TETRIS on the Nintendo 64 is truly a wonderful thing of which to partake.  The following rules have evolved in our household, and should be adopted in yours, too.

There are two main solo games:  Ultra and Sprint.  (There is also Marathon, but that is for sissies.)  In Ultra, you try to clear 150 lines as fast as you can, and your score is a time.  In Sprint, you try to clear as many lines as you can in three minutes, and your score is a number of lines.  Silver and gold "blocks" give you bonus lines; if you have the game you know what I mean, and if you don't have it, then you should get it.

I have developed a way to compare Ultra and Sprint scores.   There are five different levels of excellence, as shown by the table below:

	Ultra	Sprint
Basho	4:41	96	(32 lines/minute)
Anakin	3:45	120	(40 lines/minute)
Par	3:00	150	(50 lines/minute)
Doug	2:00	225	(75 lines/minute)
Laurel	1:30	300	(100 lines/minute)

So if you are playing Ultra, and get a score of three minutes, thirty seconds, then congratulations, you have earned an Anakin-worthy score.  If you are playing sprint and get a score of 224, then try again, you are within one point of being Doug-worthy!  (By the way, Laurel thinks these level designations are insane.   She is just mad because neither of us have gotten a Laurel-worthy score on sprint yet.)

Now you are ready to learn the House Rules:

1. Once you have started playing TETRIS, you may NOT stop playing until you have earned at least a Basho-worthy score.
2. Once you have started playing TETRIS, you may NOT feel good about yourself until you have gotten Par.
3. Attaining a Laurel-level score means you get a free kiss from anybody in the room.  If nobody is in the room, then you get to realize that you are sitting around, by yourself, getting very good at TETRIS.  Be sad.

Back to Main

Doug Code 8/2000:  "xqork ob op bnfk lcb xcbkn xorr nirr iss is dc jfhh’p wchh, os lk efhh op pfwtkngke rimg kmifgq, lcb wonjok op giomg bi gkb pichkj!" jifg pqcx