Analytical paper on Tetris

[thazzle]

I'm writing an analytical paper on why Tetris has stayed popular over the years and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for what I should add into the text?

[Anonymous]

because we are all skinny nerds, and we have no lives/nothing better to do!

also, the thread about why people play might help you a bit.
http://harddrop.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3461

[freakwithfire55]

well honestly, i think its because its simple. of course its not simple. sz stacking, tspin triples, 4-wide, etc.

what i mean is that the concept is easy. oh, there are pieces that is every combination of 4 blocks put together. fill up a whole row with these pieces, the row disappears, and you get points. its not that hard. thats why i think people still play it. its easy to get a hang out rather quickly...kinda...

[Kitaru]

The great thing about about Tetris is that a set of relatively simple rules give rise to great depth. It's kind of like Go in that respect. Like freakwithfire said, the simplicity allows one to pick it up, play, and have fun with it, but the game has a lot of lasting value if they choose to stick with it as well. And, although the average player may not be aware of it, small tweaks to the rules can have significant implications in how the game plays. In that way, Tetris is more of a genre of related games -- you've got some people on NES Tetris, some on Tetris: The Grand Master, some on the guideline-style Versus games like Tetris Splash and TOJ, others playing TNET or Blockbox, or quirky games like Quadra... There are a lot of options out there, but they all fall back on the basic concept of a tetromino game.

If you want to compare the relative complexity of Chess and Tetris here are some excerpts from Wikipedia and TC/HD wikis:
For Chess:

Recent results[4] disprove that estimate, by proving an upper bound of only 2^155, which is less than 10^46.7.

For Tetris:

The number of board states in Tetris can have is 2^200 ... ≈ 1.6 x 10^60.
The number of stable ("with non-filled line") board states is 102219 x 10^23 ... ≈ 1.54 x 10^60

Of course, a great number of these states in both games probably aren't too likely to come up, but it's interesting to note nonetheless.

[exchliore]

I would not recommend writing a math paper on why Tetris (or anything else for that matter) has stayed "popular" over the years. This is less a mathematical paper and more of a psychology paper. Why anything is "popular" is (and probably always will be) a psychology study. This question in particular would look at action and rewards (and possibly diminishing rewards). Tetris is a very rewarding game. The player moves a piece and fits it into place. A sudden reward. 10 pieces are 10 rewards. The player builds up to clear 1 line for a fast reward or aims for a long term goal (a tetris) for an even bigger reward. Then you look at the point scale, levels, diminishing returns and you can easily measure how addictive the game can be. You can write a math paper on this, but it is more commonly approached from the psych disciplines. Heuristically, Tetris is an example of poor game design in today's day and age of gaming (which is another discussion altogether).

A more interesting paper would look at the mechanics of Tetris and it is unfortunately a large domain. I can easily write a hundred pages on Tetris theory and still not cover the intricacies of the game.

I suggest looking at just one portion of the game. Here are some examples:

1 page essays:
1. Choose a Tetris piece. Discuss how this piece affects board position. Give examples.
2. Discuss why Tetris is based on the number 4 (and not just examples in the game).
3. Looking at 3 piece generation systems - random, bag, TGM, what is the likelihood that you'll see any piece once, twice, or thrice in a row?

2-3 page essays:
1. Discuss the implications of the number of columns in a Tetris well. There are 10, but what if there are 9 or 12?
2. What is the average minimum number of buttons pressed per piece in Tetris to play the game? Show your work.
3. For a simple map position, discuss your options for each Tetris piece. Please also discuss space restrictions and piece prediction (use the bag method). Here is an example: http://harddrop.com/fumen/?v110@keF3hbE3pbA4G

4-5 page essays:
1. Define a system to measure pressure/difficulty in a Tetris game (single-player). How does this pressure present itself to the player? How does it scale with the game? Give examples and show your work (these should be put in an appendix and referenced. They should not count towards your page total).
2. Describe and compare the complexities and difficulties of building a single, double, triple, and tetris. Show your work.
3. Choose one advanced Tetris mechanic (kicks, t-spins, hold, etc). How does this mechanic add an extra layer of complexity to the game?

[dkorn725]

I would not recommend writing a math paper on why Tetris (or anything else for that matter) has stayed "popular" over the years. This is less a mathematical paper and more of a psychology paper. Why anything is "popular" is (and probably always will be) a psychology study. This question in particular would look at action and rewards (and possibly diminishing rewards). Tetris is a very rewarding game. The player moves a piece and fits it into place. A sudden reward. 10 pieces are 10 rewards. The player builds up to clear 1 line for a fast reward or aims for a long term goal (a tetris) for an even bigger reward. Then you look at the point scale, levels, diminishing returns and you can easily measure how addictive the game can be. You can write a math paper on this, but it is more commonly approached from the psych disciplines. Heuristically, Tetris is an example of poor game design in today's day and age of gaming (which is another discussion altogether).

A more interesting paper would look at the mechanics of Tetris and it is unfortunately a large domain. I can easily write a hundred pages on Tetris theory and still not cover the intricacies of the game.

I suggest looking at just one portion of the game. Here are some examples:

1 page essays:
1. Choose a Tetris piece. Discuss how this piece affects board position. Give examples.
2. Discuss why Tetris is based on the number 4 (and not just examples in the game).
3. Looking at 3 piece generation systems - random, bag, TGM, what is the likelihood that you'll see any piece once, twice, or thrice in a row?

2-3 page essays:
1. Discuss the implications of the number of columns in a Tetris well. There are 10, but what if there are 9 or 12?
2. What is the average minimum number of buttons pressed per piece in Tetris to play the game? Show your work.
3. For a simple map position, discuss your options for each Tetris piece. Please also discuss space restrictions and piece prediction (use the bag method). Here is an example: http://harddrop.com/fumen/?v110@keF3hbE3pbA4G

4-5 page essays:
1. Define a system to measure pressure/difficulty in a Tetris game (single-player). How does this pressure present itself to the player? How does it scale with the game? Give examples and show your work (these should be put in an appendix and referenced. They should not count towards your page total).
2. Describe and compare the complexities and difficulties of building a single, double, triple, and tetris. Show your work.
3. Choose one advanced Tetris mechanic (kicks, t-spins, hold, etc). How does this mechanic add an extra layer of complexity to the game?

wow,woo!