Can you watch this and tell me what I'm doing wrong?

[CosmicCommunist]

Just... just mute the audio. I made this video for other purposes too so the little bit I'm talking might sound strange at times. But yeah. I somehow managed to beat my high score when making the video but I want someone to watch this (bits and pieces of it--no pun intended) and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Do I need to just git gud, or is there a fundamental flaw to my strategy? In upstacking I *always* end up with two empty columns and this hurts me really, really badly. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG D:

Thx :V

[Danieru]

Just... just mute the audio. I made this video for other purposes too so the little bit I'm talking might sound strange at times. But yeah. I somehow managed to beat my high score when making the video but I want someone to watch this (bits and pieces of it--no pun intended) and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Do I need to just git gud, or is there a fundamental flaw to my strategy? In upstacking I *always* end up with two empty columns and this hurts me really, really badly. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG D:

Thx :V

1. TL;DR

2. Play more and try making tetris'...

[PabloNex]

Just... just mute the audio. I made this video for other purposes too so the little bit I'm talking might sound strange at times. But yeah. I somehow managed to beat my high score when making the video but I want someone to watch this (bits and pieces of it--no pun intended) and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Do I need to just git gud, or is there a fundamental flaw to my strategy? In upstacking I *always* end up with two empty columns and this hurts me really, really badly. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG D:

Thx :V

Just play often so you can improve stacking
PD:You want to add me on tetris friends?(Im PabloNex)  

[CosmicCommunist]

Just play often so you can improve stacking
PD:You want to add me on tetris friends?(Im PabloNex)  

Added you

And no matter how much I practice I always end up with the same problem. Holes on either side! I've played this for   10+ years and still have the same issue.

[Okey_Dokey]

I liked that you made holes instead of building towers for a long time in the video. Building towers is a beginner's mistake you often see. Just play more and you'll see more spots/opportunities and you'll see them faster. You'll also learn with time which keys to press to get to a certain spot.

Some tips: Learn to use both rotation directions. After that learn to hold Left/Right key down to autorepeat a piece to the wall (instead of tapping 4 times). Autorepeat is pretty slow though unless you "purchase" DAS and ARR in the shop (I got some rubies by watching videos, not sure if this is still possible). I would also suggest to take cellotape and paper to cover all preview pieces but the next one. Too many preview pieces can be too distracting for beginners. The next piece is very important - good players use it all the time (you need it to play fast, don't directly focusing on it, instead perceive it only in peripheral vision).

PS: Communists don't play Tetris. Communists only use Tetris to distract capitalists.

[tomcaa]

And no matter how much I practice I always end up with the same problem. Holes on either side! I've played this for   10+ years and still have the same issue.

I think you could try practicing stacking from one side to the other, like stairs, but not to high or narrow, something like two columns wide, one row high, so you can always find a place for the next piece. You can intentionally leave a hole on one side for the I-piece to make tetrises, and gradually fill up everything else.

Just don't overthink, try to play as naturally as you can while you practice, connecting pieces without making holes, and things will get better and better. Even when you make holes, those will be fixed when you start recognizing some block patterns. I tried to find an image of those building blocks somewhere for the last half an hour, but I was not successful  

PS: Communists don't play Tetris. Communists only use Tetris to distract capitalists.

You mean like this guy said?  

[CosmicCommunist]

I liked that you made holes instead of building towers for a long time in the video. Building towers is a beginner's mistake you often see. Just play more and you'll see more spots/opportunities and you'll see them faster. You'll also learn with time which keys to press to get to a certain spot.

Some tips: Learn to use both rotation directions. After that learn to hold Left/Right key down to autorepeat a piece to the wall (instead of tapping 4 times). Autorepeat is pretty slow though unless you "purchase" DAS and ARR in the shop (I got some rubies by watching videos, not sure if this is still possible). I would also suggest to take cellotape and paper to cover all preview pieces but the next one. Too many preview pieces can be too distracting for beginners. The next piece is very important - good players use it all the time (you need it to play fast, don't directly focusing on it, instead perceive it only in peripheral vision).

