Tetris furniture

Posted by Cory Doctorow, April 14, 2009 10:35 PM |

Brazilian designers Diego Silvério and Helder Filipov created this stacking Tetris furniture -- the tricky part is getting your spouse to slowly lower it, piece by piece, from the ceiling.

Tetris Furniture (via Neatorama)

Tetris 'helps to reduce trauma'

00:29 GMT, Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Playing the computer puzzle game Tetris can help reduce the effects of traumatic stress, UK researchers say.

Volunteers were exposed to distressing images, with some given the game to play 30 minutes later, the PLoS One journal reported.

Players had fewer "flashbacks", perhaps because it helped disrupt the laying down of memories, said the scientists.

It is hoped the study could aid the development of new strategies for minimising the impact of trauma.

However, the researchers accept translating their findings into practical applications could prove difficult.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), often associated with experiences during conflict, can affect anyone who has suffered a sudden and shocking incident.

One of its main features is the "flashback", in which the distressing sights, sounds or smells of the incident can return in everyday life.

Tetris may work by competing for the brain's resources for sensory information Dr Emily Holmes Oxford University

The Oxford University experiment works on the principle that it may be possible to modify the way in which the brain forms memories in the hours after an event.

A total of 40 healthy volunteers were enrolled, and shown a film which included traumatic images of injuries.

Half of the group were then given the game to play while the other half did nothing.

The number of "flashbacks" experienced by each group was then reported and recorded over the next week, and those who played Tetris had significantly fewer.

Treatment hope

Dr Emily Holmes said it might produce a "viable approach" to PTSD treatment, although she acknowledged that a lot needed to be done to translate the experiment into something that could be used to help real patients.

She said: "We wanted to find a way to dampen down flashbacks - the raw sensory images of trauma that are over-represented in the memories of those with PTSD.

"Tetris may work by competing for the brain's resources for sensory information.

"We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards."

She stressed that no conclusions could be drawn on the general effects of computer gaming on memory.

Dr Holmes added: "We are not saying that people with PTSD should play Tetris but we do think it is hugely valuable to understand how the brain works and how it produces intrusive flashback memories.

"Because we cannot study the genesis of real flashback memories during real trauma we need to find other approaches and this sort of cognitive science can give us models to help us better understand emotional memory."

Professor David Alexander from the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Research stressed it was ethically impossible to simulate an event so catastrophic as the type of incident which can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"The volunteers here knew that something was going to happen, but they were not going to be harmed - a genuinely traumatic incident is different in scale, and is usually completely unexpected and marked by feelings of loss of control."

He said that post-traumatic stress was normally detected and diagnosed only weeks after the event, rather than in the hours immediately afterwards, and it was very difficult to predict which people were likely to develop it.

Tetris: A short history and stategy guide

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History:

Introduction:

The instant rise and continued success of Tetris has had profound and virtually incalculable impact on the video game industry. It is typically listed as one of the top 5 video games of all time in magazine and Internet panels every year as much for its influence as for its gameplay.

Though its immediate success was clear, its prolonged success was in the beginning anything but sure. Behind the scenes were dramatic last second negotiations for rights, ruthless legal battles spanning years, strange coincidences, and the largely ignored personal property rights of its creator - all in an epic struggle for Tetris exclusivity, which was as elusive as the game was successful. Today it remains - by far - the most widely played electronic game in history, with no signs of slowing down.

1984: The Birth of Tetris:

Borne from his fondness for the classic geometric puzzle board game “Pentominos”, an innovative Russian computer programmer named Alexey Pajitnov develops an electronic variant using just four building blocks (Tetris from Greek “Tetra” meaning four) for the computers at his workplace, the Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

When he gives it to colleagues, it becomes an instant, hugely addictive hit, and shortly thereafter spreads like wildfire via floppy disk throughout the Soviet Bloc’s computer literate.

1986: Foreign Interest:

Two years later, Robert Stein, head of London-based Andromeda, has since played the game and contacts Pajitnov with a licensing deal. However, they were unable to reach an agreement.

Stein then travels to Moscow, yet after several days’ negotiations, fails to leave with a signed contract with Elorg (short for Elektronorgtechnica), the Russian ministry in charge of the import and export of hardware and software.

1987: The Unofficial Licensing of Tetris:

Despite the lack of a signed contract, Stein sells the Tetris rights to media mogul Robert Maxwell’s British-based software company, Mirrorsoft, and its American counterpart, Spectrum Holobyte. In addition, he continues to press Elorg for a contract.

1988: The First release of Tetris:

In January, after procuring the rights to Tetris the previous year, Mirrorsoft and Spectrum Holobyte release the first PC-compatible version to wide critical and commercial success in both Europe and North America, effectively setting the scene for worldwide interest.
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Strategy:

Score & Level:

The key essentials to most Tetris variants are your score and your level. To obtain the highest scores and fastest possible levels, one should create a "Tetris." A Tetris is the clearing of four lines at once using the I-shaped Tetrimino, or “I-Tetrimino.”

Create a Tetris:

To create a Tetris, the player should leave one of the 10 columns open (preferably the first or last), build up the remaining 9 columns with at least 4 solid rows of Tetriminos, and when the I-Tetrimino comes, drop it into the empty column for a huge “Tetris” bonus. Of course, for the biggest bonus, complete two or more Tetrises in a row, or a “Back-to-Back”! The only way to do this is without having any Single, Double or Triple line clears until your next Tetris.

Tetris Cascade:

To get the most Cascades at once, there is a special method, and this is an advanced trick! Using either (or both) S- or Z-Tetriminos, stack them up horizontally (that is, with the flat part facing down) against the right or left side of the playfield, right on top of each other, until they reach about 4 pieces high (or 8 rows). Use the remaining 7 columns to build an absolute solid layer of rows using the other Tetriminos (including leftover S- and Z-Tetriminos), with no holes. This layer can go as high as you like.

Once you have roughly four S- or Z-Tetriminos stacked on top of one another (but could be less or more), and a solid layer of rows beside them, place a vertical I-Tetrimino on the outer highest point of the topmost S- or Z-Tetrimino. If it was an S-Tetrimino, it would be the right side, and if the Z-Tetrimino, it would be the left side. Then when another I-Tetrimino comes into play, place that vertically on the other end of the Z- or S-Tetrimino – or onto its lowest point, thus creating your first “line” – and viola, a 7 row Cascade will occur for a huge bonus!
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News:

Tetris Helps reduce Trauma

From the BBC:

Here is a fascinating study from Oxford University where volunteers were shown distressing images and then given Tetris to play 30 minutes later. Players had fewer "flashbacks" than non-players. Researcher Dr. Emily Holmes claims, "it might produce a 'viable approach' to PTSD treatment."
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Play:

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/
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More Tips:

Appendix of Tips
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Source: http://www.tetris.com