I play Tetris

Time for something a little different.

I grew up in the first generation of computer gamers and I will always play games.  It is an source of entertainment that I enjoy and I always make time for it.

For some strange reason the game that I have played the most in the past 6 months is Tetris!!

Originally designed and released by Alexey Pajitnov in Russia way back in 1985, this little game is so deep that it seems to get better with age and  becomes more enjoyable the more you play it.

6 Months ago I started playing Tetris on the Nintendo DS just because it was there.  I played it for an hour here and there, but I just kept coming back to it.  I completed all available modes and kept finding ways to improve my game and new challenges to take on. I then decided to give the PSP version a go and found that it was a much more serious implementation with a much better feel and provided me with a bunch of stats that allowed me to measure my progress.

After taking my game as far as I could on these 2 platforms I decided to explore what else the world of Tetris had to offer me.  I started out exploring Tetris on facebook which then led me to find Tetrisfriends.com .

Tetris adapts really well to a multiplayer game and there are quite a number of variants that have been well developed for competitive play.  I soon found my competitive juices flowing as I worked my way through the ranks on Tetrisfriends.  Playing Tetris this way allowed me to find new goals and again forced me to improve my game.

After a month or so on Tetrisfriends I once again started looking for more avenues to find top Tetris competition. I discovered 2 very interesting sources where the best Tetris players in the world go to ply their trade.

1. TOJ or Tetris online Japan is a fantastic implemtation of multi and single player Tetris.  The main issue for us English only speakers is that the website is Japanese only.  There are however a few guides around that help you work out how to create and account and get into game.  Once in game its still the same Tetris. 
2. Tetris Live which is currently in Beta on Tetrisfriends.com seems to be where a lot of the best English speaking Tetris players are gaming at the moment.  Although its still in Beta it is a great implementation and personally I have not  had any problems with it, apart from a bit of lag here and there.  I am really enjoying the competition and can see I still have a lot of improving to do to be able to compete at the highest levels of Tetris competition. I could not see Tetris Live advertised anywhere, however if you goto THIS link you can sign up and join in the fun.

Am I crazy for playing such a simple game when there are a world of great games out there?  Possibly, but for whatever reason Tetris is entertaining me at the moment.