The Tetris Theorem

THE TETRIS THEOREM

Introduction "I remember very well when the falling shapes appeared for the first time on my screen. I had no score...no [block] acceleration, but I couldn't go and finish these parts of the [game] because I just sat and played with my half-working program." - Alexey Pajitnov

Who ever would have thought a simple game composed of seven falling shapes could have such an effect upon the world? The first time I was introduced to Tetris many years ago, it never would have occurred to me. In fact, it was only a couple summers ago when daytime boredom led me to play this game religiously. It took a while, but after watching shapes fall for hours I came to realize I was no longer just playing a game; I was witnessing an actual manifestation of my personality and an elaborate metaphor of life. Have I caught your attention yet? Read on...

This all began when I was listening to Tool's song "Schism," which contains the line "I know the pieces fit cause I watched them fall away." I must have been playing Tetris at the time because it got me thinking about how similar the game was to life. I voiced my thoughts to some of my Tetris-loving friends and they agreed with me. It's taken me this long to get all the information compiled, but I'm finally ready to present my case to the world and I hope it'll inspire your own opinions.

Anyway, what better place to start in a theorem like this than from the beginning? Let's take a trip back to the 80's, make sure the radio is turned off, and learn a bit about the history of this brilliant game.

Brief History The year was 1985 and a young student at the Moscow Academy of Science by the name of Alexey Pajitnov was unknowingly about to start a revolution. Inspired by a tetramino block game he had been playing, he began formulating ideas for a computerized puzzle game involving the arrangement of falling shapes. Working with two of his acquaintances, he soon began developing it on his Russian Electronika-60. He called the game "Tetris" and worked on perfecting it for nearly a year.

Alexey Pajitnov, my hero.

Since the three were working in a Communist nation, they were unable to gain any rights to Tetris or the other games they programmed. Although they couldn't sell it, they distributed it to their friends. The game was met with an overwhelmingly positive response and over the course of the next year, it spread rapidly and eventually expanded outside of the country. This was when other companies began taking notice of it.

In July of 1986, a British software developer named Robert Stein (who, among Tetris players, is generally considered the bad guy) encountered the game. He soon began investigating possibilities for developing his own version of it. His original plan was fair enough: he wanted to contact Pajitnov directly and work out a deal to obtain the rights. Due to various scheduling conflicts, the two never met. This should have been quite a significant setback for Stein, but he didn't let it stop him. In fact, he essentially pretended he already had the rights. The story became much more complicated after this point so I'll keep it brief. Stein's company produced Tetris for a while before selling the rights, which they didn't have in the first place, to Atari and Nintendo. The two battled it out for years until Nintendo finally won the exclusive rights to the game. By this point, Pajitnov and his colleagues had almost been entirely forgotten. In fact, for the first ten years Tetris was available, they received absolutely no money for their efforts and were powerless to take action until the Soviet Union fell in 1991. It took about five more years after that point to get the ball rolling, and now Pajitnov owns the rights to the games and is finally making the money he deserves.

Parallels Okay, so you want some hardcore evidence? With the help of a fellow believer, I've compiled a list of shocking parallels between Tetris and life. More of them will be added as frequently as they are discovered.

TETRIS REAL LIFE You have no control over which blocks are Life presents you with all types of situations you presented to you, but you have the power to have no control over, but you can choose how to arrange them as you please. react to them.

You never really win, it only gets faster and faster As you age, life only becomes more of a burden. until you die. Then you die.

As more blocks fall, it becomes harder to manage If you have too much to do, it's easy to become them. overly stressed.

It's fundamentally simple and seems so easy but Life is easy when you're a kid, but once you get once you start, you begin to realize just how older it becomes much more complicated. challenging it really is.

You try so hard to get the pieces to fit and once Once you think everything is finally going your you finally do, it all falls apart. way, another problem arises.

You never know what piece will fall next. (Well, You can sometimes predict what will happen next unless you have the "Show Next Piece" option in your life, but you can rarely ever be certain. on.)

When things get too fast and crowded, all you can When you've got responsibility, everything do is try to randomly jam pieces in. becomes harder to handle and all you can do is try to organize your problems.

