A Beginner's Impressions

[ella_guru]

From what I can tell, this isn't breaking any rules and I think that while a lot of the players here are high level, the silent minority might be those who are a bit newer (like myself) but aren't posting.

So, for both myself and the benefit of others, I'm going to use this thread as a place to discuss my own improvement as well as a log which I will update weekly so one can see the progression of an amateur and maybe avoid some of the pit falls I'm sure to encounter, and I can see what areas I need to improve.


Dec 15 2010

Just started playing tetris again because of a crazy youtube video I saw (invisible tetris, arika). So I've been playing Tetris Friends (TF) with a room mate and some friends.

I was getting beat often in 1v1 so I wondered that their must be more to it than speed. I started looking up all sorts of theories and esoteric strategies and was a bit lost. I started getting quick with the
"Play Forever" method which helped boost some confidence as well as made for a novel trick for my friends. I didn't think it would sustain in multi since I never saw others use it. Though I beat my friends a bit with it, at the advice of some of the members here I stopped.

At their advice I have also begun to:

-Rotate with both keys, trying to remember the 'finesse' movements.

-Focus on stacking cleanly. Sometimes I find I make "castle" like stacks with lots of square pieces jutting out everywhere so no O L or J pieces can work. I have to fix this.

-Look to the next piece to plan accordingly

-I picked up some graph paper and taped up 4 different T Spin Double (TSD) openings. I practiced them for a while today and can expect to have a TSD out from 6-20 seconds. This gives me some confidence in multiplayer since it stuns the opponent at my level. I did this by practicing each opening separately for about half an hour. If I didn't get the starting piece I was happy with, I just hit restart, so I could hone ONE opening at a time. Then, I just went with what I was given. I found this to be very effective.

-I'm playing without the ghost piece as well as trying to not use the hold function in some marathon practicing just so I can use these things as a bonus tool, and not a crutch. So I can expand my repertoire of available moves per situation.

-I've begun some low level skimming ideas too

Of these things, I try and just worry about ONE while I play. It keeps the mind from getting overwhelmed.

I plan on committing at least 30 minute of focus on one aspect of my play everyday, and then maybe some more in real games just to get some instinct and application going. I know fundamentals will be important.

What a fun game!

ty ty  

[chopin]

Ella, you have a great start and very good things to practice on your list. Most of the things you list are essential fundamentals and are extremely important. This thread is a good idea too, hopefully it will encourage more players to do the same. See you on Tetris Friends sometime ^^

[Paul676]

wowwee that's some solid commitment - keep on going!

[Paradox]

Good luck to you! You will see a lot of improvement if you really enjoy the game. To me it is almost like a game of chess. It definitely stimulates the mind to the point where stacking becomes second nature. Once it is second nature you start focusing on the bigger picture and the stacking is automatic.

[ella_guru]

Good luck to you! You will see a lot of improvement if you really enjoy the game. To me it is almost like a game of chess. It definitely stimulates the mind to the point where stacking becomes second nature. Once it is second nature you start focusing on the bigger picture and the stacking is automatic.

Yea exactly! It's like real time chess, or more like real time lego. Well what some may not like to admit is when we are in the "Tetra-Zone" and just not thinking about anything just pure instinct - that's meditation. You can find this in any kind of engaging activity, though I feel it comes out quicker and sooner in tetris because of the immediacy of things. Oddly enough, I find the hardest time being able to reach it through my music lately. In martial arts (I'm a an amateur) you also get in that zone because you don't really want to get punched. Tetris has a similar feeling and I think that combined with the "shop talk" that goes on is something that really compels me towards this game. Plus it's easy to fire up just a few rounds when I'm on break (or sometimes a few too many!)

Oh! I just realized I have to send you a message over PM regarding some stuff. Thanks for the help so far, BTW. If you ever have any musical questions I'd love to try and help.

ty ty  

[Chumpsquid]

Yea exactly! It's like real time chess, or more like real time lego. Well what some may not like to admit is when we are in the "Tetra-Zone" and just not thinking about anything just pure instinct - that's meditation. You can find this in any kind of engaging activity, though I feel it comes out quicker and sooner in tetris because of the immediacy of things. Oddly enough, I find the hardest time being able to reach it through my music lately. In martial arts (I'm a an amateur) you also get in that zone because you don't really want to get punched. Tetris has a similar feeling and I think that combined with the "shop talk" that goes on is something that really compels me towards this game. Plus it's easy to fire up just a few rounds when I'm on break (or sometimes a few too many!)

Oh! I just realized I have to send you a message over PM regarding some stuff. Thanks for the help so far, BTW. If you ever have any musical questions I'd love to try and help.

ty ty  

What you're experiencing is Csiksentimihalyi's "flow."
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=...amp;sciodt=2000

3 conditions:

1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task.
2.  One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
3.  The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.

[ella_guru]

What you're experiencing is Csiksentimihalyi's "flow."
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=...amp;sciodt=2000

3 conditions:

1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task.
2.  One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
3.  The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.

That's very interesting. I'm going to read up on your link. The poor fellow has a last name that will just never catch on though haha.

Though I will say from a cursory glance it appears to be an intellectualizing of something that is anything but intellectual. Perhaps it may sound flighty to some, but when we shut off our mind for a minute, then we just tap into our raw instinctual nature. This is and has been the premise of meditation since well, forever.


I do appreciate the scholarly spin on it though, since I like thinking about things that I have an interest in , thanks for the link.


That poor fellow has a last name that just will never catch on though, haha.

[coolmaninsano]

That poor fellow has a last name that just will never catch on though, haha.

