Hello there fellow Tetris players! I've been a long time lurker of this forum and I've decided to get myself an account on this here forum. I picked up TGM about a year ago after seeing the Arika TGM3 Promotional Exam video on youtube (also known as "INVISIBLE TETRIS LOLOL!!!"). I started by playing with keyboard, later got myself a stick, and then life happened. But now I'm back to score some tetrises. 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I started playing Tetris in my early teens with Neave Tetris (Now known as N-blox), mostly trying to survive as many levels as possible (The data I can find states that I reached level 149, I think I got up to level 160+ once). I think I started playing because I was bored. During my time in the local equivalent of high school I passed the time by playing Tetris (N-blox, Tetris Friends and Tetris DS on a friends NDS). I consider myself a decent player with the potential of one day being a great Tetris player. It's basically up to how much time and energy I have to research and practice. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? TGM series games and NES Tetris, I casually play Nullpomino and Tetris Battle. If I can't get my hands on any of those, I settle for whatever. How much I play depends on how I feel that day. We can say an hour or two as average. 3. What other games besides Tetris keep you busy? I was a bit addicted to Diablo 3 a couple of weeks ago, right now I'm waiting for them to patch to the next version. I may pick up any game if I find it interesting. c: 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? Not that I can think of off the top of my head. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? I think I searched for more info about the TGM series after seeing the TGM3 Promotional Exam video. Finding that Tetris has a community was an eye opening experience. I've lurked ever since.
Welcome Xerxius. It was a pleasure meeting you in #tetris @ SpeedRunsLive today. I'm glad you decided to make an account!
I suppose I did a little "cart before horse" sort of thing and never properly introduced myself in this thread. I have some time this morning, so I thought I'd tackle those opening questions. 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I started playing NES Tetris in grade school in the early 90's. I played in fits and spurts for about 10 years and had gotten pretty good, scoring in the 600k range. After about a 10 year layoff, I watched EoO about 3 months ago and almost immediately jumped back in. I hadn't known that I could practice on Level 18 and 19 with the level jump when I was younger, so, as accomplished as I felt then, this is truly a whole new ballgame for me. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? I primarily play NES Tetris, though I play a smattering of SNES. I probably play at least 5 days a week, for varying periods of time. I also bought Tengen recently, but I've only put a few minutes into it. I don't know what my issue was, but Tengen wasn't controlling well when I had tried it. I'll give it another go at some point. 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any) keep you busy? Seeing as how I dove head first back into Tetris, my other gaming pursuits have greatly diminished. I have been a long time player of RPGs, primarily older FF/DQ and Elder Scrolls. I've played a few shooters here and there, becoming proficient in Halo (1.7 K/D), but rarely playing. Other than that, my tastes get random, including puzzle games, side scrolling platformers, artsy stuff, etc. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? I had a nasty Hexic addiction for a while. Not the most thrilling game, but I played the hell out of it. NES/SNES Dr. Mario, of course. I get down with Bejeweled pretty regularly. Most Popcap games are puzzly, come to think of it, all of which I play often. Also, more contemporarily, Portal really did it for me. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? I think I was looking for records for NES and such when I found TC. I saw some of the threads on here and figured this is where the players play. Happy to be on board and back in Tetris!
