7 ms·

Life is more like Tetris than Chess

109 points by pappyo 11y ago

nlawalker 11y ago
I guess I'll be the one to add the old classic (which I'm sure the author intentionally left out): "In Tetris, just as in life, it is your mistakes that pile up while your accomplishments disappear."
dTal 11y ago
>If you played Tetris at the slowest possible speed for the rest of your life, you could possibly never lose. The only enemy would be fatigue. But the algorithm for beating Tetris is not complicated, and you have plenty of time to move the pieces to their optimal locations. I believe this is inaccurate. If you play long enough, you always lose. Proof: You cannot cleanly make lines with only s-pieces. If you assume a random distribution of pieces, you eventually get a string of s-pieces long enough to exhaust the game board, though you can keep it going for a very long time. I would like to hear this uncomplicated algorithm for beating tetris.
- tamana 11y ago
  S and Z pieces you mean: htp://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating_sequence_of_S_and_Z_pieces Playing with S-only is trivial.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Just making a clickable link for convenience: http://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating_sequence_of_S_and_Z_pieces http://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating...
- kmicklas 11y ago
  I think the official Tetris spec actually mandates certain bounds on time without seeing each block. It's not a uniform distribution.
- dlp211 11y ago
  > You cannot cleanly make lines with only s-pieces. That's not true at all. | | | | -- -- -- -- | | | | Sorry for the bad ASCII art, but I just created a line using only 'S' pieces. When the line clears, the top of the 'S' will collapse and clear a second line.
  - iraphael 11y ago
    actually the second line won't be cleared. A hole will be left where you're thinking each of the top blocks would fall into.
  - eCa 11y ago
    But you can't clean the bottom line with only S-blocks.
- eCa 11y ago
  The official Tetris rules state that you get one of each type in groups of seven; aka bags[1]. In other words, you get a maximum of two of a type in a row. [1] http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator
- memco 11y ago
  Most of the Tetris versions since 2001 are theoretically able to go on forever[1]. Even the old NES version which doesn't have the same cyclic bag randomization is able to be played far enough to be considered infinite by some[2]. Your life however, has no such guarantee of fixed randomness and you might be forced into a losing situation. [1]https://tetris.wiki/Playing_forever https://tetris.wiki/Playing_forever [2]http://meatfighter.com/nintendotetrisai/ http://meatfighter.com/nintendotetrisai/
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
beerbajay 11y ago
The only winning move is not to play?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
pgeorgi 11y ago
And sometimes it's hatetris http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html, the tetris that hates you.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- nadezhda18 11y ago
  neat! but how can they be so mean :))) I wonder if it is possible to get more than 3 points
- samstave 11y ago
  4 points!!! Edit: 0 points next round :-( fuck that game.
- omegaworks 11y ago
  The 30 point game is beautiful. http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html#𤇃𢊻𤄻嶜𤄋𤇁𡊻𤄛𤆬𠲻𤆻𠆜𢮻𤆻ꊌ𢪻𤆻邌𤆻𤊻𤅋𤲥𣾻𤄋𥆸𣊻𤅛ꊌ𤆻𤆱炼綻𤋅𤅴薹𣪻𣊻𣽻𤇆𤚢𣺻赈𤇣綹𤻈𤇣𤾺𤇃悺𢦻𤂻𤅠㢹𣾻𤄛𤆓𤦹𤊻𤄰炜傼𤞻𢊻𣲻𣺻ꉌ邹𡊻𣹫𤅋𤇅𣾻𤇄𓎜𠚻𤊻𢊻𤉛𤅫𤂑𤃃𡉌𤵛𣹛𤁐𢉋𡉻𡡫𤇠𠞗𤇡𡊄𡒌𣼻燉𣼋𦄘炸邹㢸𠞻𠦻𡊻𣈻𡈻𣈛𡈛ꊺ𠆼𤂅𣻆𣫃𤮺𤊻𡉋㽻𣺬𣈛𡈋𤭻𤂲𣈻𤭻𤊼𢈛儛𡈛ᔺ http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html#𤇃𢊻𤄻嶜𤄋𤇁𡊻𤄛𤆬𠲻𤆻𠆜𢮻𤆻ꊌ...
  - JonnieCache 11y ago
    That is truly wonderful. If you can't get it to work initially, click replay and paste the long japanese (?) string from the url into the prompt.
martythemaniak 11y ago
This calls for game of http://blockbattle.net/ http://blockbattle.net/, where tetris IS like chess.
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  Oh man, that's fun.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
jowiar 11y ago
The two main lessons that stuck with me from chess: "When you see a good move, look for a better one" were always the first words out of my coach's mouth, and that not looking at things from the other person's perspective is asking for punishment.
tkyjonathan 11y ago
Life is more like backgammon than chess, imo.
RamshackleJ 11y ago
