We’ve been playing Tetris for over thirty years, quickly rotating and aligning those
falling blocks.
It seems like a simple game by today’s standards, but it taps into our psychology in a pretty
complex way.
Some say it boosts brain power, but it can be highly addictive.
Is there a tipping point where Tetris goes from being good to bad?
In one study a group played Tetris one and a half hours a week for three months and researchers
found it changed the structure of their brain.
Their cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, became thicker in certain places.
And other areas of their brains became more efficient – over time they used less glucose
to fuel the same task.
But… we can’t really tell how some changes in brain structure affect your brain function.
And if you did another task for three months, like play Mario Kart or drive a real car around
Rainbow Road, that would change the structure of your brain too.
Another study looked at whether Tetris could reduce flashbacks for people with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder.
Participants were shown traumatic film clips, then half were assigned to play Tetris and
the other half just sat there quietly.
The participants’ flashbacks were monitored for a week, and those who didn’t play Tetris
reported having twice as many flashbacks compared to the Tetris group.
The researchers called Tetris a “cognitive vaccine” – it interferes with the consolidation
of traumatic visual memories because playing it means both our working memory and visual
processing are occupied.
By blocks.
Tetris can also be pretty addictive.
It appeals to our natural desire to organize things, complete tasks and achieve goals.
It plays on the “Zeigarnik Effect,” the brain’s tendency to remember incomplete
tasks better than complete ones.
Wait wait wait, how did you get in here?
I've got something I want to say.
Ahh, here's Jamin from Game Show.
Oh, hey!
I’m gonna talk about Tetris.
Tetris is a continuous stream of incomplete tasks.
If you're always presented with more lines of blocks – or tetrominos – with no break
between levels, matching those blocks to empty spaces becomes addictive.
It gives you a constant sense of achievement.
And the solution is presented at the same time as the unfinished task, making your action
rotating the blocks with keys or buttons faster than your spatial judgement.
You think WITH the game instead of about it – it’s called Epistemic Action.
Few games allow for that immediate connection between problem and solution.
It’s been reported that some people become so hooked on Tetris they experience “The
Tetris Effect,” where thoughts of Tetris consume your non-gaming hours.
You may dream about completing more lines and mentally fitting everyday objects together
as I sometimes do.
Or try to arrange your furniture in a more tidy pattern.
But it’s difficult to say why some games are helpful for some people, and harmful to
others.
For starters, there are individual differences in why we become addicted.
Research suggests that longer gaming time and reduced social competence increases the
likelihood of gaming addiction.
And these benefits of Tetris have only been observed in a lab.
Perhaps we found benefits because we were looking for them.
The question of Tetris being good or bad is kind of like a big… puzzle.
For now, you can just keep on playing.
In moderation.
If you want to know more about the design of Tetris, check out Jamin’s episode.
I got a whole episode about the design behind it, you should absolutely check it out.
Over on Game/Show!
Click here.