course.
posted by @troy at 2:20 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
I think Tetris has a strong claim to the title of Greatest Game Ever, and it's helped by our innate comfort and familiarity with gravity. Turn Tetris upside-down and you're forced into visualising the pieces floating up in water or as balloons. Turn it on its side and it becomes slightly awkward and frustrating, even though it's exactly the same game.
posted by malevolent at 2:36 AM on June 6, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by malevolent at 2:36 AM on June 6, 2009 [4 favorites]
I flunked out of engineering school twenty years ago this month because of tetris. Tetris and beer.
posted by bendy at 2:55 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by bendy at 2:55 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
I love Tetris. The Java port on my phone has seen more use than actually phoning people has. Here's some of my favourite variants:
Bastard Tetris - gives you the least useful shape for your current situation.
Tetoris - I dare you to complete a single line.
posted by permafrost at 3:17 AM on June 6, 2009
Bastard Tetris - gives you the least useful shape for your current situation.
Tetoris - I dare you to complete a single line.
posted by permafrost at 3:17 AM on June 6, 2009
Fun fact: I went to look at the Google logo, and got something distinctly non-tetrissy.
Here in Russia, Google is celebrating Pushkin's birthday instead!
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 3:19 AM on June 6, 2009
Here in Russia, Google is celebrating Pushkin's birthday instead!
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 3:19 AM on June 6, 2009
I play tetris nearly every day... got in the habit of firing it up whenever I watch a youtube video, esp any that are not that visually interesting.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:52 AM on June 6, 2009
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:52 AM on June 6, 2009
I met Alexey several years ago at a Microsoft Christmas party. The gal I was involved with at the time worked in the games group with him, and played tennis with him occasionally. She told me that he was fond of geometry in general, not just tiling the plane with combinations of squares.
Surely he had considered a 3-D version of his game at some point, though it dawned on my that he might not be familiar with some of the more esoteric space filling solids, such as the gyrobifastigium. So I built a small model to give him as a gift. Much to my relief, he was unfamiliar with the gyrobifastigium, and thanked me for the gift. He gave me his business card.
So I sent him an e-mail asking whether he thought a 3-D version of Tetris was workable, using the gyrobifastigium or another space-filling solid as a game piece. Deep down, I figured out for myself that this was unlikely, as each piece would have to be exactly the same, though there are combinations of solids that will fill space with no gaps.
Alexey was kind enough to respond. He appreciated my gift, and considered the notion of using it as a game-piece in a 3-D Tetris type game, but added that "only egg-heads like you and me would play it", which I took as something of a compliment...
posted by Tube at 4:36 AM on June 6, 2009 [10 favorites]
Surely he had considered a 3-D version of his game at some point, though it dawned on my that he might not be familiar with some of the more esoteric space filling solids, such as the gyrobifastigium. So I built a small model to give him as a gift. Much to my relief, he was unfamiliar with the gyrobifastigium, and thanked me for the gift. He gave me his business card.
So I sent him an e-mail asking whether he thought a 3-D version of Tetris was workable, using the gyrobifastigium or another space-filling solid as a game piece. Deep down, I figured out for myself that this was unlikely, as each piece would have to be exactly the same, though there are combinations of solids that will fill space with no gaps.
Alexey was kind enough to respond. He appreciated my gift, and considered the notion of using it as a game-piece in a 3-D Tetris type game, but added that "only egg-heads like you and me would play it", which I took as something of a compliment...
posted by Tube at 4:36 AM on June 6, 2009 [10 favorites]
> Oh that's what that was.
as a kid I had a bad case of the flu. I spent all day playing tetris and drinking OJ. At night while trying to sleep, my fever spiked and I had horrible tetris hallucinations - pieces falling out of the ceiling and landing on my bed, which I would then kick off to keep from being buried. I still love tetris.
posted by device55 at 8:13 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
as a kid I had a bad case of the flu. I spent all day playing tetris and drinking OJ. At night while trying to sleep, my fever spiked and I had horrible tetris hallucinations - pieces falling out of the ceiling and landing on my bed, which I would then kick off to keep from being buried. I still love tetris.
posted by device55 at 8:13 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Tetris revolutionarized the storytelling in games.
posted by Free word order! at 8:46 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Free word order! at 8:46 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
My first-year roommate and I referred to the straight pieces as Tall Cool Ones, after the cheeseball Robert Plant song of the same name. The name was supposed to be kind of a goof, but by like 3am the dorm room would be lit only by the cathode glow of a monitor and one or the other of us muttering "Just give me one fucking Tall Cool One" under our breath with psychopathic intensity.
