Caffeine Creator of TetrisConcept.com, 2005-2009
Age 25
Tetris Age 21
Game Boy Tetris era - When the game boy was black and white
High scores 40L 29.85
Dig Race 14.41
Cheese mode 5.31 (C2)
Jame's CLewett's mode tied #1 (C2)
Tournament standings 1st - Mobile Tetris Tournament - won $2,000 and a trip for 2 to Hawaii
1st - Qualifying Tetris World Champions
3rd - Tetris World Champions
1st - Perfect Clear Fest 2010
1st - Tetris DS Tournament
I played my first game back in 1991 at my neighbor's house. It was NES Tetris. I immediately fell in love with the game. I played here and there up until the late 90s, when my obssession really started showing. And I've been playing since then.
What games did you move to after NES? The second game I remember seeing after that was when I was at my cousin's house. They had a new PC and had the Microsoft Tetris version on it. Unfortunately, my cousin and sister hogged it the whole time, and I never got a turn. After that, my friend's parents took us to the beach one summer (four hour drive), and he played Tetris on his Game Boy the whole way. Once again, I didn't get to play. I think these two events are responsible for fueling a life long obsession with the game once I finally got my hands on my own game.
I would pick up whatever games I could find. I got Tetris DX for GBC, The Next Tetris for PC, The New Tetris for N64, and I used to play a lot of Shockwave Tetris.
Meanwhile, I was simultaneously discovering Tetris clones on the internet like Tetrinet. I remember feeling amazed at how fast the other players were going.
Was Tetrinet the first tetris clone you played? I think I must've downloaded a few dozen before running into Tetrinet. Even back then, Tetris clones were plentiful. However, Tnet was special because not only was it multiplayer--it was competitive. I really enjoyed that about it.
Were you a part of any Tetrinet clans? haha, sad to say, but no.I did follow rivalries closely. I was a Hellfire fanboy.
Who was on the Hellfire clan? Spindizzy. I guess I was more of a Spindizzy fanboy than anything. I'd come home and watch him play (he was always the one player at the bottom of his playfield), and I remember being estatic everytime I'd find a new strategy article on the HF website. Back then, the internet was scarce with information related to that sort of stuff, and Tetris strategy has always really interested me.
Back when the Blockbox community was active, I heard of TetrisConcept.com and that you were the original creator. Is that true?Yes. I mentioned that back in the day that Tetris-related content was rare, so tetrisconcept.com was my attempt at doing something about that. A couple years ago I shut down tetrisconcept.com because I had a lot on my plate. Afterwards, some of its members took it upon themselves to make an alternate website (Tetrisconcept.org). I don't have anything to do with that.
What Tetris games do you current play on? I've been playing a lot of Nullpomino and Cultris 2 lately. I'm hoping some cool new Tetris games will come out for consoles in the near future, though. For example, I really enjoy talking to my opponents through the headset while playing on Xbox Live. It adds a social element to the game. For that reason, Tetris Worlds Live for Xbox was one of my favorite all time multiplayer online Tetris games. I met a lot of interesting Tetris players on that one.
What game modes on Nullpomino and Cultris 2 do you like? On Nullpomino 7.6, there's a multiplayer dig race mode where both players get the same garbage and pieces. This is similar to c2's cheese mode. Downstacking's one of my favorite aspects of Tetris. I've always been a fan of normal multiplayer as well, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do in these modes. (I'm not very good at change-on-attack garbage games, yet.)
What are your tips for a new Tetris player? There's one thing I've noticed some players will do after losing that bothers me. They will blame their loss on things like luck, not being ready, lag, whatever. It's meant make it look like they're actually better than they were (and therefore shouldn't have really lost). If no one cheated and you agreed to the circumstances in which the game was played before you began, then you lost fair and square. It's disrespectful to denigrate your opponenent's victory in that way. Bite your tongue, congratulate him or her, and then honestly look back at the game and try to figure out what went wrong. If you ignore the real reasons why you lost, how can you expect to improve upon them?
What is the most important skill a player should have to become an all around better multiplayer player?I think the three properties most important to improving in multiplayer are time, effort, and openness to new strategies and ideas. You can get by with one or two, but you won't really become great unless you have all three.
Who is your biggest Tetris rival? Corrosive and I go way back. We used to be neck and neck over a decade ago, and we still are. Actually, he's better, but I still think of him as a great opponent. bleh, he quits, he plays, he quits. this is the way of the true tetris player
Do you hope to see Tetris to become bigger and more recognized in the gaming world? At the moment more people think of Tetris as a relaxation/time killing game instead of recognizing the competitive side of it.I agree for sure. I'd like to see it taken more seriously in the future.
I was watching my sister play once (who would qualify as a casual Tetris player), and she talked about how she lost interest once she got good enough to play indefinitely. I couldn't get her to try out a more challenging mode like multiplayer, but I hope to see more players do this in the future. The game actually has a lot of depth, and I think a lot of the casual players unfortunately miss out on this.
How would you rate yourself as a player? Decent, I think. Maybe B-
.. LOL %%% and tier LMFAO a B- is like an 80-85 right?
e - e i have like.. LOL no comment loooooool
lmfao you and David make this way too difficult! looool
we'll say top 15% ok? oooh a percentile figure. say 20%
Do you have any goals you want to reach in Tetris? As of right now, my goal is to figure out how play more effectively at "new school" games like Tetris Friends.
Any final tips and tricks? like a fancy schmany spin you've been holding out on us? 
That's top secret!
Stingy much? ok disregard that then. darn it making me thiinkkkkkk.. ok lemme think.
Never ever ever forfeit a Tetris match when it isn't all the way over. Some of my most memoriable games were those where I was one row from topping out but some how made my way back down and won.
Do you have any fans? any girls hitting on you because of your skills?hahaha [ignore] looooool i can't think of a good answer to that
Do you have any last words? Big thanks to all my HD buddies! I owe you guys a lot for helping me become a better player!
Interview with Caffeine
Apr 20 2012, 04:40 PM
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