The Tetris Effect

Some months ago I purchased a new cell phone, the VX9900, or the ‘enV’, for those who don’t know their LG electronics product codes (for shame). It is hands down the most awesome electronic device ever engineered by man, excluding of course the remote control and the propeller beanie. My phone has the game Tetris on it and there’s nothing better in life than passing those monotonous moments with a nice game of
fit-the-blocks-together-and-
make-them-disappear-until-
they-go-too-fast-and-you-lose-
because-your-brain-is-too-slow.

Thanks, Russia.

So now, after many, many hours of Tetris, it is official. I have experienced the Tetris Effect. Yes, it exists.

For those who don’t know what that is, you can click here:

For the 100% of you who read on hoping for a brief explanation, it is as follows: It’s when you play too much Tetris and see the colored blocks semi-transparently in everyday life overlapping your normal vision, as well as involuntarily trying to mentally fit together the various shapes that normal, everyday objects can make. Trust me, it’s fucking annoying. Try picturing stuff like this all day, every day:

above: Normal View

above: Tetris Effect

And by the way, if the world of Tetris was a group of high school kids, the red 1x4 stick would be the handsome jock and the yellow 2x2 square would be the unpopular fat kid that has a habit of saying things like “uh, Miss Foster, you seem to have forgotten to assign us our homework assignment for the evening”. Then all the 1x4’s beat him up after class because he effing deserves it.

Nobody likes a 2x2.

above: Playground Justice