Tetris needs no introduction. This colorful and highly addictive building block game has been around since the mid-1980s, and over the decades you’ve probably played it on a number of different platforms and devices – or will if you were born around the same time that Tetris hit the original Game Boy, like me.
But have you tried the Tetris app for iPhone recently? I guess some people will always have Tetris in their iPhone game library and always will. Others may have deleted it, grown bored with it, or simply forgotten about it over the years. But I’m here to tell you that it’s time to re-download it and put it back into your daily gaming rotation. Though don’t blame me if it eats up all your free time again, just like it did back in the 90s.
What’s new about Tetris for iPhone?
We all know how Tetris works. Blocks of different shapes and colors fall from the top of the screen and you have to rotate them and decide where they will make to create whole rows. As you build, the blocks pile up and if you don’t make enough rows, they will fall back and prevent new ones from entering – game over!
The core game mechanics haven’t changed for iPhone or iPad. But there are some improvements that make gaming more fun, intuitive and Apple-like. For starters, on both iPhone and iPad, swipe controls make it easy to quickly draw lines. Just slide the blocks around the game to move them, then tap to rotate before swiping down to push them into place.
There’s also a ‘hold’ feature that lets you swipe up to hold a part, allowing you to turn it on at just the right moment. Tetris purists might argue that this makes the game easier, but I actually like that there’s a little more strategy this way.
Another thing you may not be used to if you haven’t played Tetris in years is that you can now play with hundreds of other people online. Completing rows will send blocks to your opponents, while you have to deal with whatever comes your way in the game that other people send you. It’s fast, fun, and refreshing if you’re tired of playing solo on a regular basis.
You can also connect with friends and play against them or join Tetris Primetime. This happens every night and lets you battle it out with prizes up for grabs.
Honestly, the details don’t really matter that much. This is more of a love letter to Tetris and an excuse to remind you that instead of looking for new and exciting games, sometimes the nostalgic ones are the most fun.