I blame my rather weak mark in ECON110 on Tetris, but in retrospect the real-world relevance of Tetris is probably greater than introductory economics anyway. I mean, you can either assume on the first day that consumers act rationally and stay on that path, or you can learn how to line up tumbling bricks like a digital-age Sisyphus and turn to a life or recreational drug use. I stand by my choice.
posted by gompa at 9:19 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
I blame my rather weak mark in ECON110 on Tetris, but in retrospect the real-world relevance of Tetris is probably greater than introductory economics anyway. I mean, you can either assume on the first day that consumers act rationally and stay on that path, or you can learn how to line up tumbling bricks like a digital-age Sisyphus and turn to a life or recreational drug use. I stand by my choice.
posted by gompa at 9:19 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
I had a great, b&w version of Tetris for Classic Mac. For some reason, I've barely been able to enjoy any other version.
posted by brundlefly at 9:48 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by brundlefly at 9:48 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Tube:
The Truncated Octahedron is my favorite space-filling solid. So pure.
posted by @troy at 9:53 AM on June 6, 2009
The Truncated Octahedron is my favorite space-filling solid. So pure.
posted by @troy at 9:53 AM on June 6, 2009
I've had two computer/video game addictions in my life. The first was in Japan, when, in after the first three sets of seven in a jazz club in Nagoya, I would go down to a shop where you could drink coffee and play tabletop games. Galaga.
Then, back in the USA, the small B & W Classic Mac version with a crude drawing of the Kremlin on the start page. Wasted hours of "work" on that thing. When it finally disappeared with all the upgrades, I stopped playing any kind of game at all for years, what with the more intellectual material all over the net.
Until just now. Spent a half an hour playing Tetris again. I think it reminds me of all the warehouse jobs I used to have when trying to make it as a musician. I liked those jobs. Mindless, except for the challenge of stacking boxes in the most space-efficient manner. Time to bullshit around after the empty truck was swept out...
Tetris is like Proust's madeleine for me.
posted by kozad at 10:19 AM on June 6, 2009
Then, back in the USA, the small B & W Classic Mac version with a crude drawing of the Kremlin on the start page. Wasted hours of "work" on that thing. When it finally disappeared with all the upgrades, I stopped playing any kind of game at all for years, what with the more intellectual material all over the net.
Until just now. Spent a half an hour playing Tetris again. I think it reminds me of all the warehouse jobs I used to have when trying to make it as a musician. I liked those jobs. Mindless, except for the challenge of stacking boxes in the most space-efficient manner. Time to bullshit around after the empty truck was swept out...
Tetris is like Proust's madeleine for me.
posted by kozad at 10:19 AM on June 6, 2009
At The Asylum, curing the little hippo of his trauma involves lots of Tetris.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:13 AM on June 6, 2009
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:13 AM on June 6, 2009
I was wondering what was with that Tetris-y Google logo today. 25 years, wow.
It may have something to do with one of the inventors of Tetris working at Google in Sydney. On the Google Wave team, in fact.
posted by acb at 11:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
It may have something to do with one of the inventors of Tetris working at Google in Sydney. On the Google Wave team, in fact.
posted by acb at 11:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Tetris was the game that had my mother playing my Game Boy more than I did.
posted by dirigibleman at 11:35 AM on June 6, 2009
posted by dirigibleman at 11:35 AM on June 6, 2009
What, no love for the rhombic dodecahedron? That's some sweet space-filling right there.
Deep down, I figured out for myself that this was unlikely, as each piece would have to be exactly the same, though there are combinations of solids that will fill space with no gaps.
I might be misunderstanding you, but normal Tetris is played using tetrominoes made up of a single shape- the square. What would be wrong with using different polyominoes made up of the space-filling polyhedron of your choice?
A key issue that I think would have to be resolved is "when do eliminations occur?" If you use cubes as the basis for your polyominoes, then you can eliminate complete horizontal planar layers (really, rectangular prisms) in direct analogy to the elimination of complete horizontal-line-layers (really, rectangles) in normal Tetris (which is what this game does). But what gets eliminated if you were using a different polyhedron as the basis for your polyominoes?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:56 PM on June 6, 2009
Deep down, I figured out for myself that this was unlikely, as each piece would have to be exactly the same, though there are combinations of solids that will fill space with no gaps.
I might be misunderstanding you, but normal Tetris is played using tetrominoes made up of a single shape- the square. What would be wrong with using different polyominoes made up of the space-filling polyhedron of your choice?
A key issue that I think would have to be resolved is "when do eliminations occur?" If you use cubes as the basis for your polyominoes, then you can eliminate complete horizontal planar layers (really, rectangular prisms) in direct analogy to the elimination of complete horizontal-line-layers (really, rectangles) in normal Tetris (which is what this game does). But what gets eliminated if you were using a different polyhedron as the basis for your polyominoes?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:56 PM on June 6, 2009
"I'VE BEEN EATEN ALIVE.
VLADIMIR.
JUST REMEMBER THAT I AM EXIST
THE DAVIL."
Whenever anyone mentions Tetris this is what pops into my head. As mentioned in the rotton.com history in OverlappingElvis's link and slightly less sensationally here, Pajitnov left a parting message after killing his wife and their 12-year-old son and then committing suicide.
posted by zenon at 2:01 PM on June 6, 2009
VLADIMIR.
JUST REMEMBER THAT I AM EXIST
THE DAVIL."
