Tetris Club at School Options

[SlavaTetris]

I made a Tetris Club in school, and we have it confirmed, (now to give in the form).

I need some help in how I should teach it. I will probably use lj/nullpomino or tetris friends. For for lokjaw , tetrisfriends we need no administrator permissions but nullpomino we do. So we will see but I like Nullpomino best.

Since im learning myself I dont know where to start teaching the club other than the basics on rotating, hold system functions, the well, stacking, line clears, t spins, looking at the next shape display etc. And stacking quickly.

I dont know much besides that myself ( I am stacker and been playing for 3 months and maybe a month seriously, i am very bad at tspin builds (in that i know absolutely nothing on them)) so i was just wondering onwhat would be good to teach.

[DarthDuck]

If you have a good computer lab at school then it should be able to handle Tetrisfriends. On my campus the bigger labs cause my max DAS settings to lag out while the smaller ones with less network traffic do ok.

As far as what to teach it's probably best for the newer players to watch some of the more advanced players compete and have discussions. I find that Tetris is like an RPG. As you get a higher level you can equip better weapons (more advanced techniques). For example, I'm trying to learn fractals but am not really a high enough level (fast enough player) to equip that move yet.

Everyone does better at first just spamming tetrises and no other technique is going to outshine that without a lot of practice. So they should understand that taking on new material is going to have negative short term gains.

But tetris is like chess in the sense that you guys can just play online and meet whenever you want. If nullpomino is too hardcore you should just befriend each other on TF and have some nonrated matches. It's actually that very reason that there hasn't been a chess club on my campus for 12 years despite some 30,000 students. But I'm impressed and happy to see that out there somewhere there's an initiative for tetris. I hope more campuses will follow your lead.

A google search showed that this school tried to make a club using Facebook and the Facebook app but looks like it was a failure: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2891...4437&v=wall

[blackink136]

I think if you teach those things you mentioned, it'll be enough to give everyone a good start.
Also, you might check out some of the beginner guides posted on the forums for more things to talk about. Don't forget to cite your sources.

When it comes right down to it, I think Tetris pretty much teaches itself. During play, you figure out what works and what doesn't work. It would seem to me that an instructor may only be useful when learning things like finesse and fine-tuning your playing.

Other than that, just be sure to get everybody PUMPED about playing Tetris, make some kickass t-shirts, collect some dues, cater some pizza, and you're set.

Keep us updated.

[Rosti_LFC]

I think there's an extractable version of Nullpomino that you should be able to use without any admin privileges. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the NM installer is mostly just for familiarity and ease-of-use for casual players and can be bypassed.

[Paul676]

I hope Noogy doesn't mind me quoting an e-mail he sent me. This was when I was looking to train some friends from college in tetris after a charity auction,

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How he goes about lessons:

"1. Stalking them - i go on an alternate account and record them playing for about 30 mins on TF, then look for 2-3 games that have a lot of mistakes that i could talk about with them. i fumen these games (they're about 100+ frames each) and then review them usually on a piece by piece situation

2. "Live fumen tetris" - i get a random piece sequence (like this http://i53.tinypic.com/2qtcx91.jpg) and have them play 5 pieces at a time on fumen and we'll review it together 5 frames at a time. i'll also add garbage sometimes to make things interesting

3. Writing articles - whenever i want to teach someone a new concept, i'll try to write it on a wiki because i end up teaching it many times; i usually have them read it on their own time and we discuss it when we actually meet; here are some examples of stuff i wrote (i have a few concepts that i don't share with everyone else because i'm sure there are people who disagree with me)

http://noogytetris.wikia.com/wiki/Flat_Stacking

http://noogytetris.wikia.com/wiki/Stacking/Downstacking

http://noogytetris.wikia.com/wiki/The_T-Spin_Double_Opener

p.s. look all over the website, not just those links, because it's good

4. Discussing concepts - sometimes i just like to talk about new concepts without having anything prepared; i would create fumens on the spot to illustrate my points. here are a few topics that i usually teach without any lesson plan whatsoever

- throwaway pieces/thinking less

- when to accept/block garbage

- when t-spins are actually viable

- preparing quick b2b as opposed to sending tetrises right away

- when to look at your opponent's play field

5. Sweat sessions - watching your student play and giving comments in between matches. i usually avoid this one because it is difficult for them to concentrate when im talking to them and stuff, but it is sometimes useful to see improved results over a short period of time."

