The Legend and Legacy of Tetris

 https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230329-why-tetris-is-the-perfect-video-game

One of the most influential and popular video games of all time is Tetris, the seemingly simple puzzle game with a fascinating history of its publication and popularization. 

A movie based on Tetris's storied history and political complications, simply titled Tetris, came out on March 31, 2023 on Apple TV+. The film is about the odd nature of intellectual property in the USSR and how the Cold War conflict influenced Tetris's introduction to the world. In an interview with Thomas Hobbs from the BBC, Tetris's director Jon S. Baird said "To me, Tetris is a buddy movie and this Cold War thriller, but at the heart of it is this human story between two guys who come from polar opposites of the world and are incredibly different, yet manage to create this magnificent game. It shows you the power of gaming and how it has a global language that transcends political differences."

The game itself is a geometric puzzle game where blocks of 7 different shapes are falling to the base of the screen and piling up on top of each other. It is up to the player to move the falling blocks in a way that a complete horizontal line is created, which removes that line of blocks, and to make sure that the tower of blocks doesn't reach the top of the screen, which is a game over. Despite the relatively simple idea, the reality of the gameplay is a complex test of spatial awareness and problem solving that takes years of practice to master and always has room for improvement. To watch people who have mastered the game is also a test of focus for the viewer, as skilled players can perform complex movements within milliseconds. To truly understand the complexity, just look up "t-spins" and all of the variations of it.

While I am not good at playing Tetris, I do find the game to be fun, if stressful, and enjoy watching people who are masters of the game. My brother has practiced some of the more technical strategies and introduced me to the world of competitive Tetris. Sites like Jstris and games like Tetris 99 have become havens for competitive play and have created recent communities around a 40-year-old game.