Always love to read about Tetris! One of my favorite projects ever was over a decade ago working on the website and server-side functionality for the networked multiplayer OS X Tetris clone Quinn[0].
Some variations include T-spin and allow T-shapes to rotate in place and allow clearing 3 rows simultaneously, which in my humble opinion, make the game a bit more fun.
Not "some variation", but "THE variation", SRS Tetris. (Super-rotation system).
Tetris is owned by the Tetris Corporation, and SRS Tetris is their standards applied to the game. The fact that SRS Tetris is missing from this entire page is... a BIG red-flag to me.
SRS Tetris is the style used in official Tetris Games sponsored by the Tetris Company: Tetris Friends, Tetris Ultimate, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and "The Tetris Effect".
I’ve been playing quite a bit of Mizuguchi’s new The Tetris Effect recently. There was an interesting YouTube video recently where they tried it with a Tetris master who did noticeably better in VR than on a screen. In the end the best guess was that the increased FPS and lowered response times were really helping.
the original 3d tetris was "blockout" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockout], which i spent way too much time playing back in high school. surprised it didn't get a mention.
I came here to mention Welltris too, which I was surprised wasn't mentioned in the 3D section as it was an official Tetris sequel by the original developer. There are lots of screenshots of it on different platforms (mostly 8-bit) here:
Nowadays, usually tetris random is actually done by "randomly shuffle the bag of 7 pieces, then deal them out", which isn't the same as randomly selecting a piece.
With that, and the hold functionality (also not around in this article, or at least not discussed) you can play indefinitely without any random chance, modulo reaction time.
Man, has any game been implemented more times than Tetris? It was always one of those things I wanted to do and finally got around to hacking together a javascript version of it a few years ago:
> The best-known and best-loved video game ... is not a Skinner box of rewards for players but a bleak encounter with futility ... Tetris ends with certain death. It is a jigsaw puzzle that must be assembled on deadline, yet never can be ... The enemy in Tetris is not some identifiable villain ... but a faceless, ceaseless, reasonless force that threatens constantly to overwhelm you, a churning production of blocks against which your only defense is a repetitive, meaningless sorting. It is bureaucracy in pure form, busywork with no aim or end, impossible to avoid or escape. And the game’s final insult is that it annihilates free will. Despite its obvious futility, somehow we can’t make ourselves stop rotating blocks. Tetris, like all the stupid games it spawned, forces us to choose to punish ourselves.
I'd guess Chess, crosses and naughts, or connect four. Since it's fairly easy to program those in a university course, probably they have been done countless times.
I would say "guess the number between 1 and 100" which is featured in a good number of tutorial and can be implement in less than ten lines in most languages
> Man, has any game been implemented more times than Tetris?
Yes, because it's a relatively complex game. My bet's on something much simpler like Rock–paper–scissors which has over 60 implementations just on Rosetta Code: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors
The "Number reversal game" has more implementations, but that's probably less unambiguously a game and more a special-case of of a programming problem: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Number_reversal_game
In response to the quote, which is indeed quite funny, I’ve found my favorite and most difficult Tetris variations often do offer an ending, sometimes requiring extreme lengths to complete however: https://youtu.be/6YOR-nAnj4I
- You need to add a bit more delay initially on holding left/right before moving a second time. It's too often that I held down the key just a bit too long and it moved over two spaces when I only wanted it to move once, screwing me over. And it doesn't feel like my fault because that's not how most implementations behave.
- The spin logic while touching the stack feels wrong. There's really not enough wiggle room there IMO.
- When holding soft drop, as soon as it touches the stack, it locks. It should have some delay before locking unless hard drop is hit to be able to move a piece over. Too often I just hold it down to get a piece to shift it into a corner and it locks on me before I can move it.
- Get rid of that alert at page load please. Especially if you require F5 to play a new round.
> $(document).ready(function(){ if('ontouchstart' in document.documentElement) alert("..."); });
This worked in 2012 I swear! Oh the shame now however :'(
Thank you! The timing of EVERYTHING was by far the hardest part, as evidenced by your comments, there's something intrinsically familiar about the Tetris (or Breakout or Galaga or etc...) version you are used to. I modeled this one to be closest to the first I played, the 80s GameBoy version.
That said- I've noticed these myself in some form or another. 2 & 3 are related- I need to delay more as the block sits atop a collision. 1 I thought was off but just couldn't justify the time to prove it.
The GameBoy one was basically all I played as a kid. So much fun. But I'm also kinda spoiled by having played Tetris Effect these past few weeks on PSVR, which has all the modern rules and features.