Great platitudes! This is either slightly better than a buzzfeed listicle or worse by polluting the collective human consciousness understanding of what life is like. It shows lack of perspective to try describe existence and life in terms of a game. Read some god damn existentialist or absurdist literature you half-baked philosophical caveman. I welcome any repartee from the filthy plutocrat lapdogs!
- mcguire 11y ago
  https://xkcd.com/1018/ https://xkcd.com/1018/
- dawnbreez 11y ago
  Games are made to represent life; so too with stories. Therefore, not only is it not a lack of perspective to represent existence in terms of (a game|a fairy tale), it is in fact ideal to do so. Go read a little G.K. Chesteton, then we'll talk.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
hosh 11y ago
I was going to come on here and maybe write something clever, or something from a different angle. Then I saw the responses that were already here. A few fun snarks, and the rest? Lots of criticism, and some outright ridicule. So much for not challenging yourself. Just before my 30s, I was getting knee deep in learning about strategic thinking. The art of making decisions in the unknown. All about Sun Tzu, Musashi, Col. John Boyd. Maneuver warfare. Stacking things up, eliminating the opponent's means to win ... and the will to win. Tried to apply it in Go, and in my martial arts. Sometime in my early 30s, I found myself in the middle of a spiritual quest. The things that this guy is saying were one of the many themes that I had learned during that journey. The metaphor that clicked for me wasn't tetris, it was mountain climbing. The only person you are challenging is yourself. I had noticed everything this author had said -- inventing difficulties to feel that sense of victory. I learned the difference between winning by prevailing and winning by making the other guy lose. And yeah, in the end, you play to play. There's nothing wrong with voluntarily stepping up to greater challenges. However, it's one thing to do that with eyes clear and mind open, and another to do it to make it seem as if you were fighting some big monster, when ... that's not the case. I don't play too many games these days. My meditation practices are far more demanding and challenging than most games.
- HiroshiSan 11y ago
  Your post really reminded me of a section in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance. The main character and his boy were climbing up a mountain together. The boy would often try and rush up the mountain and only end up exhausting himself, frustrated. The Father older in age, wiser, would slowly climb up as fast as he could go in the moment. Knowing when to rest and when to climb. Thank you for your post.
DyslexicAtheist 11y ago
funny that. my analogy was always more toward backgammon because it requires both luck by the dice and strategy
- mcguire 11y ago
  Nah, it's more like old-time poker: luck, strategy, and the judicious application of excessive violence.
jondubois 11y ago
Life is like http://agar.io http://agar.io - Everything about that game has a parallel concept in real life. It teaches you about society, luck, greed, injustice, wealth, collaboration, risk, power, companies vs startups, etc... If I had to have a bible to teach me about life, that game would be it.
such_a_casual 11y ago
I would have loved to hear how Tetris is more like the author's life than chess, rather than hear about how my life is more like Tetris than chess.
pdm55 11y ago
I prefer chess to Tetris. I like a clear goal, something achievable in a short time span. I like something where I have to think. I don't like shooter games (or Tetris): I mean, what's the point? Has chess improved my thinking skills in other areas such as mathematics. I don't think so. So, as I type this, I am trying to work out why I like chess. Some reasons: I have some friends who also like to play, so it provides an impetus for us to get together. I have got better as I got older. I have given it away a number of times, principally because of work commitments or because other entertainments such as bridge (the card game) has captured my interest. But as I mentioned, I have got better as I got older. This is a source of satisfaction. My sporting abilities have very obviously got worse (or become nonexistent), so it encourages me to find I am getting better at some things. I am sixty now and could easily beat both my 16 year old self and my 30 year old self. Just writing that perks me up.

