Gizmodo: Tetris

Tetris, the Bottles Blowing Edition

jesusdiaz — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:46:00 EDT

Our obsession with Tetris is probably only matched by LEGO, Star Wars, and Futurama. However, this video of three synchronized bottle-blowers interpreting Korobeiniki—the famous Tetris theme song—shows that a) our fetishes are really not that bad, b) we are too lazy, c) we don't have as much free time as we would like to do silly things like these (and others), or d) all of the above. Seriously, these guys are so good that we want to take them out for drinks. And use the bottle to blow the Mario theme. [Snotr]

Tresling Tetris Arm Wrestling Bridges Gap Between Brains and Brawn

Benny Goldman — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:05:20 EDT

Tetris geeks must rely on brute force as much as mental agility to win in Tresling, a new version of the classic game. Opponents are pitted against each other on an arm wrestling board, and the pieces shift based on whoever is in control. Wanna get that straight piece in position for a four line combo? You better hit the gym, sissy. Of course, you can't win on beefcakey-ness alone, a good deal of strategy is required to move the pieces where you want them to land. We really enjoy creator Tom Gerhardt's attempt to turn Tresling into a lifestyle, and not just a game, complete with a Communist-style logo and calls for back-alley matches. Check out the official site to "join the revolution". Update: We have video of the action! [Tresling - Thanks Tom!]

Tetris Mirror Pieces Fall Down But Don't Disappear

Jason Chen — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:35:47 EDT

Want to teach your kid to be really good at Tetris really fast? Let them play with this Tetris Mirror, which has the bottom part already formed for a convenient mirror surface, but has the top part all Tetris'ed out so you can rearrange them at will. Put a piece wrong and junior gets cut with the glass. What makes it even more tricky is that there are two "one-block" pieces which aren't regulation Tetris blocks as far as we know. Good luck kiddo. [SonerOzenc via Technabob]

Heart-Shaped Phone-Game Console Concept is for Da Kids

AddyDugdale — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:46:04 EDT

Designed by Sung-Kyu Nam, the Okids phone can shape-shift from a cell to a heart-shaped game console at a flick of the wrist. It's aimed at five- to six-year-olds, and the heart and pill shapes represent the love you have for ~~Mario and Pac Man~~ children, apparently. The Okids phone-console thingy is a concept and, let's hope it stays that way. [Shiny Shiny]

"Tetrice" Ice Trays: A Game of Tetris That is Colder than a Siberian Winter

Sean Fallon — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:20:37 EST

I'm not quite sure how you would actually play a game of Tetris with ice cubes, but if you put a little food coloring in there and pop them into a glass—you will have yourself a frosty drink that can only be compared to the lego ice cube tray in terms of sheer geekyness. Unfortunately, that wont happen anytime soon—these are only concepts at the moment. [Martin Zampach via NOTCOT]

Mekaniskt Is Table-Sized Robotic Tetris, Needs Disintegrator Ray

jesusdiaz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:23:15 EST

The Mekaniskt is a robotic Tetris, an arm that can suck pieces, moving and rotating them to make the perfectly fit in place using Nintendo NES-like controls. The only problem: the lines don't disappear.

This problem begs for some kind of ACME disintegration ray to be installed at the bottom (or like some readers say, a conveyor belt. We like deadly rays better, though.) In any case, it comes straight from Sweden, the Nordic lands of Europe where Earth is ruled by blue-eyed Valkyries and vodka and salmon is the breakfast of the champions, so even if it wasn't cool—which it is—that's enough reason to talk about it. Discuss. [YouTube - The video was heavily edited from the original one. Thanks Scott!]

Tetris Plush Explodes With Sincerity

Jason Chen — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:40:34 EST

Our Japanese is somewhere between nonexistent and "you're speaking Korean dumbass," so we can't tell what these labels on the block pieces say. However, there's not much explanation needed to know that these Tetris Plush pillows are awesome in a way that only a supernova in the background can illustrate. All our favorite pieces are there, from that T piece, the the L, to the Z thing, to good old straighty, to...wait...what the hell is that?! [ToysnJoys via Nerd Approved]

Amazing Finnish Dorm Room Tetris in Video

Jason Chen — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:55:56 EST

What do you get when you combine the largest student dorm in Finland, a cellphone, and a love of Tetris? Something that's way cooler than the Russian monochrome equivalent. Video after the jump.

