Tetris (or tetronimo tennis) is one of the most popular video games ever and another classic programming exercise. As a later project, I am planning to make small devices which run a version of tetris, to give away as presents. Tetris seemed like a good choice of game for such a toy, seeing as it has already been so successfully implemented on handheld devices like the Gameboy. So, before spending a lot of time and perhaps money on making the device, I thought I would start by testing out the game logic with software first.

This project was relatively easy as there are so many versions of tetris already available, and some are available as source code. Getting ideas for what approach would work and what wouldn’t was simple and very quickly the code came together.

I had deliberately chosen Processing as the programming language, because my embedded version later on will most likely run on the language Wiring, which is very similar. Obviously an embedded version will not have the same resources of a modern PC (high res display, lots of memory, fast processor will all be lacking on the ‘toy’ version), so I have also deliberately tried to keep input and output as basic as possible to avoid implementing features I will not be able to transfer to a microcontroller/lcd device.

PLAY THE GAME

Click the link below to play the game. Use the left and right arrow keys to move the playing piece as it falls. Press the up arrow to spin the shape, and repeatedly tap the down arrow key to accelerate the piece to the bottom.