Tetris: Beware Its Power!

Few games have been as original and as universally loved as that ultimate time vacuum, Tetris. Originally the creation of Soviet computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1985, Tetris had a long journey from its development at the Moscow Academy of Science to its status as one of the most successful and widely imitated computer games of all time. But all along the way, Tetris has lured many with its addictive charms.

Its game play is ingenious. The pieces are shapes called Tetriminoes made from the seven different arrangements of four square blocks joined along the edge. They drop one at a time into a rectangular well, and the pieces land on the pieces that have fallen before. You have to keep the space from filling up by completing solid rows of blocks, which disappear when filled in all the way. Cover up a gap in the blocks, and the layer stays there until you get rid of all the pieces above it. Miss too many gaps and the pieces pile up to the top. If it fills to the top, the game is over.

You get to see what the next piece will be, and in the few seconds you have before the piece falls and lands in place at the bottom, you have to figure out the best place for it to fit at the bottom. You go for as long as you can, and you earn points for dropping pieces and completing rows. Clear enough rows, and you advance to the next level, where the pieces fall a bit faster, and your reflexes and judgment have to get a bit quicker.

The challenge of trying to keep the game going as long as you can is tremendously enjoyable. If you find yourself attempting to top the best score in your household, you'll find yourself investing many long hours pushing your limits and polishing your skills. The game offers you the opportunity for many victories, large and small. Finishing a row. Leaving a space in the shape of a 'J' piece, and then seeing that piece come up. Messing up, letting a big pile build up, but fighting back, and clearing out the well. Clearing four rows at once.

The game play can become exhilarating as the pace quickens and quickens, and as you find your control of the board slipping away. The mindset can become so powerful that the very effect where any prolonged task leads to a mental "burn-in" of the experience of the task. It causes you to do it in your dreams. People report seeing Tetris pieces on supermarket shelves, in a city skyline, and when they close their eyes. The same thing happens to computer programmers who dream about software code, rowers who row in their sleep, and people with sea legs. The effect is so pronounced in Tetris that the phenomenon was named for the game.

The simplicity of Tetris has made it an easy game to copy. There are several free online Tetris games available to play within instants of typing 'tetris' into a search engine. Tetris is a great reminder that some of most fun things are the simplest. There are an enormous number of flash kids games free whose simple game play makes for exhilarating fun. Beware that the fun can become an addictive obsession!

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