Hi all... I'm a few posts in as well, but... 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I learned about Tetris from some kids at school who got the Game Boy. I got a Game Boy in 1990 I think and it came with Tetris - this was my first time playing the game. It appealed to me quite a bit - I was a "math kid" and I have kind of an addictive personality too. I certainly haven't been playing nonstop ever since - just in fits and starts over the years. My interest was rekindled with the advent of Youtube and seeing some of the best players play, so I guess I have been playing pretty consistently since then. The idea of mastering this game or some version of it started to really appeal to me. It's been fascinating to me to see how popular this game is and how many astoundingly good players there are in various versions of the game. I'm closing in on a maxout on the NES version, but switching over to the Facebook version or instant gravity versions is a whole new world and skill set. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? Right now I'm just playing NES, and it's been almost entirely NES for years. I go in phases. Will play relentlessly for a new personal best and then will go months without playing. I'm playing a lot these days because I'm now so close to the maxout. Years back, inspired by Dan Z's Game Boy maxout vid, I revisited the Game Boy version for a spell and got over 700k. But when you pop in NES Tetris, the play is so smooth and gorgeous, going back to Gameboy feels like running through water in comparison. And I hate all the tapping in that version you have to do, plus the rotations are reversed (in terms of spinning through the stack or walls). Ugh. If you're on Game Boy, you really can't switch back and forth to NES very smoothly. And you really won't want to go back to Game Boy either once you're re-acclimated to NES. In 2007 I picked up Tetris DX and ended up going for record runs for months and months. After doing a world record run on that I switched to NES and haven't gone back. I have the SNES version, which is decent, but you can't start on high levels, the color scheme is nowhere near as pleasing as the NES version, and the Tetris line clear sound sounds like a cat fighting a weasel - very displeasing. But they made it just barely playable at the top speed, which is intriguing. I'm definitely not done with that version. Thanks to Josh Tolles for rekindling some interest in that version. About 10 years ago I did some Tetris Plus for Playstation. I liked the puzzle mode on it, but the Tetris marathon mode was not so great. It's easily the weakest version I've played. Tetris DS is fun - lots of ways to play. I did a 99,999,999 maxout on it once, and then realized that if you roll the score over, it will not save your maxout score - it will only save it if you hit EXACTLY that number, not one point more. I've kind of hated that game ever since. Good portable version though. It's fun to play against Bowser since he is extremely challenging. I started doing Tetris Battle on Facebook for a week or so, but I HATE using a keyboard - I'll revisit it if I get a usb controller. I will NOT master keyboard Tetris. The only thing worse is cell phone Tetris, which I burned out on after less than an hour of play. Battle is a great version though. I'm not that into mastering T-spins or combos, but I can see where it would be fun to get into that. When I have the funds/time I'd sort of like to collect every single version of the game ever released on license. I'd like to check out some of the different clones as well. I love Colin Fahey's Tetris program. You can make the board any size you want, among other options. How fun. It's kind of soothing and fun to watch the AI play too. 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any) keep you busy? Sadly I just don't have that much time for games these days. In my spare time I'm working toward trying to get a much better job. Once I'm a bit more settled and my career is on track I hope to make more time eventually. I can always sit down for a quick game of Tetris, though it often turns into many games. I just have too many interests to compete with gaming, and I could use some better time management skills. I want to finish the Arkham games and finally play through Final Fantasy 8 sometime. I have bought games many times and have yet to play them. Crazy. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? Oh... I was totally addicted to Lemmings!!! Those games are sooo fun, especially the original NES game. Beating that game without ever looking up hints was one of my most enjoyable moments ever. I enjoyed Tetris Attack quite a bit (SNES) and later on DS, the Planet Puzzle League Version. I really enjoy the Phoenix Wright games. Those just simply RULE. I need to get back into that series big time. They are sort of puzzle games - they're about solving crimes. I was into Dr. Mario for just a short spell - it doesn't have that much replay value to me though. Looking up some old games, I enjoyed Pipe Dream (TOTALLY forgot about that one), Deadalian Opus (funny, eh?) and Lolo. Puzzle fighter is fun too - appeals to the Street Fighter fanatic in me. I'm also on a kick of playing the card game Hearts on my desktop. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? I'm sure I'd heard of it before or read some posts, but the guys at Midwest Gaming Classic this year (my 1st tournament) convinced me to get on it - thanks to the Bens.
Good luck! There are a lot, some are somewhat rare, and it's going to get expensive if you start picking up the arcade boards. Yeah, good Tetris AI is neat. I gotta start working on that stuff again at some point, made some kind of dumb machine guns a couple times. Mihys's DTET AI is pretty fun to watch -- it's one of the few that can play some form of max gravity.
Thanks for the link - that's a unique one. I would love to see any work you do on this as well. If I could program I would definitely work on something like this myself.