109 points by pappyo 11y ago

I guess I'll be the one to add the old classic (which I'm sure the author intentionally left out): "In Tetris, just as in life, it is your mistakes that pile up while your accomplishments disappear."

dTal 11y ago

>If you played Tetris at the slowest possible speed for the rest of your life, you could possibly never lose. The only enemy would be fatigue. But the algorithm for beating Tetris is not complicated, and you have plenty of time to move the pieces to their optimal locations. I believe this is inaccurate. If you play long enough, you always lose. Proof: You cannot cleanly make lines with only s-pieces. If you assume a random distribution of pieces, you eventually get a string of s-pieces long enough to exhaust the game board, though you can keep it going for a very long time. I would like to hear this uncomplicated algorithm for beating tetris.

tamana 11y ago
S and Z pieces you mean: htp://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating_sequence_of_S_and_Z_pieces Playing with S-only is trivial.
- mikeash 11y ago
  Just making a clickable link for convenience: http://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating_sequence_of_S_and_Z_pieces http://harddrop.com/wiki/A_deadly_piece_sequence#Alternating...
kmicklas 11y ago
I think the official Tetris spec actually mandates certain bounds on time without seeing each block. It's not a uniform distribution.
dlp211 11y ago
> You cannot cleanly make lines with only s-pieces. That's not true at all. | | | | -- -- -- -- | | | | Sorry for the bad ASCII art, but I just created a line using only 'S' pieces. When the line clears, the top of the 'S' will collapse and clear a second line.
- iraphael 11y ago
  actually the second line won't be cleared. A hole will be left where you're thinking each of the top blocks would fall into.
- eCa 11y ago
  But you can't clean the bottom line with only S-blocks.
eCa 11y ago
The official Tetris rules state that you get one of each type in groups of seven; aka bags[1]. In other words, you get a maximum of two of a type in a row. [1] http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator
memco 11y ago
Most of the Tetris versions since 2001 are theoretically able to go on forever[1]. Even the old NES version which doesn't have the same cyclic bag randomization is able to be played far enough to be considered infinite by some[2]. Your life however, has no such guarantee of fixed randomness and you might be forced into a losing situation. [1]https://tetris.wiki/Playing_forever https://tetris.wiki/Playing_forever [2]http://meatfighter.com/nintendotetrisai/ http://meatfighter.com/nintendotetrisai/
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

beerbajay 11y ago

The only winning move is not to play?

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

pgeorgi 11y ago

And sometimes it's hatetris http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html, the tetris that hates you.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
nadezhda18 11y ago
neat! but how can they be so mean :))) I wonder if it is possible to get more than 3 points
samstave 11y ago
4 points!!! Edit: 0 points next round :-( fuck that game.
omegaworks 11y ago
The 30 point game is beautiful. http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html#𤇃𢊻𤄻嶜𤄋𤇁𡊻𤄛𤆬𠲻𤆻𠆜𢮻𤆻ꊌ𢪻𤆻邌𤆻𤊻𤅋𤲥𣾻𤄋𥆸𣊻𤅛ꊌ𤆻𤆱炼綻𤋅𤅴薹𣪻𣊻𣽻𤇆𤚢𣺻赈𤇣綹𤻈𤇣𤾺𤇃悺𢦻𤂻𤅠㢹𣾻𤄛𤆓𤦹𤊻𤄰炜傼𤞻𢊻𣲻𣺻ꉌ邹𡊻𣹫𤅋𤇅𣾻𤇄𓎜𠚻𤊻𢊻𤉛𤅫𤂑𤃃𡉌𤵛𣹛𤁐𢉋𡉻𡡫𤇠𠞗𤇡𡊄𡒌𣼻燉𣼋𦄘炸邹㢸𠞻𠦻𡊻𣈻𡈻𣈛𡈛ꊺ𠆼𤂅𣻆𣫃𤮺𤊻𡉋㽻𣺬𣈛𡈋𤭻𤂲𣈻𤭻𤊼𢈛儛𡈛ᔺ http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html#𤇃𢊻𤄻嶜𤄋𤇁𡊻𤄛𤆬𠲻𤆻𠆜𢮻𤆻ꊌ...
- JonnieCache 11y ago
  That is truly wonderful. If you can't get it to work initially, click replay and paste the long japanese (?) string from the url into the prompt.

martythemaniak 11y ago

This calls for game of http://blockbattle.net/ http://blockbattle.net/, where tetris IS like chess.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
Oh man, that's fun.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

jowiar 11y ago

The two main lessons that stuck with me from chess: "When you see a good move, look for a better one" were always the first words out of my coach's mouth, and that not looking at things from the other person's perspective is asking for punishment.

tkyjonathan 11y ago

Life is more like backgammon than chess, imo.

