Tetris

[Jennifer]

As my brother put it "This game is so lame, SO WHY CAN'T I PUT IT DOWN"

I have a DS lite (wonderful wonderful thing), and I have stolen Ryan's copy of tetris. It really is an addicting game, even just playing it in normal mode.

People say that EQ and other such MMORPGs are highly addictive, but really, is there anything more addicting than simple games that have no point and have no end?

[hikoseijuro755]

I agree. Tetris is quite addicting! Many an hour has been spent cursing the little s and z blocks...

[picklefork]

Cell phone came with a copy of it! Hence forth I will never ever be bored on the subway or bus.

[Ryan]

Speaking of Tetris....I want it back before I head to town for a week. Gotta try and get some free Wi-fi while I'm in there.

[Leslie]

I am going to be so sick of hearing you say that 'word,' Ryan, that I'm not going to want to buy a DS. "Wi-Fi" Gargh!

[lizak]

Wi-Fi is the way of the future though! I can't help but hope that it'll be blanketed over major cities for free use.

:: dreaming that someone won't try to make cash off of it ::

[scottomax24]

wi-fi is truly great it allows me to stay connected to my online ghosts in wipeout pure and compete against other gamers any where on campus in need for speed (kinda off topic but both r psp no ds yet waitin for ffIII and money) but like any great piece of tech someone somewhere is quietly working on a way to make us pay for it.

probably microsoft (so call me cynical)

[rebecca]

lizak said:

Wi-Fi is the way of the future though! I can't help but hope that it'll be blanketed over major cities for free use.

:: dreaming that someone won't try to make cash off of it ::

Dare to dream, my ducky. Dare to dream!!!!

[lizak]

hikoseijuro755 said:

I agree. Tetris is quite addicting! Many an hour has been spent cursing the little s and z blocks...

Philosophically, a game of Tetris can go on forever except for two possibilities:

1) The speed gets so fast you can't move the blocks far enough to the sides.

But the other possibility is a bit more interesting.

2) Assume that blocks are random. Now, suppose you randomly get nothing but enough consecutive s's or z's to fill up the screen. Then you'll be forced to have gaps, and you will eventually lose.

So theoretically, even a "normal speed" game of tetris couldn't go on forever because of those "s" and "z" blocks.

[Ryan]

lizak said:

hikoseijuro755 said:

I agree. Tetris is quite addicting! Many an hour has been spent cursing the little s and z blocks...

Philosophically, a game of Tetris can go on forever except for two possibilities:

1) The speed gets so fast you can't move the blocks far enough to the sides.

But the other possibility is a bit more interesting.

2) Assume that blocks are random. Now, suppose you randomly get nothing but enough consecutive s's or z's to fill up the screen. Then you'll be forced to have gaps, and you will eventually lose.

So theoretically, even a "normal speed" game of tetris couldn't go on forever because of those "s" and "z" blocks.

So, suppose the random occurrence of getting all 4x1 (line) tetriminos were to happen. Even at high speed, it is quite easy to fit these in. This would create a infinitely long game with a supposedly infinite high score, especially if you can pause the game (which you can), and with the AC adapter, the power will never run out (unless the power goes for several days). This would create the ultimate high score for tetris, but if that high score were infinite, no other score would ever be able to beat it. So adding this possibility into your theory, that increases the chances of a game going on forever, though the chances of this happening, is close to nil, as the probability of this happening increases towards infinity with each block, and a percentage of infinity is undefined..........imaginary numbers always did hurt my head.

[lizak]

Apparently there's some sort of paper on the subject. I don't explain it nearly as well as this guy does.

How awesome would it have been to do projects on things like Tetris in high school?

[Ryan]

If Only

[hikoseijuro755]

yeah, the theory of inifinite game progression would eventually result in loss. Although possible that the days long chain of l blocks can happen (and with 50% of the frequency of S and Z blocks due to the fact that there is only 1 l block), the fact still remains that the next piece has that chance to be something else. By this theory, it is important to note:

1) infinitely long chains of l blocks will result in the game going longer (assuming velocity of dropped blocks to be constant)
2) infinitely long chains of s and z blocks will result in a single unfilled space in every row, beginning when this starts to happen, and eventual loss
3) taking into account 1 and 2, the resulting possibilities are that the game continues and the game will end. Since the former only continues the game for a longer period of time while constantly bringing up the possibility of the flawless chain being broken, whereas the latter immediately ends the game, it is important to note that the latter WILL eventually happen statistically.

[Ryan]

And now my head hurts, but you have a valid explanation there.