Hey guys... Well, that was quick. Last thing I knew I was happily speedsolving the Rubiks Cube and stumble upon a thread on Reddit where Matt Buco shows his maxed-out NES tetris screen. I read through the comments, saw the IAmA and found out about Ecstasy of Order. Watched it yesterday between laundry and packing stuff and got really excited. By chance clincher overheard a discussion in IRC and after some talking I'm sitting here in front of my computer - should actually be asleep - playing (actually, failing at) Texmaster on level 500 with my arcade stick. So I got told to post updates here, but I thought a small introduction would be nice. So here goes nothing: 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? My first Tetris was the one that came with my Game Boy (Yes, the brick! Yes, still have it) that I bought from my pocket money that I saved up forever! Every now and then I played a new clone and actually spent quite some time with Tetrinet, but wasn't too good. I saw TGM videos a couple years ago, but was actually too scared and didn't think it was possible to get into it that quick. Til today, but I rambled about that above.. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? Texmaster so far. It looks like I'm going after GM in TGM (or equivalent, I'm still reading up on all that) since I don't really want to get blown away online and like timed or restricted challenges where I can improve a score 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any ) keep you busy? No games really. The Rubiks Cube is really good at keeping me busy and Tetris actually got in the way of a competition I'm attending this weekend. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? The Rubiks Cube is a block of plastic and a puzzle, so that! 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? I was researching different versions and inevitably stumbled upon the forums looking for Texmaster and the wiki looking for .. anything that helps me in my clueless state. Looking forward to meeting you people (online, mostly, probably) and sucking up all your wisdom..
Haha, sorry about that. Welcome to TC and, like I said, feel free to post your scores. It's always nice to see someone progress from being new to the game to becoming a GM. It shouldn't take you too long since you have some experience with different games.
Thanks! I'll be hanging out on IRC to ask a question here and there. But thanks to the plenty available resources I should be able to keep the stupid questions down a bit. I actually thought about doing NES Tetris first since it's so close to the GB Version I loved so much. But I'm in Europe and I heard that PAL wasn't the same at all (Twin Galaxies doesn't really have high scores either) and getting a whole NTSC setup would cost me quite a bunch.
1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I remember playing the NES Tetris when I was little, but it wasn't until Kitaru introduced me to Heboris on another unrelated webforum, that I started taking it seriously. I played for about a year after that, took a break from it (among many other things), and just got back into it last week. I am not a great player. I can survive any speed, but even at low gravity, I panic/lose focus after making a mistake, and dig my metaphorical "hole" even deeper. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? I only play Heboris, and I try to practice often enough to improve, but not so much that I begin dreaming about stacking tetrominoes. Probably an hour or two, every two days, on average 3. What other games besides Tetris keep you busy? I play League of Legends, and take it rather seriously. Sometimes I play Path of Exile, or Counter-Strike Source. I love gaming, but nowadays I tend to keep busy with other things, such as books, movies, or studying. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? Not really. Most puzzle games seem kinda pointless to me, lol. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? Any google searches related to tetris lead straight here.
Welcome Evi. A couple of other forum members made it over here in much the same way -- you may see some other familiar faces (or names, rather) come up in the forums.
After posting my introduction into the main part of the Discussion sub-forum I'll just quickly answer these questions. 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I liked the Gameboy version back when it came out and casually played different variants of the game over the years. I really got into the NES version back in 2009 and it has grown onto me over the last few years. I would consider myself a decent player with lots of room for improvement. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? I usually play the NES Tetris for a few hours each week and always have my Tetris Party on my DS ready for those times when nature calls. 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any) keep you busy? I've been a gamer all my life and have played all kinds of games since the Atari 2600. I do have a special place in my heart for all things NES, though. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? I do enjoy getting my butt handed to me by my girlfriend in Dr. Mario. Lately, I have been playing lots of Picross as well. Oh, and I do adore the Prof. Layton series. Truth be told, I love puzzle games in general. Too many to be named. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? Kitaru posted a link on NintendoAge and I decided to join up and at least say hello.