Even if you begin at a low speed, the game will You might intend to keep your life simple, but it'll eventually speed up and become crazy anyway. eventually become complicated.

What seems like a good course of action may It might appear as though your situation is actually end up leaving a gap in the blocks. improving, but you're just rearranging circumstances and it's still just as bad as before.

By placing one piece, you might jeopardize your Compromising rarely works for both parties. You ability to place another one. usually have to sacrifice something.

Analysis To understand the principles of the theorem, it is important for the reader to be familiar with the seven shapes and what they represent. Depending on which version of the game you play, the shapes will have different colors and textures, but will always be comprised of four blocks. The pieces depicted below are from my favorite clone, Bricklayer. If we think of the shapes in terms of letters, the "I" represents a general sense of relief. In the game, it's the shape we always seem to be waiting for because it's the only one that can remove four lines simultaneously. In a similar sense, relief is the only "shape" that can help us deal with the stresses of life that arise from the other "pieces."

The "T" is perhaps the most irritating shape to deal with because of its jagged edges and tends to embody the ideals of frustration. Unless we've already created a place for the piece to rest, it only makes the situation worse. This can be likened to life in the sense that becoming excessively frustrated won't solve anything. In fact, it could easily make the situation worse.

The "L" and its corresponding reciprocal are arbitrary factors. Depending on the present circumstances, these pieces can either help or destroy the order in your game/life. The remaining pieces are all variables. They're generally negative aspects of life characterized by a number of various inconveniences, but they can occasionally be pleasant aspects. After all, we don't only have to balance the negative parts of life.

A significant aspect of the theorem is the belief that there are essentially two types of Tetris players: passive ones and assertive ones. These types directly correspond with a player's real-life personality. As you look at this table of comparison, there are a number of additional implicit parallels to be observed; further evidence of the theorem's veracity.

PASSIVE ASSERTIVE Tends to begin games at level one with a clear Often starts at higher levels with blocks already playing field. on the field.

Concerned about the appearance of their block Doesn't care about appearances as long as the formations. blocks are low.

Feels more comfortable with the "Show Next Doesn't necessarily need the "Show Next Piece" Piece" option. option. Waits for the pieces to fall closer to the bottom Drops the piece regardless of how close it is to before dropping. the bottom.

Usually rotates each shape in a clockwise Usually rotates each shape in a counter-clockwise direction. direction.

As you can see, assertive players often prefer immediate speed and challenge while passive players usually opt for a more gradual approach. Additionally, assertive players tend to take more chances with their shape placements while passive players take more time to observe each move and its repercussions. Neither type of player is necessarily superior to the other; they just choose different methods of playing. Even though the execution is different, both methods can lead to high scores.

Strategies Lots of people suck at Tetris but don't want to admit it. The truth is, a few minor adjustments to your playing habits can greatly improve your Tetris experience. Here are what I consider the most important practices:

When playing on a computer, find the controls that are right for you. I recommend using the arrow keys, with the "up" key rotating the shape in your direction of choice, the "down" key accelerating the shape, and the "0" on the keypad dropping the shape. This allows all your fingers to be in the same area and have quick access to the necessary keys. When possible, try to lay your shapes horizontally. This will often help you prevent your blocks from building up as high.

If your current shape doesn't really fit anywhere, put it in the lowest and least jagged area of your field, then try to build around it.

Drop the pieces when possible. If you lack the hand-eye coordination, keep in mind that the width of the field is 10 spaces and count how many spaces from the sides you must move the piece so it falls correctly.

If you've left some gaps in your blocks, attempt to fill them up if there's an opening that matches your current shape.

Conclusion

Over the past 17 years, Tetris has spread to pretty much every electronic medium imaginable. It has been modified and cloned so many times it's hard to keep track. This alone is proof enough of how dynamic a game it is. It could even be made into a movie! No matter how much the surface changes, however, the concept remains the same: attempting to find a degree of order in a world ruled by chaos. Here's my advice to you: find a version you like, set your speed, and everything else will fall into place. As a special reward for making it to the end of this ridiculously extended ranting, here's a link to the very first version of Tetris (25k), provided by one of its original creators. Thanks for reading!