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Just checking around to see if anything has replaced Tetris Friends.  I went to their links and didn't see anything new, except (?) Tetris themed cosmetics???  YGTBK!

I've stuck with tetr.js and have been happy with the challenges there, but would like some competitive action like we had on TF.

I'll try some of the links provided by Blink at some point....

Actually I did check some of them out, and they're pretty good.  Thanks again Blink!  

Unfortunately I have a number of non-life threatening, but restricting problems so I can't do what I used to.  Most of these are lower body, so I do mostly upper body exercises.

I'm 64 years old, by the way...

Anyway, I start my day usually with a set of 30 push-ups.  Throughout the day I usually add to that with some additional sets of from 20-30 push-ups.  The total is usually somewhere between 50 and 220 total push-ups each day.  For some reason, I usually end up at about 90 to 95 total, but it does vary greatly.

Additionally I walk.  I recently had a bad ankle sprain, so I'm limited to a maximum of about a mile, and usually considerably less than that.  When I was younger I walked 5 miles a day--about 10,000 steps or at my speed at the time about an hour and twelve minutes give or take.  I stopped doing that sometime after I developed plantar fasciitis.

At my age, you have a lot of things that I like to call "use or lose" items.  Playing games, including Tetris keeps the mind active.  At some point you have so many of these use it or lose it" type of things that you have to pick and choose between what you are going to maintain, and which ones you are going to give up.

Something I've said/written many times is that getting old is both fascinating and terrifying at the same time.  I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, but given the alternative, I hope that everyone is "blessed" with that terror.

[1. Where's everyone playing?]

Blink,

Thanks for all the great information!  Wow.  It's been a long time since I played against you on TF Arena.  (Not that I was any challenge, but it was cool just hanging w/the top dawgs of the day.)

As always you are a wealth of information regarding Tetris.

Yes, I did miss #4, and I could say it was edited out, but I'd be lying.  I just missed it, so, yeah, busted.

Just out of curiosity, what type of computer do you use to play?  I still have yet to find anyone who really knows what the hell I'm talking about when I mention the difference between the PS2 Keyboards and the USB keyboards (other than real high-tech computer experts, not a single one of which played Tetris to my knowledge.  Most of them told me that there was no way I could "feel" a lag due to those milliseconds.  Again, I wasn't convinced.  The only time they said the difference came into play was some very high tech medical equipment.)  For those who don't know, the PS2 Keyboards sent a signal to the tower when any key was pressed, so the information was transferred directly, immediately.  The USB Keyboards scanned the keys to see if any of them were being pushed, and scanning takes milliseconds.  I WILL admit that I could be wrong.  If anyone knows about this, you probably do, Blink.  Just wondering if you play better on one computer than another.  

Don't know "Discord" from a hole in the ground.  I'll try to research it and see if I can get a presence there.  I'm naturally averse to letting my computer know too much about me--one of the reasons I didn't play TF on Facebook.  Often games will make posts on your page, and I don't like that stuff.

Thanks again for all the information.

......Rocky      

Hey there rocky, nice to see another old school gamer around.  I don't know if you're familiar with the Discord chat application, but a lot of us are more active there (https://discord.gg/harddrop) than on the forums, which in terms of activity are pretty dead compared to years ago.

1. Where's everyone playing?
Tetris99 (Switch/PC/PS4): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/tetris-99-switch/
Puyo Puyo Tetris (PC, Switch, PS4): https://store.steampowered.com/app/546050/Puyo_PuyoTetris
Jstris: http://jstris.jezevec10.com/
Tetris Friends: http://www.tetrisfriends.com/
Tetris Battle: https://apps.facebook.com/tetris_battle
Tetris Online Poland: http://tetrisonline.pl/
Cultris 2: http://gewaltig.net/NullpoMino (Java, harddrop.com server): https://github.com/nullpomino/nullpomino
King of Stackers (browser, turned-based): http://kingofstackers.com/
Worldwide Combos (browser) https://www.worldwide-combos.com/

2. Lag has always been pretty bad, but browser extensions such as Minimal Tetris Friends which strip away all the ads and lower the Flash quality have helped with improving performance in the past.  I think the plugin is broken right now though, and I doubt the author (morningpee) has any plans to update it before TF gets taken down in a few weeks.  You can also try enabling/disabling hardware acceleration on the Flash plugin itself (right click the game, settings tab, checkbox), or testing different browsers.  I have better performance on Opera and Microsoft Edge.