Hey guys Finally after some hours of reading your wiki and the forum, I register myself to say hello and find some more information/advice that could be useful for my goal Oh and you’ve got a big Hi 5 from Belgium 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? I really started to play Tetris very late. I've played on the GameBoy version as a child but nothing serious (since it wasn't even my GameBoy). We have to wait until TetrisDS to start palying "seriously". It takes me a few week (like 2 or 3, don't really remember) to beat the Marathon mode (200 lines) and a week more to do it properly and at every attempt. Then, I've stopped playing for a few months. Since I really enjoyed the game, I finally get back for a local tournament on the Xbox360 version. I've train a few hours before the tournament and... I won I didn't expect it ! (And here comes the free PSP !). But it was a few years ago. A few month later, I've seen a TV show on the French web-tv Nolife, actually showing 2 players (PetitPrince and I can't remember the second, sorry ) with great skills on an unknown version of Tetris, TGM. I was really impressed by their skill but I also show me the painful reality : damn I suck so hard ! So I tried the TGM2+ and got a punch in my face : God it is hard ! Since I've started on a very light version (TetrisDS), I wasn't really prepared for this... But, due to personal business. I needed to stop playing Tetris. When I resolve my problem, I didn't come back because I was playing some other game. I’ve played a bit on the PS3 version (I’ve hold the top10 of the ranking a few month but now I’m far behind) But, really, now I can feel it every time I play Tetris. I NEED to play this game. It's so fun ! And I really want to improve my skill to at least do proper game of TGM2. So yesterday I plug back my Hori Stick to play. And... Well... My actual record is lvl 407 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? Actually, I only play TGM2+ for like 1 to 4 hours per day (depending if it's a working day or not) 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any ) keep you busy? A lot... Really, I can't stay on only one game... So actually I also play some League of Legends and Call of Duty : BO2 (shame on me). But the games can change tomorrow 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? I enjoy Puzzle Fighter And I like to watch some S-Ranked PuyoPuyo players. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? Google When I was searching for some information about the TGM series.
Welcome DMG and Hayaaa! @Hayaaa: The other player to appear in the NoLife video was Amnesia. He has recently taken his leave from Tetris, but he may still appear briefly from time to time.
BenMullen sent me here from TwinGalaxies. 1. Why did you start playing Tetris? Can you also please specify how long you have been playing and if you consider yourself a great player? When I was 11 years old (1989) I got a Nintendo for my birthday. My family was dirt poor so for the next few years the only games I had were Super Mario Brothers, Ninja Gaiden, Blaster Master, and Tetris. I was never really into SMB but I played the others WAY too much and of those, I played Tetris the most. I actually wouldn't consider myself a great player, though in my day I was pretty good. I never had anybody to really compare myself with though. 2. What Tetris games do you play and how much do you play? The only version of Tetris I ever really played was the Nintendo version on the NES. I haven't played in about 15 years, but back when I did play, I probably averaged 3-4 hours a day. 3. What other games besides Tetris (if any ) keep you busy? I'm a huge video game and emulator junkie, so I play a lot of games. Everything from Tetris to Call of Duty. 4. Any other block/puzzle games you enjoy? Not really actually. I've tried others but never enjoyed them as much. I liked Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, but less for the gameplay and more for the silliness. 5. How did you find out about tetrisconcept? Ben Mullen said it was the place to be.
No no, if that's so, you were certainly one of the best! Welcome to the site! Here's wishing you the best in getting back on the bike.
I just watched the documentary - wow! I had no idea any of this was going on. I feel bad now for being flippant about the max out score. I did do it though, back in the day. And level 29 as well - though I wouldn't believe me either without some video proof. I guess I never really thought about it being a big deal back then. Now I'm determined to do it again. I'll get some practice rounds in over the next few weeks then maybe do some live streaming on Twitch.tv. I'll post when I have the feed up. Depending on how I do, maybe I'll see you all in September!
Broke out the NES-101 and started playing for a few hours. After some very rough starts I'm ending the night on lvl 16 at 240,993 - I forget how many lines. Not too shabby considering how long it's been. Being 15 years older now I'm really seeing the game in a different way. I started playing by instinct like I did when I was younger but then I could tell almost immediately that stack management was going to be a weak point so I adjusted. I still have a problem with those pesky L's though - I'll have to study up on those.
