Hasta La Gadget!

Tetris and I were born just a month apart. And what Cold War kids we were. Tetris was the brainchild of a young Soviet computer engineer with a knack for building addicting games. I was the actual child of a couple of former hippies with a bit of a disco hangover.

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For those of you who grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s, I am quite sure that you have been exposed to the game of Tetris across many platforms, be it at the local arcade, on the Game Boy (remember the Tetris Game Pak that allowed you to go head to head with another friend?), or across numerous 8-bit consoles and on the PC? Well, Tetris is far from dead, but in recent times has seen a mini resurgence of sorts. So much so that you can even bring Tetris with you the next time you decide to have a drink – best to go along with a hot drink, too, especially when you are using the $9.99 Tetris Heat Changing Mug.

The Tetris Heat Changing Mug boasts a screenshot in full color that depicts Tetris artwork on a mug, where it will include the classic Hold, Next, Level, and Lines segments. Needless to say, whenever you mix your favorite hot beverage inside, the colorful “screenshot” will also be jolted into life, even before the caffeine from your morning coffee hits your system to do the same to you, where it will change the “display”. This is an officially licensed Tetris collectible, and you will need to hand wash it, taking care not to put it in the microwave or dishwasher as heat will destroy the heat-changing part of the mug.
[ Tetris Heat Changing Mug copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

A few months ago we saw an awesome tie with a built-in equalizer. Bill Porter is working on a more interactive necktie: one that plays Tetris. Bill made it to trump his usual geeky teaching attire, a lab coat with lots of LEDs on it. Even in its unfinished state I think we can all agree that the Tetris Tie is much better than the lab coat.

The tie is made of a DigiSpark microcontroller, 80 RGB LEDs and two Li-ion batteries in a custom 3D-printed housing. Bill originally used the batteries for his wedding suit. Don’t be afraid of clicking that link; it’s much better than the lab coat.

All in all Bill only spent four hours and about $50(USD) to make the tie, but as I said, it’s still unfinished. Right now the tie only displays random movements. I’m pretty sure he’s also going to trim the cardboard overlay or perhaps get rid of it altogether. Bill is also planning on adding A.I. that can actually play the game as well as a Bluetooth module so that it can be played using a smartphone as a controller.

[via Bill Porter via inStash]

Have you ever accidentally formed a shape or a letter while playing Tetris? Felt swell did you? As always, the Internet is here to remind you that other people are much more awesome than your are. First up is Michael Birken, who wrote a software algorithm that can draw a portrait by playing a modified version of Tetris.

As I mentioned above, Birken’s Tetris Printer algorithm needs to use a custom variant of Tetris. The game field is bigger and the algorithm also controls the sequence of pieces. But it’s still very remarkable because it actually plays by the rule of the game, i.e. if it forms a horizontal line, that line is wiped out and so on. That means it has to go through ridiculously tedious methods to accomplish the simplest of tasks.

For instance, all tetrominoes are made of four blocks. So what if it only needs to “draw” one block? Birken states, “To generate an individual square, the algorithm assembles a structure consisting of a rectangular region fully supported by a single square protruding from the bottom. When the rectangular region is completed, its rows are cleared, leaving behind the protruding square.”

You can head to Birken’s website for his full explanation and the source code of Tetris Printer. Or just play the video below and enjoy the result:

Surely such precise manipulations can only be done by machines and their cold logic. WRONG. YouTuber John Schuepbach aka Shuey187 is the human equivalent of the Tetris Printer. As in, he doesn’t know which pieces will come out. He just plays and plays and plays, taking each little opportunity the game gives him so he can impose his will on the game’s relentless chaos. In fact, he’s been doing this way before Birken ever came up with his algorithm. Here he is painstakingly drawing Mario:

That took him 90 minutes and he wasn’t even able to complete Mario’s hat. But holy crap. What’s next? Printing in a Tetris game in a Minecraft game in an emulator in Garry’s Mod?

[via BuzzFeed, The Daily Dot & Joystiq]

Some of us are such video game addicts that we sometimes imagine the world as a sort of video game, IRL. That’s exactly what it looks like the artist behind this poster was thinking when he created this Tetris world map.

In this world map by artist Stephen Gowland of KIACO, continents and islands have been replaced with precisely interlocked Tetris bricks. What I love about this design is that they really are the proper shapes and colors from an actual game of Tetris.

I wonder how much work it took to figure out exactly which shapes to use for each part of the geography. I can’t imagine it was an easy task.

The A3-size (~16″ x 12″) print of the Tetris world map sells for £10 (~$15 USD), while the A2-size (~23″ x 16″) version sells for £14 (~$22 USD). The artist says he can also print it in A1-size (~33″ x 24″), but you’ll want to check with him for pricing.

Only one problem I can see with this design… Shouldn’t the countries start vanishing as complete lines of bricks are stacked up to form them?