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This was the document I sent my friends before their first lesson - sadly it never happened so I don't have 2nd or 3rd lesson plans:

This is the e-mail I sent them, just introducing them to it:

"I have attached a document, which contains advice, links to moving diagrams (called fumens) which I have made and also useful articles, most of which are a paragraph or so, illustrated by diagrams. This will comprise most of the theory - the lessons themselves will be trying to apply that theory in-game - all I need you to have done by each lesson is to have read the theory and complete any small tasks I might give (and if I set a task, it'll be less than half an hour to do, so it's no real compromise on the workload).

This first theory document, which you'll find attached, is called "Tetris Lesson Pre-Game #1: Basics, Flat Stacking, Efficient Downstacking, Survival and General Technique". a.k.a. Mostly common sense things which nearly everyone gets wrong at least once in a game situation. Being acquainted with these things will help you be able to control your stack better, play cleaner and more efficiently, and hopefully not get as clogged up on the playing field as you were doing before. Because a flatter stack is an easier stack to play with, you will also notice a speed difference when you get better at this."

Here is the actual document:

"Tetris Lesson Pre-Game #1: Basics, Flat Stacking, Efficient Downstacking, Survival and General Technique, and a Couple Quick, Small Tasks

If there is any jargon which I use and you don’t understand, please go to:
http://harddrop.com/wiki/Glossary

If there is anything you would like to read more up on, please search:
http://harddrop.com/wiki/Main_Page

Links which start “harddrop.com/fumen/etcetcetc” are moving diagrams – to get to the next frame, press the > (right arrow) button on the right of the image. To get to the frame before, click <. To get to the first frame, click | < .

In a fumen diagram, you can scroll the writing across if it goes off the width of the frame – so you can read all the text!

Basics and Flat Stacking:
Basic piece placement possibilities: http://www.ryanheise.com/tetris/tetris_stacking.html - you’ll need to be able to recognise all these possibilities on any field in any game you find as quickly as possible, so that you have all potential results in mind when playing a piece. This means you can start thinking about whether one of these possibilities will make your life easier on the next piece.

Tips for flat stacking:

- Try to lay all pieces in a horizontal orientation as long as the space permits you to do so.

- Only place a piece in a vertical orientation if a hole permits you to do so.
e.g. http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@deA3gbI3gbH3pbA4G7eBufBAAA

- Do not cover potential holes that will need to be filled later.

- Avoid making your stack too flat as seen here (http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@2bIwobKwxblzmblzxbRpobRppcD3ibB3gbF3gbB3gb?I3gbI3qbA4G2b4Gob6GxbdDmbdDxbxNobxNbdmHPMAhxL5D?koo2AU9taENe6Gob4GAc2APUACoeeEFM98AwhMeEFcJeD0O?7rD7eBPYBEOB), and on the first link, above (http://www.ryanheise.com/tetris/tetris_stacking.html).

Some simple shapes which are good to know, if you see these pieces coming in your next queue or simply that shape forming on your stack – it means you have got a guaranteed good stack for the next few of those pieces.:

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@7eI1cIMaBv...EwCdEcNjAakAAAA

http://harddrop.com/wiki/Playing_forever#T...nd_O_piece_loop

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@7eYA4GSoBz...shBtcBfdBaiBAAA
A few things to get you in the mood and thinking more efficiently about clearing lines:

Don’t place pieces so that the high point of your stack is over the next one or two holes. e.g.

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@TeA3obE3gb...FAOX88ARAAAAAAA

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@TeC3hbH3gb...FAOX88ARAAAAAAA – this one can be better cleared with an L piece (the orange one) or an I piece.
If forced to use the Z piece there, probably best to use it, but then you waste 3 pieces to clear that line, making it hard to keep efficiently downstacking. This is especially true if you are forced by the run of pieces to keep on stacking above that hole.

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@TeI3gbE3gb...SY91Dloo2A031CA

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@EdR3gbB3gb...U9UTASYKNEsoBAA

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@JeF3gbF3gb...AS4MrDsnFDAA?AA

Anything of this sort is not good, because needless playing over holes, especially near the top of the field is the main cause of losing in tetris, full stop. If possible, use hold to avoid the situation entirely. If not, try to play the piece differently, or play the previous piece so you don’t get into that situation.