RamshackleJ 11y ago

Great platitudes! This is either slightly better than a buzzfeed listicle or worse by polluting the collective human consciousness understanding of what life is like. It shows lack of perspective to try describe existence and life in terms of a game. Read some god damn existentialist or absurdist literature you half-baked philosophical caveman. I welcome any repartee from the filthy plutocrat lapdogs!

mcguire 11y ago
https://xkcd.com/1018/ https://xkcd.com/1018/
dawnbreez 11y ago
Games are made to represent life; so too with stories. Therefore, not only is it not a lack of perspective to represent existence in terms of (a game|a fairy tale), it is in fact ideal to do so. Go read a little G.K. Chesteton, then we'll talk.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

hosh 11y ago

I was going to come on here and maybe write something clever, or something from a different angle. Then I saw the responses that were already here. A few fun snarks, and the rest? Lots of criticism, and some outright ridicule. So much for not challenging yourself. Just before my 30s, I was getting knee deep in learning about strategic thinking. The art of making decisions in the unknown. All about Sun Tzu, Musashi, Col. John Boyd. Maneuver warfare. Stacking things up, eliminating the opponent's means to win ... and the will to win. Tried to apply it in Go, and in my martial arts. Sometime in my early 30s, I found myself in the middle of a spiritual quest. The things that this guy is saying were one of the many themes that I had learned during that journey. The metaphor that clicked for me wasn't tetris, it was mountain climbing. The only person you are challenging is yourself. I had noticed everything this author had said -- inventing difficulties to feel that sense of victory. I learned the difference between winning by prevailing and winning by making the other guy lose. And yeah, in the end, you play to play. There's nothing wrong with voluntarily stepping up to greater challenges. However, it's one thing to do that with eyes clear and mind open, and another to do it to make it seem as if you were fighting some big monster, when ... that's not the case. I don't play too many games these days. My meditation practices are far more demanding and challenging than most games.

HiroshiSan 11y ago
Your post really reminded me of a section in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance. The main character and his boy were climbing up a mountain together. The boy would often try and rush up the mountain and only end up exhausting himself, frustrated. The Father older in age, wiser, would slowly climb up as fast as he could go in the moment. Knowing when to rest and when to climb. Thank you for your post.

DyslexicAtheist 11y ago

funny that. my analogy was always more toward backgammon because it requires both luck by the dice and strategy

mcguire 11y ago
Nah, it's more like old-time poker: luck, strategy, and the judicious application of excessive violence.

jondubois 11y ago

Life is like http://agar.io http://agar.io - Everything about that game has a parallel concept in real life. It teaches you about society, luck, greed, injustice, wealth, collaboration, risk, power, companies vs startups, etc... If I had to have a bible to teach me about life, that game would be it.

such_a_casual 11y ago

I would have loved to hear how Tetris is more like the author's life than chess, rather than hear about how my life is more like Tetris than chess.

pdm55 11y ago

I prefer chess to Tetris. I like a clear goal, something achievable in a short time span. I like something where I have to think. I don't like shooter games (or Tetris): I mean, what's the point? Has chess improved my thinking skills in other areas such as mathematics. I don't think so. So, as I type this, I am trying to work out why I like chess. Some reasons: I have some friends who also like to play, so it provides an impetus for us to get together. I have got better as I got older. I have given it away a number of times, principally because of work commitments or because other entertainments such as bridge (the card game) has captured my interest. But as I mentioned, I have got better as I got older. This is a source of satisfaction. My sporting abilities have very obviously got worse (or become nonexistent), so it encourages me to find I am getting better at some things. I am sixty now and could easily beat both my 16 year old self and my 30 year old self. Just writing that perks me up.