Tetris learns gamers to adapt to changes, improves their spatial awareness and develops creative thinking | Opinion

In a second, a colourful digital block falls from the top of the screen to the bottom. In a few milliseconds, gamers use the arrow keys on the keyboard to guide the falling block to the best position to remove a horizontal line of blocks at the bottom of the screen. This requires both mental and physical competences.

Tetris is considered as a tile-matching puzzle game. The game exists of a rectangular field in which pieces of different geometric forms, known as tetriminos, descend from the top of the screen at a fixed speed. As a player, you can neither slow down the falling blocks nor stop them.

The objective of the game is to use these geometric pieces to create horizontal lines to make them disappear from the field. The problem with Tetris is: the further you are in the game, the faster the blocks fall. The later levels require good hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness.

Basic competences

The early levels of the game are basic and require limited know-how of the game. This makes it easier for beginners to learn to know the gameplay mechanics. The further in the game, the harder the game becomes.

The most noticeable reason behind this is the increasing speed at which the blocks fall down as the player progresses through the levels. This means that the player has to determinate the shape of the geometrical block and decide where to position the block in the rectangular field.

Hand-eye coordination

To control the falling blocks, the player has to use the arrow keys located on the keyboard to move the geometrical tetriminos left or right. To offer players more option, they can also turn the blocks clockwise to create more complex puzzles.

As the game progresses, the falling speed of the blocks increases. In the very beginning, you have the time to look at your hands. During the later levels, you want to keep your eyes focused on the blocks. This requires some good hand-eye coordination.

The more you play the game, the more familiar you become with the gameplay mechanics and the better you learn to control the blocks on the screen without looking at your hands. You develop better hand-eye coordination.

Adapt and overcome level changes

Better hand-eye coordination is just one of the reasons why you become better at the game. The more blocks reach the bottom, the more complex the puzzle becomes. Players have to learn the shapes of the different types of blocks and need to adapt to the ever changing circumstances.

As the game progresses, they develop a strategy to remove the horizontal lines of blocks to clear the rectangular field. In a very limited time, players have to determine the type of block, think about the possible positions and make a decision. Performing this dynamic task requires a certain level of spatial awareness and problem solving competences.

To determine the location of the falling block in relation to the environment, you need a decent understanding of the gameplay mechanics and at least basic cognitive competences. Removing a horizontal line often requires creative thinking to position the blocks in the correct manner.

Misunderstanding about games

Seen the different types of games available, the puzzle games are considered the more educational and sophisticated games. You better consider this statement as a serious misunderstanding. From almost every game you can learn something, the story of the games not even included as a valid argument.

Games are often developed to challenge both the physical and cognitive competences of the players. Some platform sequences need a decent understanding of the movement mechanics in the game and require good hand-eye coordination. Other parts of the game consist of puzzles which requires you to think and solve problems.

Benefits in real-life

As a reference, a building kit of furniture requires the same geometrical knowledge and problem solving competences as removing the horizontal lines in a game of Tetris. The competence level depends on the person and their potential to learn more advanced abilities, but game habits have proven benefits in real-life.

The more experienced players are in certain gameplay concepts and assignments, the better they will perform in comparable real-life tasks. A great perspective and excuse to complete more games.

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Disclaimer. This post contains copyrighted images from Tetris Ultimate, a video game developed and published by Ubisoft. The fair use of copyrighted works for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting or research is not considered as an infringement of copyright.