3. A Sanrio themed Tetris online game is coming out on June 3rd.  No other details than that. https://tetris.com/article/209/sanrio-and-t...and-merchandise

4. You skipped #4! TRIGGEREDDDDD

5. I use Left/Right = Left/Right, Up = Soft Drop, Down = Hard Drop, Left Shift = Rotate Left, X = Rotate Right, C = Hold.
I tend to use the fastest AR allowed that isn't instant because I don't like to see the piece teleporting instantly to the side, and DAS around 83-100 ms.

1) look up jstris, tetrisonline.pl, Puyo Puyo Tetris
2) It's always been pretty laggy. If you play E+ mode it is faster.
5/6) Most players use a default-ish setup; arrow keys for movement, space for harddrop, zxc for (left rotate, right rotate, hold). DAS and ARR are usually 80ms-100ms and 0ms.

Thanks XaeL, I appreciate the Info.  I thought that many of the players used different keys.  I use basically the same keys, except I do Shift, Z, Space Bar for my left fingers, arrow keys for my right.

Here is a lot of questions and topics for discussion if anyone is interested.  As others have posted, I feel a loss from the upcoming Tetris Friends closure.  If anyone can help answer my questions, I will thank you in advance.  I will try to check back and answer any questions anyone else has from my comments.

Just wondering what all the latest news is about Tetris friends, if any.

For the record, I'm 63 years old, and I play Tetris Friends mostly to keep my mind active, my reflexes sharp for my other passion, playing Foosball.  (Of course, I was somewhat younger when I first started playing TF.)  I'm a gamer from way back--I even played in the Video Game World Championships in Chicago in 1981.  (I cashed, but didn't do anything impressive.  But, I did win my trip back to Chicago from Seattle playing in a Centipede tournament.)  I know this is probably not that interesting to you young uns', but the checks bounced from the tournament, but eventually Atari made them good--at least for those who filed to get their money.

I didn't play TF on Facebook.  I just had a normal account.  I tried the Facebook version a couple of times, but didn't like it as much.  

QUESTION:  What other sites do others play at.  I recently started playing at Tetr.js, and found it to be better than Tetris friends for Sprint.  I achieved a score that equals my all time best on TF, which I know is pathetic compared to you younger folks, 1:08.

QUESTION #2:  Do others find the current version of TF "slowed down"?  It is like they removed a server or something.  The lag is especially bad, and it seems just slower in general.  (I'm really curious about this because my computer is different than it used to be, and my internet company is different, too.  So, I wonder if it is my setup that is causing this or if there is a change with TF.)

MORE COMMENTS:  I learned a lot from playing Tetris Friends.  A lot about myself, a lot about computers.  I remember a debate I had about the differences between PS2 keyboards, and USB keyboards.  There is a serious difference of how each works and it "seemed" to affect my Tetris games a lot when I changed over to the "new" USB keyboards.  A lot of people tried to convince me that there was no way those milliseconds could affect my game.  They didn't succeed.  One player mentioned that he played using a cheap-a**ed laptop.  I now wonder if laptops use the same type of keyboard system the old PS2 keyboards used to.  I did a lot better when I had the PS2 Keyboard, my recent Tetr.js score excepted.

My plans are to move to another platform after TFriends expires.  I don't know if the information I saw was correct, but I thought I heard somewhere that a new platform was going to go up right after TF goes down.  I remember that it was going to happen about 3 days later.  This all could be BS, and I can't even remember where I saw that information, or even IF I saw that information.  I could have dreamed it, for all I know--and it might just be wishful thinking.  Q#3:  Has anyone else heard such news?

When I make the change to whatever platform.  I think it might be time for me to change my keyboard pattern and settings.  I'm still using the default settings from my initial signing in to Tetris Friends, and I changed the settings and keyboard functions on Tetr.js to mimic that set-up.  

QUESTIONS #5 & #6:  What keyboard settings do some of you pros use.  And, what tuning do you use on the various other Tetris sites?  (Again, thanks in advance for any information you offer on these two fronts.

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any responses you have.

Oh, btw, I went by two 'nyms on TF, "rockywi", and "Mr. PC", if it matters.

.......Rocky

Thanks, I needed that.

Isn't there going to be a bigger and better version a few days later?

...Rok

Tetris friends is done, there's help if you need it:

https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Tetris Friends is a slippery slope. The best perfomance Ive played with on TF is using morningpee's script with chrome. But it is far from perfect, but I believe thats just the way it is. TOP is a lot more stable, if you ever want to give that a try.