[Ravendarksky]

I like what you say about focusing on one thing so you dont get overwhelmed. That's what I've been doing when I get nervous during my Tourney matches. Just concentrating on downstacking and building tetris.

[ella_guru]

Dec 23rd 2010

Merry Christmas and all that.

I've just been going on as normal, trying to focus on the things. It's pretty clear that none of this happens over night. I've mostly been playing one player mode so I'm not stressed out or anything while I think. By opening with a T spin I usually trump my opponents in battle mode however. I went from rank 11 and am feeling a good challenge at 13. I admit, it's mostly basic stacking mistakes and poor planning that has me losing, and not the pressure of the opponent. I'll need to practice alone more, I think.   LPM average around 16 in this mode for me.

Working on speed and finesse, my Sprint (clear 40 lines, no bonuses) time has gone down from 2:30 to 2:00 on average, with my best time being 1:53. Though I can tell now that every second shaved off from here on in will be hard earned. I ALWAYS play better when I play off the next  block in my bag and not just what's in my hands. The problem is remembering to keep an eye up there! one can easily forget in the heat of the moment.

For fun, I've been messing around with trying to setup B2B t spins. It's obviously out of my league, but it gets your head thinking in new ways. It's a great challenge to only be able to stack up on 7 columns instead of 9.

Since I neglected actually working on my T spin openings, I will make sure to do that this week. Other than that, It's going to be mostly sprint and marathon play for practice.

2 become 1

Finally - one method to practice I have been using to help with "playing a block into the bag".

look at your current block, and then next one. Decide where they are both going to go, then finesse them as best you can and as fast as you can one after another. Then, stop, and think about your next two moves before making a move. Repeat. I believe this in time will let my mind be less jumpy, and see new blocks as just an extension of the current one, and take some of the franticness out of playing.


-Must remember to look at next piece

-work on T spin openings

-keep doing the "two piece at a time" method and see how it comes along

-work on Sprint speed



All the best, I hope santa brings you lots of l and t minos.

ty ty

[caffeine]

Though I will say from a cursory glance it appears to be an intellectualizing of something that is anything but intellectual. Perhaps it may sound flighty to some, but when we shut off our mind for a minute, then we just tap into our raw instinctual nature. This is and has been the premise of meditation since well, forever.
I do appreciate the scholarly spin on it though, since I like thinking about things that I have an interest in , thanks for the link.
That poor fellow has a last name that just will never catch on though, haha.

He wrote this book about the subject, and it's really worth reading for anyone interested in learning more. Made me change the way I approached 40L. =]

Tetris is like a flow-machine. I encounter the phenomenon often when playing fast as I can, but not when I play slow (aka licensed) games or try to do gimmicky things like T-Spins or Perfect Clears. I think it's because the speed aspect of Tetris calls for me to be more "aroused" than other ways of playing, while still being incredibly challenged.

[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/flow-chart-e1288764374387.jpg\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/flow-chart-e1288764374387.jpg\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]

[mippo]

Dec 23rd 2010


Working on speed and finesse, my Sprint (clear 40 lines, no bonuses) time has gone down from 2:30 to 2:00 on average, with my best time being 1:53. Though I can tell now that every second shaved off from here on in will be hard earned. I ALWAYS play better when I play off the next  block in my bag and not just what's in my hands. The problem is remembering to keep an eye up there! one can easily forget in the heat of the moment.

Nice read!
I just had a look at your sprint, I don't know if you are doing it on purpose, but you might
give it a try to stack a bit higher and do more tetrises, you can look at some of the replays of records or even highest sprints of the day to get the idea. I find it a lot easier to place pieces if you don't have
to constantly think of how to fit them in to clear a line and just keep one row on the side empty for tetrises,
it's a good skill to have...
Good luck with your improvements!

[ella_guru]

Exactly the little nuggets Im hoping to get out of this thread. duly noted and maybe I'll make a point of just starting my playing by looking at a replay or two.

ty mippo, ty


@ Caff.

Ahh this chart is so fun to look at . I just keep thinking about things in my life and how it fits. It's not overly genius, but it's extremely concise . I think of some of my musical performances and how easily it all fits into that chart. I'll try and pick that book up over the holidays, though I'm a bit frightened of trying to go into and shopping mall. Eep.

[coolmaninsano]

ty mippo, ty

This looks so creepy with that face D:

[ella_guru]

Jan 8th 2011

Happy new year! Year of the rabbit is supposed to be a calm one....

Since my last post, I didn't get to actually practice as much as I had resolved to with the time off, but I did do lots of playing. On TF I'm comfortable at rank 14 , and can more or less count on sending about 40 lines a game. I feel a definite improvement with just playing more games, so to those feeling hopeless, just grind it out, endure some tetris related hallucinations, and enjoy your new found success. In my 1v1 games I always go for a 2 wide sort of combo play. While it might not take a huge amount of skill, it's really rewarding , and is just a tad harder to get your stack going than with a regular tetris sort of play where you would have 9 spaces to stack with.

Recently ST stacking was introduced to me. To the pros out there I ask - Is this considered multiplayer viable strategy? Having something technical like that to build towards really gives me motivation to play, but I don't want to waste my time..

In some pretty exciting news :

http://harddrop.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3130

Noogy is offering to help out people at right around my level. Looking forward to see what kind of insight can be shared in tetris. He's very kind to extend such an offer. I'll be sure to post when the lessons get rolling.

I missed the online tetris finals which I am bummed about. Is anyone offering a replay of the stream? I was really interested in what the commentary would be, and can't seem to find a way to watch the tournament, or at least the finals.

ty ty  (aww they took my smiley away! ) :