[Flickr SET via Mikontalolights]

Watch Concepts Let You Play Pong and Tetris In Style

Adrian Covert — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:40:02 EST

Lysandre Follet's watch concepts assume the identity of a pair of Nixon timepieces, throwing pong or tetris into the inner workings while avoiding excessive nerddom. The watches balance throwback games with simple, clean designs that don't look to irony for their appeal (like the designer retro-reissue of the Casio Databank). If this were ever real, I'd seriously consider buying it. [Yanko Design]

Oi Modular Sofa Makes me Think of Albino Tetris, Shipping Now

AddyDugdale — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:00:35 EDT

The Oi sofa concept was launched in New York last year, but it's taken almost a year and a half to make it available. Made out of L- and bar-shaped components, you can make loads of different-shaped sofas with it, including one with a neat side table add-on. It packs up/down into a 30-inch cube so shipping and storage is easy, and it costs $2,300. Price, plus a gallery of all the permutations are below.

Park To Play Lets You Use Your Car as a Gaming Joystick

AddyDugdale — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:58:45 EDT

Esoteric Dutch blog Fresh Creation went to the Holland Innovation fair in, surprise, the Netherlands, and they found this crazy little — well, big, actually — thing. Park To Play lets you play games — Pong, Tetris, Pinball, Space Invaders etc — with your car. Yep, you didn't hear wrong. Part art installation, part crazy, what-have-they-been-smoking-over-in-them-thar-low-countries-coffee-houses, they've rigged out the steering wheel and doors with sensors so that you can use the car to control the game. Headlights, brakes, car doors, they all become buttons to control the game with. I like the fact that the pinball flippers are controlled by the car doors. [Fresh Creation]

Arrow Bookshelf a Must-Have for Tetris Mongs

AddyDugdale — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:16:35 EDT

Furniture designer Timothy Ben's Arrow bookshelf modules are made from MDF and come in 20 different colors, with either a lacquered or laminated finish. Although they're probably meant to be stacked in that delightful chevron effect, I'm sure you can play a basic form of Tetris with them if you're really bored. [Timothy Ben Furniture via MoCo Loco]

TV Tetris Brings Tetris Anywhere

Jason Chen — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:20:52 EDT

You know we've arrived in the future when we have a Tetris game that can be enjoyed just by plugging it into the TV. These TV Tetris controllers allow you to enjoy your second favorite Russian game from the '80s (their roulette game is still #1) with nothing but a Tetris-shaped controller and a TV. You can even go mano-a-blocko with your friends by plugging in a second controller into the first. [Epoch via PlasticBamboo]

Russian Dorm Tetris

Jason Chen — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:00:12 EDT

What do you get when you combine some Russian college kids, an empty dorm and the desire to re-create Tetris in 100x scale? This video. [English Russia]

How to Build a Tetris Shelf

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:00:08 EDT

We've shown you those Tetris shelves a couple times over the years now, but they're still really, really expensive to the point where you'd have to live inside it in lieu of an actual apartment. Here's how you can build your own on the cheap.

Instructables' guide to building your own Tetris shelves costs you only about $85 in wood ($200+ if you buy good wood), plus some more in parts. You'll need equipment like table saws and wood glue, so if you don't have that you might have to find a buddy who does. Just be careful not to line them up horizontally or else you're going to have to start all over. – Jason Chen

Project Page [Instructables]

LED Tetris: Better Than Plain Tetris

Mark Wilson — Sun, 13 May 2007 16:30:39 EDT

Sparkfun's LED Tetris is the first creative incarnation of the game that we've seen in a long time. It's completely hands-on, with each of the 240 spots on the grid acting as both a light and a button. If you want the piece to move, you click to the left or right of it on the grid. And somehow Tetris becomes even more intuitive.

Each button is backlit by three LEDs (RGB) for a near endless array of possible colors only limited by programming and the processing power of the 16 microcontrollers. Remember that ugly Windows version you used to play? We're ashamed, too.

Hit the jump for video of the product that Sparkfun now needs to actually put on the market.

The LEDs are so bright that they are blowing out the video and maybe even bleeding into other cells. Nice. – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via technabob]

Tetris is the Future of Cellphone Gaming

Jason Chen — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:00:59 EDT

Stick with us here. Imagine being able to play a multiplayer game with your buddy no matter what provider he's on. No having to get in Wi-Fi range or hook up some janky cable to his phone, you two can just fire up a game and play. This is exactly what EA's done with their multiplayer Tetris game.

