Tetris

As someone who has loved and spent many mind-numbing hours attempting to beat my family members in Tetris, I found this article quite interesting. Who would have thought that the game I was playing was actually something beneficial! New research has shown that this game can actually help trauma victims.

"'Because games like Tetris use the parts of the brain responsible for visual attention and visual memory, which also contribute to flashbacks, they may reduce flashbacks', she said."

"But verbal games, which compete with the resources in the brain that remember the contextual meaning of the trauma, may reinforce visual memories in the perceptual channel, the researchers said."

Okay so truthfully, I don't play Tetris anymore. Two babies and a dog sorta put a dart through that. But I did used to play Tetris quite a bit. It started with Tetris for regular Nintendo. You know, the one that looks like this:

This was only a one player game, but my Dad, brother, and myself used to play it all the time. We'd try to set a record for points and we'd try to set the record for lines. I believe I held both records for quite some time. I know that 212 was my line record. I really believe it's impossible to hit 220 because the computer begins running faster than you can respond. I don't remember my points total but it was ahead of my brother and Dad. That I do know.

In fact, we eventually recruited my Mom into the world of Tetris. I can remember going to play miniature golf on vacation. Included in the purchase of one game of golf was ten free video tokens each. My Dad, brother, and I were thrilled. My Mom, not so much. But my Dad "forced" her to sit in front of the Tetris game and give it a try. By the end of it, she was begging us for more coins.

We'd created an addict.

Years later, a new Tetris would emerge on Nintendo 2. We actually have this at our house. My Dad found it on Ebay. JB and I will still get in the mood to play this now and then, but again, our little boys have sorta nixed that kind of free time. When we could call our home, I would, and find that my parents were too busy to talk to me. They'd be right in the middle of a Tetris game. When I would go home to South Florida, I'd get addicted all over again. I eventually became second-best in my family to this new Tetris, shown below. Keith, Mom, and JB were left in my dust, but my Dad, not so much.

Nintendo 2's Tetris 2 offered the opportunity to play against someone or even the computer. You could handicap yourself to make it fair too. This one worked on colors instead of lines, and in my opinion was much "funner" than the original.

Not sure where this post came from. One article on yahoo just jumped me back down memory lane. Sweet times.

P.S. Happy birthday to my online friend and fellow Dalmatian lover, Teri!