Coincidentally, I happen to be reading a book on technology addiction and just finished a chapter on Tetris [1].
As soon as I opened this link I started to whistle the music from Tetris (GameBoy of course). When I spotted Steve Wozniak I remember seeing a video of him playing Tetris obsessively on a GameBoy Light (or maybe a Color). I instinctively went to eBay.
Tetris really is the crack cocaine of video games!
It's well worth watching John Linneman from Digital Foundry's retrospective on Tetris. Goes through from the very old to the newest Tetris Effect game.
This blogpost is a huge undertaking, but it is incomplete without a discussion of official "Tetris Company" Guidelines, the Bag system, and the SRS Rotation System.
For details on the official Tetris specifications, see fan wikis such as:
The official Guidelines set consistent colors on the pieces, various mechanics and details about where and how pieces rotate, as well as "bonus points" for TSpins, TSpin Mini, Neo TSpins, B2B rules, and more.
Not all Tetris games follow the guidelines (Tetris Grand Master is the most popular non-guideline game). But the vast majority of official Tetris games follow the guidelines.
Not exactly "incomplete." The core of the article was written before the guideline was formally made and enforced on licencees. This is why the author went to such lengths in designing and documenting a standardized version. In fact, it's funny you should mention it since The Tetris Company actually reached out to this article's author for help in designing the guideline (unfortunately it didn't pan out).
I'm not sure if the dates line up with your story.
Tetris Guidelines started with Tetris Worlds (2001). While the parent article makes numerous references to 2003 or later (the code says 2007, some various Perl bits are 2005, etc. etc.)
Fortunately, the article is never wrong per se. It is clearly written that "Standard Tetris" is the name that the article gives to the IBM PC version of Tetris (1986). Its just odd to me that it has references to all sorts of 2003, 2005, and 2007 stuff without mentioning SRS or Guidelines.
You're right that Tetris Worlds came out in 2001, and was the first instance of the guideline we know today. I was referring to the bit in article here:
> Later in 2003, I received a message from Henk Rogers, inviting me to Hawaii to meet him and Alexey Pajitnov to talk about establishing some sort of standard for Tetris, for the purposes of having Tetris tournaments.
What's fair to say, though, is that although there's technically overlap on the timeline, he would've most certainly been more familiar with the myriad of Tetris games that predated the guideline. Tetris Worlds came out two years before his article, and at that point, nobody really even knew there was a guideline.
Has anyone else ever played "New Tetris" for N64 [0]? The major gameplay difference was that you could make large 4x4 squares made up of four pieces - gold if the 4x4 was made of all the same piece, silver if it was heterogeneous. Then you'd get 4 extra points for clearing a line that crossed a silver 4x4 and 10 extra points for a gold one (IIRC). And then there were bonuses if you managed to clear 4 lines containing one (or two!) complete 4x4.
That plus competitive multiplayer meant you were incentivized to stack things uncomfortably high while you waited for the right pieces to complete your gold 4x4's, and THEN clear lines containing the 4x4's.
59 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 121 ms ] thread[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20110805131134/http://www.simonh...
For documentary fans, this follows some of the best Tetris players in the world: http://watch.ecstasyoforder.com/
Interesting to see how they play and practice, the terminology ("drought"), etc.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect
which is actualy open sourced at: http://www.dnosp.com
[1] https://www.nand2tetris.org/
It is also playable on IPv6 traceroute, though controls are inconvenient: https://milek7.pl/tracehack/
Some variations include T-spin and allow T-shapes to rotate in place and allow clearing 3 rows simultaneously, which in my humble opinion, make the game a bit more fun.
Tetris is owned by the Tetris Corporation, and SRS Tetris is their standards applied to the game. The fact that SRS Tetris is missing from this entire page is... a BIG red-flag to me.
SRS Tetris is the style used in official Tetris Games sponsored by the Tetris Company: Tetris Friends, Tetris Ultimate, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and "The Tetris Effect".
And a Pt 2 followup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_fp5L8Si8
Very entertaining and well worth watching even if you're not a Tetris superfan.
Blockout: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockout
Welltris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welltris
https://www.mobygames.com/game/welltris/screenshots
With that, and the hold functionality (also not around in this article, or at least not discussed) you can play indefinitely without any random chance, modulo reaction time.
http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Playing_forever
http://cortexture.net/tetris/
I would love to add multiplayer to in someday...