Whenever anyone mentions Tetris this is what pops into my head. As mentioned in the rotton.com history in OverlappingElvis's link and slightly less sensationally here, Pajitnov left a parting message after killing his wife and their 12-year-old son and then committing suicide.
posted by zenon at 2:01 PM on June 6, 2009
My favorite Tetris - I know I've posted it before, but it's all part of my plan to get the entire world addicted to it.
posted by naoko at 3:17 PM on June 6, 2009
posted by naoko at 3:17 PM on June 6, 2009
I first played Tetris in a coin-op arcade, but I didn't acquire a real Tetris addiction until I saved up one summer to buy my first Game Boy. I believe this was 1989 or 1990.
Thankfully Tetris is one of those rare games that it's actually better without having to drop quarters on it. There are hundreds or thousands of coin-op games that rely so heavily on the emotional investment of having money on the line be the main motivator for play. Look at Gauntlet for an easy example. That game is pointless in an emulator, as you can drop as many quarters as you like on all the characters and just waltz through the levels like a bulldozer. Many other "classic" games are the same way, and quickly lose their reply value.
Not Tetris. Few can truly master it as is and when you do there are endless variants to try out and play, or go for 3d Tetris or "well"-tris variants.
So... I still remember the day I bought that Game Boy. In retrospect the thing feels and looks as outdated as a Betamax tape and is roughly the same size. It's gigantic. It's a strange purple-grey color with totally 80s colored teal and magenta pinstripes. But back then it was some high tech mobile shit. Greyscale screen, stereo sound with headphone output. I walked in to a (big chain famous toy mega toy store) and walked out and opened it right there on the sidewalk, sat down, put in Tetris and started playing.
And killed the batteries. I walked back in to the store and bought more batteries, sat down and killed those batteries, too. I would have walked back in to buy more batteries but they were closed by then, and I hadn't really noticed yet that the sun had set a while ago, so I walked home watching bricks fall from the sky filling up the gaps between houses and buildings, stopping halfway home to buy more batteries.
To date the original Game Boy version is probably my favorite. This version is listed on the main Tetris site as 1989 or Mono. But it loses a lot in translation when not played directly on a Game Boy. It's like the console was made for Tetris with twitchy controls and buttons and pure simplicity, and the head-to-head option with a link cable was brilliant stuff. Not being able to see your opponents screen but having to be right next to each other with the cable made it a pretty visceral experience.
And I had more I wanted to say about all this but I just had a small quake here, so I forgot what I was going to say.
posted by loquacious at 3:43 PM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Thankfully Tetris is one of those rare games that it's actually better without having to drop quarters on it. There are hundreds or thousands of coin-op games that rely so heavily on the emotional investment of having money on the line be the main motivator for play. Look at Gauntlet for an easy example. That game is pointless in an emulator, as you can drop as many quarters as you like on all the characters and just waltz through the levels like a bulldozer. Many other "classic" games are the same way, and quickly lose their reply value.
Not Tetris. Few can truly master it as is and when you do there are endless variants to try out and play, or go for 3d Tetris or "well"-tris variants.
So... I still remember the day I bought that Game Boy. In retrospect the thing feels and looks as outdated as a Betamax tape and is roughly the same size. It's gigantic. It's a strange purple-grey color with totally 80s colored teal and magenta pinstripes. But back then it was some high tech mobile shit. Greyscale screen, stereo sound with headphone output. I walked in to a (big chain famous toy mega toy store) and walked out and opened it right there on the sidewalk, sat down, put in Tetris and started playing.
And killed the batteries. I walked back in to the store and bought more batteries, sat down and killed those batteries, too. I would have walked back in to buy more batteries but they were closed by then, and I hadn't really noticed yet that the sun had set a while ago, so I walked home watching bricks fall from the sky filling up the gaps between houses and buildings, stopping halfway home to buy more batteries.
To date the original Game Boy version is probably my favorite. This version is listed on the main Tetris site as 1989 or Mono. But it loses a lot in translation when not played directly on a Game Boy. It's like the console was made for Tetris with twitchy controls and buttons and pure simplicity, and the head-to-head option with a link cable was brilliant stuff. Not being able to see your opponents screen but having to be right next to each other with the cable made it a pretty visceral experience.
And I had more I wanted to say about all this but I just had a small quake here, so I forgot what I was going to say.
posted by loquacious at 3:43 PM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Uh, zenon, that's Vladimir Pokhilko, not Alexy Pajitnov. Pajitnov is alive and well.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:56 PM on June 6, 2009
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:56 PM on June 6, 2009
I remember when the first version went public and sailed across the BBS's throughout the country (complete with a charming message from Alexey). Amazing speed, considering we were on slow baud Hayses and not particularly well-connected with each other quite yet.
posted by RavinDave at 12:02 AM on June 7, 2009
posted by RavinDave at 12:02 AM on June 7, 2009
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If we ever meet up with an alien civilization, I'm betting they won't have Tetris, which will work to our advantage:
"We have come to share the secrets of fusion, interstellar tachyon drives, and matter transfer. What do you have to offer us?"
"Um, ultimate Frisbee, microwave popcorn, and, um, Tetris."
"Hmm. Tell us of this 'Tetris.'"
"Here, give it a try."
Six months later everyone on their planet will be staying up till four in the morning mumbling "All I need is a straight one. Just one." and we'll have infested the cosmos like fire ants.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 12:46 AM on June 6, 2009 [12 favorites]