Archive of May 2021

First Person Tetris

Game Info
Developers@dontsave (Original), @sdrmme (HTML5 Version)
Release Date2009?
PlatformsFlash, HTML5
Gameplay
Hold Piece?No
Piece Preview1
Well Size10 x 20
Hard DropYes

While a bit disorienting, First Person Tetris is a fun variant that plays as pretty standard Tetris, but every time you rotate a block, the entire screen rotates along with it. First Person Tetris started life as a Flash game created by @dontsave and more recently re-implemented into HTML5 by @sdrmme. First Person Tetris is also a bit of a nostalgia piece with the graphics being based on the NES version and the screen consisting of a CRT monitor on the floor with a VCR and some old tapes on top.

This is just a gimmick variant, but it's one I like to go back to pretty often. The screen rotating doesn't make a huge difference to the game and is mostly a fun distraction. It doesn't take too long to get used to the blocks falling up or to the side of the screen and it's just a slightly goofy way to play regular Tetris, no strange tetrominos or weird block physics. Just regular tetris with an unusual visual display. It also comes with two variants, lights out mode and in crisis mode.

Lights Out Mode

This works as the regular game, but the only things visible are the tetrominos. No background, no outline of the well, no piece preview. This makes dropping the first block incredibly disorienting as you can't really tell what direction is down. It gets a bit easier to deal with after you have one down since you can now see where "down" is, but not seeing the well walls makes this pretty difficult to avoid making dumb mistakes. Not a big fan of this mode, it's more of a one-off gimmick.

In Crisis Mode

In Crisis mode's greatest accomplishment is that it truly captures the visceral, existential horror of being a tetromino. You fall from the sky, lost, confused. You don't understand what is going on and then you find yourself in a pile of others who share the same fate as you.

In Crisis mode just zooms in on the current block and plays dramatic music and sound effects. A one-off gimmick mode. You can combine this with lights out though, which does make that incredibly disorienting the entire time. You'll play with it once and probably never again.

The Spin Zone

There are a lot of Tetris gimmick flash games out there, but I have a soft spot for this one. I used to play this one in my browser in class and will just play it as a regular game of Tetris sometimes. It's simple, but that's why there are so many cool versions of Tetris, you can take a small feature and just add it to a good puzzle game and have something that's fun to play. I'd recommend the normal mode if you want to try it out. It's available at https://www.firstpersontetris.com and in the Flashpoint flash preservation project.