Also, if you haven't read the Kotaku review of "Tetris" (the game in general, not any specific release/platform), it is not only profound but hilarious: https://kotaku.com/tetris-the-kotaku-review-1718328217
> The best-known and best-loved video game ... is not a Skinner box of rewards for players but a bleak encounter with futility ... Tetris ends with certain death. It is a jigsaw puzzle that must be assembled on deadline, yet never can be ... The enemy in Tetris is not some identifiable villain ... but a faceless, ceaseless, reasonless force that threatens constantly to overwhelm you, a churning production of blocks against which your only defense is a repetitive, meaningless sorting. It is bureaucracy in pure form, busywork with no aim or end, impossible to avoid or escape. And the game’s final insult is that it annihilates free will. Despite its obvious futility, somehow we can’t make ourselves stop rotating blocks. Tetris, like all the stupid games it spawned, forces us to choose to punish ourselves.
Yes, because it's a relatively complex game. My bet's on something much simpler like Rock–paper–scissors which has over 60 implementations just on Rosetta Code: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors
The "Number reversal game" has more implementations, but that's probably less unambiguously a game and more a special-case of of a programming problem: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Number_reversal_game
Just some feedback:
- You need to add a bit more delay initially on holding left/right before moving a second time. It's too often that I held down the key just a bit too long and it moved over two spaces when I only wanted it to move once, screwing me over. And it doesn't feel like my fault because that's not how most implementations behave.
- The spin logic while touching the stack feels wrong. There's really not enough wiggle room there IMO.
- When holding soft drop, as soon as it touches the stack, it locks. It should have some delay before locking unless hard drop is hit to be able to move a piece over. Too often I just hold it down to get a piece to shift it into a corner and it locks on me before I can move it.
- Get rid of that alert at page load please. Especially if you require F5 to play a new round.
This worked in 2012 I swear! Oh the shame now however :'(
Thank you! The timing of EVERYTHING was by far the hardest part, as evidenced by your comments, there's something intrinsically familiar about the Tetris (or Breakout or Galaga or etc...) version you are used to. I modeled this one to be closest to the first I played, the 80s GameBoy version.
That said- I've noticed these myself in some form or another. 2 & 3 are related- I need to delay more as the block sits atop a collision. 1 I thought was off but just couldn't justify the time to prove it.
Thanks for the feedback!
Chess implemented much more times than Tetris!
The source code is at https://github.com/gunn/tetris/
And you can try playing it at http://wolandbros.com/tetris/
As soon as I opened this link I started to whistle the music from Tetris (GameBoy of course). When I spotted Steve Wozniak I remember seeing a video of him playing Tetris obsessively on a GameBoy Light (or maybe a Color). I instinctively went to eBay.
Tetris really is the crack cocaine of video games!
[1] http://adamalterauthor.com/irresistible/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUeaanfiXmo
I found an implementation on kongregate, but it requires flash: https://www.kongregate.com/games/banthar/hell-tetris
For details on the official Tetris specifications, see fan wikis such as:
* http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Tetris_Guideline * https://harddrop.com/wiki/Tetris_Guideline
The official Guidelines set consistent colors on the pieces, various mechanics and details about where and how pieces rotate, as well as "bonus points" for TSpins, TSpin Mini, Neo TSpins, B2B rules, and more.
Not all Tetris games follow the guidelines (Tetris Grand Master is the most popular non-guideline game). But the vast majority of official Tetris games follow the guidelines.
Tetris Guidelines started with Tetris Worlds (2001). While the parent article makes numerous references to 2003 or later (the code says 2007, some various Perl bits are 2005, etc. etc.)
Fortunately, the article is never wrong per se. It is clearly written that "Standard Tetris" is the name that the article gives to the IBM PC version of Tetris (1986). Its just odd to me that it has references to all sorts of 2003, 2005, and 2007 stuff without mentioning SRS or Guidelines.
> Later in 2003, I received a message from Henk Rogers, inviting me to Hawaii to meet him and Alexey Pajitnov to talk about establishing some sort of standard for Tetris, for the purposes of having Tetris tournaments.
What's fair to say, though, is that although there's technically overlap on the timeline, he would've most certainly been more familiar with the myriad of Tetris games that predated the guideline. Tetris Worlds came out two years before his article, and at that point, nobody really even knew there was a guideline.
That plus competitive multiplayer meant you were incentivized to stack things uncomfortably high while you waited for the right pieces to complete your gold 4x4's, and THEN clear lines containing the 4x4's.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Tetris
https://seekingharmoni.com/your-life-as-a-tetris-game/