The 2nd answer is better than the 1st on this one – the T piece is your friend!
http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@deD3gbH3gb...GAZorSAyZAAAAAA

Some interesting efficient plays in certain situations include:

On these diagrams, the topmost piece floating in the matrix is the one played first, then the middle piece, and then the bottom piece.

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@sbIwobKwxb...dB7eCHXB9gBAA?A

http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@sbRpobRpwb...hIPA?APdB6iBAAA

A nice technique for stacking for tetrises – you can use the J, T or L piece so that when you get a gap 2 blocks wide forming, you can skim one of those pieces to make it a 1 wide gap again
Like so:
http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m110@XdH3hbH3hb...ScAAA?7eBOPBAAA
The link below gives you all skimming opportunities; “fill” on the page linked below is the one I am talking about: http://harddrop.com/wiki/Skimming

General technique:

At high levels of gravity (when the pieces move quickly down the matrix) if you waste time tapping rotate 3 times, especially after time used thinking, being able to rotate both ways (clockwise and anticlockwise) could be the difference between surviving or losing. It is best to learn it now rather than later, when playing with one rotation only is more deeply ingrained into your mind. This is what it would be great for you to learn as soon as you can.

In games such as Tetris Friends (tf) Marathon, you’ll want to use the lock delay (the time it takes between the piece hitting the ground and not being able to move that piece again) at high levels of gravity to glean as much time as you can; the piece will move along the ground longer than you expect!

Small pre-first session tasks:

For the first session, please could you have an activated account made on www.tetrisfriends.com. It means that your all-time records and average statistics will be saved; I need you to have this so you know your progress.

On www.tetrisfriends.com, please play Marathon and record which level you die on. Then please play Sprint and record what your finishing time was. That should give an approximate indicator of your skill/speed level.

Finally, I don’t expect you to play perfectly having just read the theory – it takes time and practice to consistently do the right thing! There is a lot of it but you’ll find it seeping in over time."

I would have made a second lesson on tspins, and a third teaching them basics of multiplayer and getting them in that environment. Hope this helps.

I would then have got them to play blockbox survivor. Nullpo survivor is ok for this too. But because it's school computers, blockbox will be better. If your school blocks blockbox/java, then maybe best to use tetris friends marathon, and let them know every mistake in stacking and downstacking they make, and tell them how they could do it. Pause function on Marathon is helpful. If you can, take a laptop and fumen the mistake they make, and then tell them a better way to go about it.

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Please keep in mind that Noogy was training people who were about 1 minute sprints, so already decent players and knew a bit about multiplayer. I was aiming to train people from scratch. Some of Noogy's ideas would also be great for an advanced lesson, whilst mine would be for a basic lesson with people starting from scratch.

Ravendarksky's simple tspin thread is useful for basics in tspinning. So would Tetris Friends' Advanced section of their guide, where you can in a controlled environment set up and execute a tspin double.

[vipjun]

For teaching its probably best to use fumen

http://harddrop.com/fumentool

[coolmaninsano]

*transfers to Slava's school*

[SlavaTetris]

Paul676!!!! Thank you very much, what a fantastic thread you posted. I will probably intake much of it myself as I have still a long way to go and I am in thу process of learning myself.

Thanks everyone for the great input, now I have a very good fundamental on where to concentrate and go on from here.

I am anticipating the club will be a great success, as it PAINS me to watch kids play tetris horribly in IT class and technology classes ( I just want to punch in their computer screens)

Anyways, you pretty much covered it Paul, time to dwell in the information and sort this out for myself first of all.

As well I have to get aquanted with fumen and much to explore on these forums!

The future will be great.

[ash]

i tried doing something similar to this in high school

it didn't really work because kids weren't into tetris; i mean, they were excited about the whole "OH MY GOD COMPETITIVE TETRIS" thing but they weren't very good

and the worst part about it was we were forced to use tetrisfriends and the computers constantly lagged inputs and stuff

it was pretty bad



anyway, i'm not sure what type of club you're planning on running, but if you make it too educational it may become boring

why not introduce smaller topics, and then have players play vs with the techniques they just learned

like one day you could explain the 4-wide in minimal detail, have players try it
and then the next week you go more into it, revealing strategies and whatnot

[Shuey]

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for all the info Paul! I'm wanting to do something like this at my son's middle school (6th-8th grade). I'd like to possibly start some kind of after school program where kids can get introduced to Tetris and/or compete in tournaments. I only have some ideas so far, but I'm looking at having my son help me so the kids are more open and interested.

I'll reply back if and when anything becomes of it.