Not your mom’s Tetris

By Adam Stanhope in Toys, Video Clips on Sep 9, 2007 at 4:44 pm


Or, perhaps more accurately, not MY mom’s Tetris.

Back in the old days (the late 1980s), my mom loved Tetris so much that the old amber monitor on her IBM PC-XT actually had the Tetris screen burned into it (along with her accounting software’s main menu).

I’ve never seen anyone play Tetris better than my mom, until I saw this guy. Video at YouTube.


Email This Post
Tweet This Post 
Share This Post on Facebook


Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:


  1. Miss Cellania
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    All the master Tetris players I’ve seen use that “leave one column open on the side” tactic. I wonder it thats to keep the distraction of dissapearing rows down to a minimum, or is there some other reason?

  2. Retrokatze
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 5:17 pm

    You get more points if you make more lines disappear at the same time.

  3. SenorMysterioso
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 5:28 pm

    Actually leaving the open column on either side is a mistake, you should leave the fifth column in open as then you only have to turn the long piece rather than turning and moving it to break four rows

    very impressive, only made a couple mistakes and did really well playing blind

  4. PedestrianB
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Well if you are playing it with an arcade joystick, it’s pretty easy to swing something to the right side of the screen because all you do is snap your wrist. It’s also a good thing to leave the gap at the edge because then you have a larger field to work with; If you leave the gap at the middle, you divide up your playing field and limit your opportunities. There are 10 columns, if you leave the gap on the 5th or 6th, you have 4 and 5 columns on either sides to work with. But if you leave the gap at the edge of the screen, you have a whole 9 columns to work with.

  5. My ASS
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    I call bullshit… no way anyone can play that fast. Anyone can edit video fast enough though….

  6. Miss Cellania
    Sep 9th, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    Thanks! I used to play a lot of Tetris, but I never paid attention to the score. I just tried to make it last as long as possible!

  7. MadMolecule
    Sep 10th, 2007 at 12:38 am

    Tetris was an arcade game? I had no idea.

  8. ceolaf
    Sep 10th, 2007 at 8:48 am

    FIrst, waiting for a long piece is a sucker’s game. Eventually, you WILL go too long without one. If your are not playing a timed version, then then key to a high score is to play for as long as possible. So, take it when it is there, but don’t force it.

    Second, I’ve got to agree with #5. I don’t know the arcade version, but it didn’t look to me like s/he was actually controlling it. How was he rotating and dopping? His/her hand motions did not seem to match that. I think that someone can play nearly that fast, and can even process it that fast, but there are physical constraints.

    (The key to playing that fast is not to look at the board. Instead, you focus on the next piece and keep a representation of the board in you head. When you are in the zone, all you can see in the your is possibilities for where each kind of piece can go, without real awareness of what is going on more than 4 rows down. Or at least that is how it is for me.)

  9. Retrokatze
    Sep 10th, 2007 at 11:36 am

    In Japan you can find nearly every game as a arcade version.

    @ My ASS & ceolaf:
    You underestimate the obsessiveness with and dedication to arcade games of some (mostly) Japanese or Korean players.

  10. sidd
    Sep 10th, 2007 at 5:07 pm

    this is real and there is more to this than meets the eye
    for a fasinating essay on this game, follow the link:
    http://bsixcentdouze.free.fr/tc/tgm-en/tgm.html

  11. Chad
    Sep 10th, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    Also notice that the timer is moving in real time

  12. heather
    Feb 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    My fingers kept twitching just watching it. That’s insane!


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
                   Funny T-Shirts

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs

Lijit Search

Old school? Bookmark us! RSS Feed Twitter Facebook Page