I tried TOP and it seemed slower, but only two games so it could have been me.  Also I was playing the TOJ flash version of Sprint.  I'll investigate further later.

I'll try the script and see if that helps.

Thanks for the suggestions.

.........Rocky

So, hopefully my last post brings me to why I came here today:

As mentioned in my last post, I play mostly (almost exclusively) Tetris Friends online.  I've done this for a couple of years now.

At first I discovered that my opponents seemed to have an advantage in that their blocks did things that mine could never do.  I then found out that there is something called "tuning" that is sold by the site that allows you to play quicker.  I paid for it and found that I was still slower than others.  Then I found out that they were still faster than I was, so I found out that some of them used a special URL code to get the speedups without paying or even playing the game to pay with coins.

This seemed to be the best option for maximizing my speed, but others still seem to have an edge.

What I hear in other places is that they think that I am just slower and not as good as others.  I will concede that point for the most part, but I'm NOT half as fast as a large group of others.

I've noticed that one of my three computers is much faster than the other two.  I've also noticed that IE seems to be much faster than Chrome or Firefox.  Unfortunately IE doesn't work very often anymore.

I've also noticed that USB keyboards are much more sluggish than PS2 keyboards.  

I don't know from computers, so I don't know how to tweak my computers to optimize them.

I am planning to buy a new computer in a month or so.

Can anyone offer me suggestions on how to optimize my platform (and what to buy for my new one) so I can at least be on par with other players hardware wise?

Thanks in advance.

...........Rocky

Interesting Topic:

For the record:  I am 59 years old.  I have played in a LOT of gaming tournaments over my lifetime.  My primary game/sport of choice is Foosball (I meant that in the U.S. version of the word--Table Soccer, the little tables with the rods sticking through the men.  Yes, there is a pro tour in that sport, believe it or not.  An aside: one of the younger top players of our sport just happened to garner one of the top 9 spots in another "sport's" world championship, the 2014 World Series of Poker.  This has given him some notoriety in the World of Sports, and now some media outlets are taking interest in him and Foosball.  We, in Foosball circles, know him as Billy Pappas.  He is listed on the WSOP websites as William Pappa+somethingorother that is real long.  Enough of that.)

More about me:  I've played tournaments in Foosball, Chess, Billiards, Magic the Gathering, both cards and online, Pac-Man (in 1981 or so).  I played the World Championships of Video Games in 1981 (Centipede) where I won my trip back to Chicago to play.  (The checks bounced on that one.)  I've never been a Top contender worldwide in any of the games or sports or whatever you call them, but I usually am competitive with even the best, just enough so I know how ungodly good they really are.  I sometimes characterize them as not really being human anymore.

In other words, I've been around the block, gaming-wise, anyway.

I will be the first to say that I'm not as quick as I once was, but I feel that I really have a grasp of how good I am and who I should and should not be losing to.

I play Tetris to maintain my eye/hand coordination.  Mostly Tetris Friends online.

So, here is my opinion of the subject at hand:

Yes, younger folks are usually quicker and can be more competitive in games/sports like Tetris & Foosball.  That being said, top players in Chess, poker, and the like can be quite a bit older.  I've also heard that Ultramarathon Runners tend to be more middle aged than young, too, and if anything is a physical sport and requires good conditioning, Ultramarathoning is.

So, like many of you have concluded, age is only one of many factors in performance.  Still, no one expects to see any 70 year old heavyweight boxing champions an time soon, so at some point, in some sports, age can be a deal killer.

.....Rocky

I'll continue this in a separate post.....

I presume that there was supposed to be a youtube vid here somewhere?  If so, it didn't show on my end.

--Rocky

Double your current speed is definitely doable,

Here are 2 of the best Tetris Friends players in the UK (Rosti_LFC and PolarisTR) playing in the final of the UK Tetris Open 2012. Both high rank 20 players.

Admittedly they're on great computer/keyboard setups, but also they play fine on worse computers too.

Thanks everyone (and especially StS) for helping me out.  I still want to play better and test my brain and reflexes rather than my computer system.  The nullpo download might be one way.

The worst thing a player could do is to assume that he is better than he really is.  I could be missing something here.  I really am a bit dogmatic about my play.  I do a lot of it for fun, and that can hinder one from progressing as fast as they can when they take it more seriously.  (I like to throw PC's from the initial setup, for instance.)  Maybe if I really studied it and changed my game I could better my performance.  But double my current speed seems unbelievable.