PS: Communists don't play Tetris. Communists only use Tetris to distract capitalists.

Yeah I started playing in Nullpomino and I'm getting better with that, but I still have the issue of using unidirectional rotation, since I'm so used to FreeTetris's scheme (I didn't know of any other version until I joined this forum). Yeah in the video I wasn't doing what I normally do. I normally have a habit of doing nothing but building towers which then end up in failure. And so. What should I do to avoid building towers? I try my best to conserve my I blocks and try using L/J blocks to save me whenever I can, but usually that ends up in holes and I end up screwing myself over. I don't usually look at the preview pieces. I only use my peripheral vision and let my subconscience process it for me.

Thanks for actually taking the time to watch the video

PS: Communists invented Tetris  We not only play it, but the Soviet Union *made* it

[Okey_Dokey]

What should I do to avoid building towers?

Using the Hold piece in the right situations and making sure the next piece fits before dropping the current piece. Even under classic Tetris rules (no Hold, meaner randomizer) and 0 previews it's often possible to stack in a way where the stack stays stable (no holes, no towers). It works like tomcaa said: keep 2 columns empty on the wall and stack higher on the other wall. This way of stacking is a bit overkill for modern Tetris though. Modern Tetris is more about stacking flat and not giving up the back-to-back bonus.



The advantage of a 2-wide is that you can place almost every piece in the well ("skimming") without creating a hole. If you've got to create a hole, then try to make holes that you can clear easily ("platforming"). A hole originating from placing a Z or S piece vertically is harder to clear than a hole originating from a horizontal S or Z piece placement. Placing L and J pieces upside down creates also easily-to-clear holes. That's also often true for horizontal I piece placements.

[fumen]115@HhC8GeC8GeC8CeA8AeA8KeAglvhDUrBCtBzmBAAA[/fumen]

Also try to avoid obelisks. Or wells that can only be filled with I pieces (height difference at least 3 to both sides).  And zig-zag-surfaces. If you've got to place an O piece or an S, Z piece vertically somewhere high in the matrix, then rather place it with an even umber of columns aside from the wall.

[fumen]115@bhA8AeA8AeA8AeA8AeA8KeAgWKAu32TASIINEPnBAA?JhB8AeB8CeD8AeD8BeA8AeA8AAA8AeA8AeA8JeAAAJhBABe?AACeDABeCAAeDABeDAJeAAA[/fumen]

[CosmicCommunist]

What should I do to avoid building towers?

Using the Hold piece in the right situations and making sure the next piece fits before dropping the current piece. Even under classic Tetris rules (no Hold, meaner randomizer) and 0 previews it's often possible to stack in a way where the stack stays stable (no holes, no towers). It works like tomcaa said: keep 2 columns empty on the wall and stack higher on the other wall. This way of stacking is a bit overkill for modern Tetris though. Modern Tetris is more about stacking flat and not giving up the back-to-back bonus.

I often end up with what you see in this image you show. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I instinctively try to build this.

[tomcaa]

What should I do to avoid building towers?

Using the Hold piece in the right situations and making sure the next piece fits before dropping the current piece. Even under classic Tetris rules (no Hold, meaner randomizer) and 0 previews it's often possible to stack in a way where the stack stays stable (no holes, no towers). It works like tomcaa said: keep 2 columns empty on the wall and stack higher on the other wall. This way of stacking is a bit overkill for modern Tetris though. Modern Tetris is more about stacking flat and not giving up the back-to-back bonus.

[caffeine]

What should I do to avoid building towers?

Using the Hold piece in the right situations and making sure the next piece fits before dropping the current piece. Even under classic Tetris rules (no Hold, meaner randomizer) and 0 previews it's often possible to stack in a way where the stack stays stable (no holes, no towers). It works like tomcaa said: keep 2 columns empty on the wall and stack higher on the other wall. This way of stacking is a bit overkill for modern Tetris though. Modern Tetris is more about stacking flat and not giving up the back-to-back bonus.

I often end up with what you see in this image you show. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I instinctively try to build this.

