Amidst the ever-growing problems facing the world today, there’s some solace to be taken in the knowledge that someone, somewhere, is diligently working on another new design for a novelty waffle maker that cleverly leverages some pop culture phenomenon. Tetris, it’s time to step up to the breakfast plate.
Few of us have the counter or even cabinet space to welcome yet another appliance into our kitchens, which is why those who spent their formative gaming years stacking tetromino pieces will have to make some tough decisions in order to clear space for this waffle maker. Is toasted bread really that great? Goodbye toaster. Maybe uncooked rice is totally underrated? So long, rice maker. Your contributions to lazy meals have been appreciated but are no longer needed.
The last time we checked in on the world of novelty waffle makers, a Kickstarter project had successfully crowdfunded a breakfast machine that turned batter into edible building blocks—complete with studs increasing structural integrity—allowing waffles to be assembled into creative structures like a box of Lego bricks. It’s hard to imagine the most fussiest eaters on Earth turning down a meal like that.
The officially-licensed Tetris waffle maker, available from Firebox for about $40, takes a similar approach, with heating plates featuring specific patterns designed to produce five different types of tetromino pieces (not counting pieces that are mirror copies of others) that are easy to pull apart once baked and cooled to the point where they won’t erase fingerprints. The tetromino pieces don’t create a perfectly square layout in the waffle maker—you’ll be left with a couple of single block pieces when they’re all separated you can probably toss to the dog—but the rest of the proper Tetris pieces should disappear just as quickly, and without any precision stacking required.