You ever see those videos of people playing an insanely fast version of Tetris? You know, the ones where the block drops to the bottom of the screen literally in the time it takes to blink?. Ever wonder what the hell was going on there?
The answer is laid out in incredible detail in a new, extensive gameplay essay on Tetris: The Grandmaster. Originally developed for Japanese arcades by minor developer Arika, the Grandmaster series has become the standard for high-level Tetris play. Besides the unbound dropping speed, Grandmaster has been tuned for high-speed play with graphical and audio cues, a more balanced piece randomizer and a rotation system that lets you turn a piece before it starts to drop.
Want to join the ranks of the experts? Check out TetrisConcept, a wiki and forum set up to discuss high-level Tetris strategy. This is not stuff for the weak-willed. Check out this jargon-filled sample passage: "[The] T-Spin Double Triple, or DT, is a Back-to-Back T-Spin setup that utilizes the T-Spin Triple wallkick in SRS." Once you can say that three times fast (and actually understand what you mean) you just might be ready for the big time.
