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I don't think I'll be able to play my match because I'll be moving within the next day or two, and I'm not sure how long I'll be without internet. I guess I'm a little late on sending the challenge anyway :x

Sorry Profane and good luck everybody!

Nice work! Looking forward to having custom DAS. What do you mean by making a responsive and mobile design?

Would you mind elaborating in more detail regarding each control and also the main purpose behind this concept? I very much respect your dedication/efforts in Tetris and encourage you to develop even more concepts in the future.

The purpose is to provide more easy placement options than in most games, so you'll inevitably learn new ways to approach situations simply by doing the easiest thing physically in this trainer. It can help you break out of patterns you may be stuck in from always doing the easiest thing physically/mentally with standard controls and game behavior. It's not going to make you a perfect player by itself, just more well-rounded if you challenge yourself to go down paths you hadn't considered before. You have almost as many easy placement options as in Keyblox but with less keys (8 instead of 13-16) and your fingers can stay rested on the home keys. The controls are actually much closer to standard than to Keyblox. There are 4 movement keys, 3 rotation keys, and sonic drop. It's very comfortable when you're used to it, which I think helps for getting in the right state of mind.

I guess I should have explained the controls before. I was trying to keep everything in the spirit of self-imposed challenge but maybe that wasn't fair  Here they are:

A- sonic drop (for center placements, not used much)
S- rotate 180
D- rotate CCW
F- rotate CW
J- far left
K- 1 left
L- 1 right
;- far right

The piece falls when you press a movement key but you can still control it. It locks when you release the key(s).

You weren't kidding about the controls  
I managed to do 40L with 1.39 KPT, but it's a five minute game...

What's the rule that makes the T move in frame 3?

That's a great KPT

The way it works is, if you press a movement key first you'll get a diagonal gravity effect when you release the key(s). If you rotate or sonic drop it first then it'll lock wherever you leave it.

Imagine a "W", or a dual funnel. Whichever side of the playing field you move the piece to it'll try to slide one step towards the center of that half of the field when you release, if you pressed a movement key first. So by changing the order of inputs you'll have a good amount of placement options, and you can often put the piece anywhere you want with 1 or 2 keys. Here are some examples:

[fumen]110@gdA3nbB3mbC3lbD3kbE3jbF3ibG3hbH3gbI3pbEfi7?eCMcpGAy3WeD0oBAAMrOLAmCyTAS4Q5DHt+CAAwNHAyokrD?hNdCAMdwNnbxNnbwN6cEXpAA7eDEGqLAmCyTAS4Q5DHt+CA?MLqLAy3WeD0488Awk8BAsvOHAyokrDhNdCAAwNAAVdwNnbx?NnbwNxcEnb7eDEGqLAmCyTAS4Q5DHt+CAsPqMAy3WeD0488?Awk36CM0OHAyokrDhNdCAAAAedwNnbxNnbwNocEXpAA7eCM?cpLAy3WeD0488Awk8BAs4OJAxno2Ayeh1DUBAAAAwNHAyok?rDhNdCAndwNnbxNnbwNfcEXpAA7eCMcpLAy3WeD0488Awk8?BAM9OHAyokrDhNdCAAAAwdwNnbxNnbwNWcEXpAA7eCsbpMA?y3WeD0488Awk36CsBPHAyokrDhNdCAAAA5dwNnbxNnbwNNc?EXpAA7eCsbpMAy3WeD0488Awk36CMGPIAxno2AsI/dEAwNH?AyokrDhNdCACewNnbxNnbwNEcEXpAA7eDkcqIAxno2AsI/d?EMmqMAy3WeD0488Awk36CsKPHAyokrDhNdCAAAALewNnbxN?nbwN7bEXpAA7eCsbpGAy3WeD0oBAAMPPKAmCyTASYjrDG/B?AAAwNHAyokrDhNdCA0dAAnbBAmbCAlbDAkbEAjbFAA3Qpgb?AAhbBArbEXpAA7eCk7cEgBAAAeexNobxNvbEnb7eCk6cEgB?AAAeexNobxNvbEnb7eCk8cEiBAAAiexNobxNrbEnb7eAE+c?jeRpobQprbAQpaAk+7xDPG0CEFbMwDyCb5D0W98AQ5r4Ds9?BAAaeRpmbxNRpmbwNrbAQpMAsng/Dzoo2AoIyrD[/fumen]

The trainer is cool in my opinion, and deserves to be worked upon for more time. It's no less interesting than Keyblox, yet it takes less time to learn (that helps!). A few notes though:
1) I didn't understand earlier that {;} after ASDFJKL was also a working button. Now I know that it's possible to keep 1.5 kpt with reasonable speed.
2) Spacebar works as an "undo" button.

I agree that it's easier to learn than Keyblox, it's just a little weird at first. And yeah I forgot to mention you can use spacebar to reset the current piece or go back up to 3 positions. This won't undo the keys you've pressed though, and the clock keeps running.