We had high hopes for Microsoft's Live Anywhere to be able to connect cellphones with Xbox 360s and PCs, but information about that's been trickling out like an old man with a prostate problem. – Jason Chen

Product Page [EA Mobile via Kotaku]

Kid-Sized Tetris Blocks

Jason Chen — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:50:46 EST

Similar to the Tetris Magnets and Tetris Shelves, these Tetris blocks are made for children 4 and up to fool around and smack each other with. Great for building up your kids' spacial recognition and organizational skills as well.

You'll have to be careful they don't line them all up in a row though, or else the blocks will disappear and you have to buy another set. Wait, the ref's coming over to say something. Reuse of old joke, 5 yard penalty, still 2nd down. – Jason Chen

Whoa, Kid-Sized Tetris [DaddyTypes via Boing Boing]

Tetris: Taking Over the World? No.

Mark Wilson — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:35:24 EST

This game is called "Metaphorical Tetris", but the whole video seems pretty literal to me. Maybe "Tetris Personified" would've worked better. Either way...good stuff. –Mark Wilson Thanks Carlos!

Torched "Gulf War" Game Boy Still Works

Adam Frucci — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:15:21 EST

This original Game Boy got itself into some deep shit in the first Gulf War, yet somehow still manages to function. There's no better way to prove that you're a hardcore Nintendo fanboy than by staying in your flaming barracks because you only need a few more lines to get a high score.

Video after the hop. –Adam Frucci

Fully Functional "Gulf War" Gameboy [via TechEBlog]

Eleven Great Apps For Windows Mobile Pocket PC

Jason Chen — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 17:00:35 EDT

With all the Windows Mobile phones we cover here, more than a few readers probably took the plunge and picked up a WinMo phone for themselves—then subsequently discovered that they need to download third party apps in order to make the phone great. Lifehacker's got a few tips on which ones you should make room for.

The better ones: Agile Messenger (an IM app), AudioPod (a podcast app), eReader (for reading eBooks), Kevtris (Tetris), and Skype (VoIP, as if we needed to tell you). Most of these are both free and good, and are almost a necessity if you want to do anything with Windows Mobile, which has a skeletal amount of bundled software. – Jason Chen

11 Killer Freebies for Your Pocket PC [Lifehacker]

Apple Showtime: Bejeweled and Other Games

Brian Lam — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:06:58 EDT

Jump for Tetris and Pac Man

Tetris Magnets: For the Fridge

Brian Lam — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:51:19 EDT

Only two minutes until your cheese meatloaf TV dinner is done. Seems like an eternity. Instead of staring at your microwave, drop some lines with these Tetris refrigerator magnets.– Brian Lam

Tetris Magnets [Art Lebedev]

Return of Revenge of Tetris Shelves (In Color)

Jason Chen — Wed, 10 May 2006 07:50:39 EDT

Revenge of Tetris Shelves (In Color)

Tetris shelves have been around for a while, but Brave Space has now updated them for gamer-purists. Now in color instead of the original no-back design, these shelves can now match the rest of your furniture.

Also improved: the price—we hear it's gone down significantly. We dont' know by how much, but we're guessing "significantly" means it's much less than the $7k for 10 pieces they were asking for last year. Contact Brave Space for a quote.

Brave Space

Brand New Tetris Shelves! [Inhabitat]

You Suck At Tetris

gizmodo.com — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:53:11 EDT

Okay, so this isn't about gadgets, but we've all spent hours and hours of our lives playing the game, so quit yer whining. We don't care how good you think you've gotten at Tetris DS during your daily commute—this Japanese Tetris Grandmaster totally owns you. Watch and be humbled by his rotational mastery.

Tetris Final Game Challenge [YouTube, via Kotaku]

Amadana Cooking Timer

Charlie White — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 10:52:09 EDT

The Amadana Cooking Timer is available in white or black, and shows you little pieces falling down that kinda remind us of Tetris, but not exactly. This is more like an hourglass than Tetris, and when the variously-shaped blocks fill up the display, your time is up. If that doesn't float your boat, the timer can show you a traditional numeric countdown display, too. Available now for $42.

Product Page [via Kotaku]