https://nonzerosum.games/thetetriseffect.html

THE TETRIS EFFECT

After viewing the Tetris movie, I found myself lying awake, thoughts
racing. It's a common occurrence[***] this time I was fixated on how
to create a three-dimensional version of Tetris.

A rabbit dreaming of 3D Tetris

Now, Tetris is notoriously difficult to express in three Dimensions
[*] In two Dimensions the player can clearly see all the pieces[*]
However, extend this into three dimensions and the pieces begin to
obscure one another[*]

An illustration showing how blocks are obscured in normal 3D Tetris

There have been various complicated solutions to what I'll call the
obscuring problem, involving moving cameras, or partial transparency
or even arranging the block in a cylinder, but in my opinion none
have successfully cracked the complex simplicity of Tetris[*]

All the different Tetrominos

COMPLEXITY & COMPLICATION

There is a big difference between complexity and complication[*]
Complexity is often borne of simple beginnings[*] In the case of
Tetris, the simple set of Tetrominoes - four joined blocks in each
possible combination, fall into a box to make lines[*] What could be
more simple?[*]

A Tetris Board

And yet it combines to make a complex puzzle which taps into a deep
psychological need to tidy up, to fill gaps, to complete a thought
and file it away neatly[*] This complexity is an emergent property of
a simple formula, it is non-zero-sum in that it gives more than it
costs[*]

The complicated solutions to 3D Tetris add a dimension, but
necessitate a load of cumbersome new controls to work around the
problem they introduce - the obscuring problem[*]

An illustration showing how a 3D Tetris game could be translated into
2D rings

So, lying awake in bed, I thought it might be possible to eliminate
the the obscuring problem by using a symbolic 3D environment, where
objects would reduce in size as they recede in depth, but would not
converge on a vanishing point, this way if you used rings to
represent blocks, you could see through the rings to other rings in
the background, giving you access to all the information in the space
[*] Watch out for the new tetrominoes too - three dimensions
introduces some curly combinations[*]

New 3D Tetrominos

Currently the game is playable only on desktop, and is really a proof
of concept[*] (Note to Tetris' copyright lawyers - I don't intend to
develop the game further than this, please don't sue me)[*]

Keyboard controls for playing the game.

WHAT IS THE TETRIS EFFECT?

Now, translating ideas into code is a game in itself and my
sleeplessness involved orienting falling code blocks[*] Ironically,
this sleepless visualisation is one symptom of a condition called
"The Tetris Effect" referring to people who claimed that after
playing Tetris, they would find themselves picturing falling blocks
as they drifted off to sleep, think Beth Harman in "The Queen's
Gambit" with her upside down chess board[*] The Tetris Effect can
also invade people's waking lives with intrusive thoughts that
interpret the real world through the lens of this particular
cognitive pattern[*]

A Tetromino

It turns out that this phenomenon is a natural part of learning, and
that the imagery is a separate form of memory[*] Harvard psychiatry
professor Robert Stickgold has shown in his research that people with
anterograde amnesia who were unable to form declarative memories
reported experiencing the Tetris Effect even though they couldn't
remember playing the game[*]

A Tetromino

The way I make sense of it is like this - if you are building new
neural pathways in your mind, a lot of that is done during deep and
REM sleep through subconscious processes, but sometimes your thoughts
are not ready to be handed off to the subconscious, so your conscious
mind frantically tries to order them appropriately first[*]

A Tetromino

This is something Stickgold calls hypnagogic dreaming[*] I think this
is something the brain is doing a lot of the time, trying to find
clean and clear certainty rather than messy, unresolved uncertainty -
It's this very instinct to which the game of Tetris appeals, and is
what makes it so addictive[*] Tetris is just a simplified environment
for doing what we're constantly trying to do, make order out of chaos
[*]

A Tetromino

SO[***]

Game environments, to the brain, are no different to physical
environments, they simply have new variables and relationships[*]
Mapping those relationships is something we do naturally[*] By
creating a version of 3D Tetris that gives your mind all the
information it needs, but not in a naturalistic representation, I'm
hoping players will be able to better form a map in their mind of the
terrain, and be transported to another world[*] That is of course
after a few nights of restless hypnagogic dreams[*]

A Tetromino

As for my sleeplessness, it was short-lived once I resolved the
puzzle I was puzzling over[***] making the game[*] Let me know what
you think, or post your high score in the comments[*]

A Tetromino

RELATED CONTENT

  * Here is Robert Stickgold's research[*]
  * An interesting article on Tetris.com[*]
  * While I was writing I felt like there was a related topic in
    Derek Muller's TED Talk where he talks about the need to break
    apart preconceptions before learning can occur. The way that the
    tetrominos form broken lines which have to be carefully filled to
    create a consolidated line felt like there was some overlap
    there, perhaps an idea for a later blog.