Thanks everybody for trying it  Glad to get your feedback.

This is something I've been working on for a while and I hope everybody will try it. It's multiplayer against yourself, a tetris trainer. All you have to do is keep your kpt under 1.5 and you "win". You have to make the game random to do that, so no two games are the same. You can challenge yourself to survive the mode, or top out, but it doesn't really matter if you keep your kpt in the green.

The controls are ASDFJKL; and you'll figure out what does what. Let your unfamiliarity with the controls be the "randomness" at first. It's zero pressure, you and the game, so don't get frustrated if it feels weird. It's not about records, just about training. Topping out doesn't matter because you can just start over if you want. As long as your kpt was under 1.5 you learned something, that's the whole point. Whether you were learning the controls, basic concepts, or theoretical masterpieces, you won if you kept it in the green, that's it.

Thanks to Javier Lopez Lopez who made a basic C++ project I expanded on to make this. It only runs in windows for now but I'll provide the source on request if anybody wants it. I don't really have time to work on it anymore but I might put it up on sourceforge sometime. Here's the trainer: http://www.sendspace.com/file/56hkdg

Thanks guys, and don't worry about it Panda, it happens

StS - It could work really well at the right time, if you're keen to the situation and watching for those pieces, but I haven't actually done it outside of practice. It would be great to see someone doing things like that all the time haha.

Those numbers seem pretty accurate.

I'm just trying to have fun with it for now and I'm not really concerned with the result. If I hadn't reached this perspective on it I probably would've given up already. Maybe 100 will happen someday, but I'll just consider it a lucky run. I'm starting to feel a sense of accomplishment when I fill the entire well and top out without a single 'I' in my stack, rather than getting frustrated with the randomizer. It seems to happen more often than reaching 50 tetrises, so it's something to keep me going.

Also I've been working on some platforming techniques that have saved me from time to time. Here's one:

[fumen]110@lcG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibG3ibI3gb?I3gbI3gbI3gbI3qbHCI7eFDABK2Ap/AAAAuEBAAA[/fumen]

Jujube you're a God damned Tetris genius! I look forward to besting your record (might take a few months though!)

I am discouraged now. I tend to go for caffeine's 1 preview record first.

Haha come on you guys, you know if you can get to 50 you can survive much longer. It takes some luck here and there but sooner or later it'll just happen. I played a couple more hours and the best I could do was 54, so if not for this one game I'd be in 3rd place!

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]The game ended with a misdrop. Could have been a 100. Nevertheless, congrats.[/quote]
Yeah, I don't know if I would've gotten out of that situation anyway though. I stood up an I in the 2nd column from the left because I thought it would give me the best shape for the rest of my stack, but then I needed a couple I's to get things safe again, and there wasn't one coming yet iirc.

There was also a time around 100 lines when I closed off my tetris hole and somehow stacked 8 high over it and got the I's I needed to clear it out. That was pretty fortunate.

Got 91 tetrises in Nullpo, memoryless, 6 previews. I was using Caff's version of Nullpo (don't know if that affects the replay).
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kgnb5f

You guys can get 100! My best before that, a couple hours earlier, was 52.

Who the heck doesn't know how to stack anyway. It's an elementary principle!

All one has to do is look at the S and Z and realize that they always need a place to go or they will mess you up. It's rather plain without anyone explaining it.

Stuff like skimming or what side to stack on due to the way the pieces rotate and spawn might not be readily apparent and are worth tutorials, but really, knowing that a piece needs somewhere to go is like the entire game and I don't see why anyone would even bother with it if they don't have this fundamental aspect.

Well, there are subtle differences in how different players group pieces together. Looking just at building 4x4 squares there are different ways of going about it.

I still find myself sometimes putting a piece in hold because I didn't immediately see a good place for it, and then I'll end up putting it in a place where I could have initially. But at other times I'm instinctively placing a piece in a way that makes sense to me, and it could slow someone else down to consider whether that placement is good.

I gotta admit, many of us were probably over-excited by the fact that a single concept (parity) could explain the reason for Japanese dominance. It was too good to be true, and indeed some reflection and sanity convinced me that not even the Japanese can consciously calculate and track parity in an actual live match. Sure, they may take parity into account when it is obvious or instantly detectable, similar to how an amateur would make a t-spin if it is conveniently there, but it is certainly not a continuous procedure, not at the speed and pressure they play with.

All in all, parity was an interesting topic with theoretical truth and importance behind it. But it is not the reason for Japanese dominance. At least not by itself.

Absolutely. There are many times during the course of a game when downstacking, garbage delaying/cancelling, or field shaping to prepare to downstack are more important. It may be good to practice recognizing parity so you'll be able to apply it at the right times in the heat of a live match, but it isn't the only thing.