This image comes from a very early Tetris site called The Unofficial Gameboy Tetris Home Page. The following text accompanies it,
[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]"When waiting for a Tetris opportunity, there is inevitably a screen full of blocks just waiting for a long piece to slip into the gap on the side. What's helpful is if you build from the side opposite of the gap, since it will ensure that there will be room to maneuver and rotate the long piece into the gap. It will look like a jagged ski slope decending towards a cliff (left). This tactic can save you from overloading the screen because you can use the T, L, Gamma, Z, and S to eliminate a couple lines while waiting for that long piece, but at the same time not closing off the gap, since there's nothing worse than closing off a gap right before the long piece comes." (submitted by Khoa Vuong)

There's actually a mathematical formula to determine the optimal Tetris curve, but, er, I don't want to waste your time with such technical mumbo-jumbo.[/quote]

As okey was saying, it lends well to skimming. This type of surface sort of made a reemergence with Cultris 2, where people want to be make line clears with as many pieces and orientations of those pieces as possible. It's more geared towards survival play, since you lose potential points by skimming away Singles and Doubles.

I found it really interesting when it was mentioned that there was a "mathematical formula to determine the optimal Tetris curve." I tried reaching out on twitter to the author about this, but he never got back to me. I've come to think it was mostly likely just some flavor text.

[zaphod77]

SOme tips.

1) except for the I piece, try to prefer horizontal placements, especially for S and Z. vertical placements of those pieces can cause the castle effect, which often makes you chose between towers or holes.  Of course often a vertical placement is a cleaner fit.
2) if you have a choice between a tower and hole, pick the hole.Exception. at low speed it's pretty safe to make a tower of s if it's on the VERY left, or z on the VERY right.
3) if you have a choice for hole location, a hole near the outside is better than a hole in the middle, and a hole near the bottom is better than a hole up top. Even a really ugly placement near the bottom is better than any hole up high.
4) watch the next piece. situations that would ordinarily be bad are good iif you know the piece you need is coming.  Say you have a spit that can be filled with either L or a J place vertically. you current piece is a T. if next piece is an L or a J, you know which side to place the T on.  if it's neither you may want to place the T elsewhere.
5) learn to skim.  placements that seem bad at first glance can clear up their own hole.
6) don't be afraid to make a hole if the preview(s) are giving you the pieces to fix it.
7) don't be afraid to place a I piece elsewhere besides the tetris hole.  When playing Guideline bag will ensure you get another I piece soon enough.  It takes ten pieces to make a tetris, but you get an i every seven.  So you can afford to waste an I piece roughly every three bags.  
8 ) You can hold I pieces and almost certainly should hold your first I.  When you need to hold another piece, try to get that I back when you can. you can always pull it back out later if needed.
9)  rotating both ways is essential.  sometimes you need one or the other to even get a S or Z to rotate at all.  You will almost certainly run into this at some time if you try to abuse move reset.
10) don't overstack on top of a hole, no matter how clean it looks. it is usually better to make a second hole low than to keep stacking over the existing hole.

[CosmicCommunist]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]
There's actually a mathematical formula to determine the optimal Tetris curve, but, er, I don't want to waste your time with such technical mumbo-jumbo.

I found it really interesting when it was mentioned that there was a "mathematical formula to determine the optimal Tetris curve." I tried reaching out on twitter to the author about this, but he never got back to me. I've come to think it was mostly likely just some flavor text.
[/quote]

I'm a math major--hit me.

[CosmicCommunist]

Thanks y'all! This helps
What are some essential pages in the wiki I should read? There's just so many I don't know where to start!

[tyrex420]

Just... just mute the audio. I made this video for other purposes too so the little bit I'm talking might sound strange at times. But yeah. I somehow managed to beat my high score when making the video but I want someone to watch this (bits and pieces of it--no pun intended) and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Do I need to just git gud, or is there a fundamental flaw to my strategy? In upstacking I *always* end up with two empty columns and this hurts me really, really badly. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG D:

Thx :V

I think you should review your footage and guess where possible flaws in structure could be... a few seconds in, with a J piece, you could have fit the short width in that small gap, instead of turning it around to stand on the end of it's length.