I've got a couple of links above to look at, and I'll research the situation better before continuing on with this thread.

Thanks again for all your help.

--Rocky

Thanks for the reply, StS.  I appreciate your comments.  Let me flesh out my position a bit, though.

First, yes, I KNOW that I'm not the best TF player, but the others shouldn't be running circles around me.  I've been playing video games of one sort or another for a very long time.  I have played competitively in video games during their heyday (although some might say the heyday is now) in the 70's and 80's.  I also play competitive Foosball.  Sure, the young-uns are a bit faster, but I can usually counter with skill and guile.  I can hold my own with the best of them in most real world scenarios.

Additionally I play on a number of computers with a number of different types of connections.  There seems to be a HUGE difference between which computer/connection I'm using and how well I do.  On some computers I can only play at a 16-17 level, on my favorite I can play at an 18 or so level.

There are points where I can feel the speed of the game feel faster.  Normally between games in Arena when I practice b4 the next match.  I can do some amazing stuff (for me anyway) because it feels like some speed impediment has been removed.

I can feel the differences between computers, as well.  Oh, btw, I have two accounts, one where I paid to max out the the tuning settings.  The other account I didn't want to pay for anything, so my tuning is a little lower.

It appears to me that some players can drop the blocks with control faster than my computer can just drop the blocks, period.

I've found that a USB keyboard doesn't seem to work as well as the old connected ones (I think it is called PS2 or something).  Wireless connections suck when playing TF.

So, since you are gracious enough to offer advice.  Is there some optimum settings on a computer that can help scores? Do most players use the default button setup, or custom.

A small connection speed difference seems to make a huge difference in one's ability to do stuff.  I can feel it when I play, and it is almost as if I"m being held back when I play.

As far as my wife is concerned, I play TF WAY too much.  I started playing to hone my mental speed for my Foosball play, now I play more TF than I do foosball.

I'm thinking that there is something OTHER THAN SKill that comes into play here.

I'm rambling here, but it seems like I'm missing something other than skill, and it probably has something to do with my computer, connection speed, computer settings, etc.

I'm aware of the difference between the normal 20's and the 20-999's, there is a huge difference.

Anyway, I would like to know what the difference is between two extremely similar computers and connections that can make a consistent 10 second difference in my Sprint score (1:10's vs 1:20's).  I wonder if there isn't something I can do to optimize and play like I do between the matches in Arena.

Last question, is there some competition in public where I can see these top players play?  Only if I can actually see the difference in person will I believe that they are really twice as fast as I am.

Thanks again for your reply, and sorry for such a long post.

--Rocky

Also, what is Nullpo?  The only thing I've played is TF.  Any suggestions on that front.  What are my other options?  Thanks in advance, once again.  --RW

I tried this and it didn't work for me.  The ads wouldn't run, which kept the game from starting.  I did disable the one driver after that and got some improvement, but IE works best for me.

I know that I'm not optimized in some fashion, though, there are ppl running circles around me in Arena, and I don't really think it can all be attributed to skill.  I play at a low 18 top 17 level.

I wish I could find out exaclty what ppl are doing to be so fast.  There must be a secret.  Or, maybe I'm just slow and won't believe it.

--Rocky

O.K. Folks, I've been keeping a little log and here are my results, I pay for the no free ads a month at a time and apparently that eliminates that option from being awarded to me--I've never received it when I had days left on my month of paid "no free ads":

Each line is a day:

15 Tok, 15 Tok, 15 Tok
(Missed a day)
15 Tok
50 Tok, 15 Tok
15 Tok, 15 Tok, 15 Tok
(from here on out, I won't use "Tok", but just the number if it is Tokens, I can't type very well from playing too much Tetris Friends)  anyway, continuing on:
15, 15, 15, 50
15, 15, 15, 15, 15
15
15, 15
15, 50 pts Armor, 50
15, 15, 15, 50 pts Armor
15, 15, 15, 15, 15
15
15,15
50 pts Armor, 15, 15
15, 15, 15, 50
15, 15, Speed-up Clock, 15, 15
(9-8-11) 1 Diamond (yipee!)
(9-9-11) 15, 15
(9-10-11) 15, 15, 15
(9-11-11)  This day I used an alternate computer that wouldn't allow the pop-up window, so I lost out on getting my lottery, and it also reset my advancement
(9-12-11) 15
(9-13-11) 15, 50 pts Armor