I'd like to join but I'll probably be moving soon and I don't know what my internet situation will be. Will let you know closer to the start date.

personally id rather be stacking flat, and as someone whos not too familiar at stacking, which option would you take? honestly the first one sounds like a hassle and is too much thinking

we can end this now, you stack how ryan hiese says so, ill stack flat, in a few games of bb, lets see whos stack is nicer or really the difference(SPOILER: there wont be any), and who ends up winning most of them
not only that, but when youre supposed to be downstacking youre advised to have a flat stack, and if youve been keeping a flat stack from tetrising, it will be easier to maintain a flat stack while downstacking. this is probably the reason you're a bad downstacker

Multiplayer is different though. You kind of have to keep your stack flatter to allow for garbage holes that could pop up anywhere. And while you're downstacking it's easy to maintain that flatness as parts of each piece are being removed from the field when you're clearing gray blocks. A stacking method that's best for speed in 40 lines may be more up to the individual. Efficiency may be good if you want consistently good times, and flat stacking lends itself to that, but nobody seems to care how consistent your 40 line times are when it comes to records.

[combined]

also please completely ignore any nonsense people try to tell you about stacking flat.

Then go here for some general rules that have actual reasoning behind them: http://www.ryanheise.com/tetris/tetris_stacking.html

I got stuck on the replay of the AI in action and didn't make it to the boring part.

This is the data I compiled over many views of the replay (all tetrises, tetris hole on the far right, TGM randomizer).
| is a vertical I piece
- is a horizontal I
The number next to the shape corresponds with the column where it was placed, with the number next to a "-" being the leftmost column the piece occupies. The columns are numbered from 1 on the far left to 10 on the far right. This is the order in which the placements were made (without any regard for the duration between them), neglecting I's used to clear lines.

Code Select Expand

| 9
| 9
| 6
| 3
| 3
- 6
| 9
| 9
| 1
| 9
| 1
| 9
| 1
| 9
| 1
| 9
- 2
| 9
| 9
| 9
| 4
- 3
- 4
| 9
| 5
| 1
| 9
| 1
| 1
| 9
| 9
| 9
| 9
| 9
| 9
| 1
| 1
| 9
| 9
| 1
| 9
| 4
| 9
| 1

| 1 * 11
| 3 * 2
| 4 * 2
| 5 * 1
| 6 * 1
| 9 * 23
| * 40

- 2 * 1
- 3 * 1
- 4 * 1
- 6 * 1
- * 4

| 91%
I'd consider the exact order of I placements shown to have a high degree of accuracy, with the total number and exact positions of I's to have a very high degree. The process involved recording and memorizing a small sequence of placements by their columns, starting the replay over and looking for this "cue" that the next unknown series is coming (at the same time error-checking the cue itself), recording the next series of I placements, etc. until the game was complete. Then I had various ways of cross-checking for errors to make the cumulative stats yet more accurate, which I believe is the more relevant thing to look at anyway. I could go on, and actually I'd like to because it was a good exercise breaking a 400+ TPM clusterfart into manageable steps (with no previous tetris experience necessary imo), but I'll save it for the chunking discussion if anybody wants me to elaborate further.

Wow. 23 vertical I placements in column 9?? This is more than the number of I's placed in any way in any other place in the stack combined. It's a very bold approach from the AI but looks like a playable method. One could have a simple goal to always look to place an I vertically in column 9 or 10, or sometimes in column 1, which could speed up the general thought process enough to trump the idea of always stacking flat. The AI doesn't even seem to care if the I fills a gap or it sticks up in the air because things just work out either way. Given a randomizer of this nature one might assume it's safe to stack across 7 to 8 columns a lot of the time and still keep a decent shape. If those 8 columns get a little high, put an I in column 9. If you have a spare I put it in column 1 or 9. Or neglect column 1 and fill it later. Not so bad. And if you're not going for tetrises you can just throw an I in column 10 any time. In Sprint you could use this method until very close to 40 lines then downstack, or use it all the time and wait for an efficient ending to happen on its own.

In this particular game though the randomizer dealt out more I's than it should have. Based on score/1200 and the blocks remaining at the end of the game, and assuming there were exactly 44 I's stacked, an I was dealt one in 6.6 pieces. I don't think this diminishes anything though because the evidence supporting this method of stacking as playable is too strong.

Welcome to HD spacecowboy.

It would help if you could get this to happen on video. Which game are you playing?

Until now, we have been pleased thinking japanese players are better because they are asian. I know this might come as a shock to you, but this is actually wrong. The reason why japanese players is in a bracket of their own, is because of their understanding of parity. Their understanding of parity is helping them to do more t spins. This might sound strange, but it is true. I think the reason this has not leaked out earlier, is because japanese people speak japanese, and japanese people understand japanese, so this knowledge passes on from one japanese to another, while everyone else doesn't understand a word of what they just said.

This is so true. I think there's also a conspiracy against online translators so that we'll never make sense of even the most basic japanese phrases.

I'd argue that Ryan Heise's AI is strong evidence for this being the case

I'll have to check it out.

I wonder if players are intentionally making T-spin singles to change the parity for likely T-spin doubles. Go go Yoshihiro in any game that rewards EZ-TSS.