Tetris: Meditatris

Meditatris offers an inversion of traditional video game values. You cannot gain points by taking risks, and you cannot affect the game's speed once you have begun. This is Games Done Slow: the number of sustained minutes of attention you choose to give to the game represents its only measure of your success.

The central modifications to the original ROM include:
- Level (and speed) never increase as you complete lines, so you can play indefinitely.
- You can no longer soft drop pieces down, so the pace of the game remains constant and out of your hands.
- You can no longer see the number of lines you've completed or the specific piece statistics so that you can focus on the present, not the past.
- You can no longer see the next piece, so you can focus on the present rather than the future.
- You can no longer pause the game, because sustained attention is the game.
- You can no longer see your score during play so that you won't be distracted by taking stock during play.
- And finally, your score now represents the number of consecutive minutes you've played, because the game has no valuable quantifiable aspect other than time.

Meditatris offers an inversion of traditional video game values. You cannot gain points by taking risks, and you cannot affect the game's speed once you have begun. This is Games Done Slow: the number of sustained minutes of attention you choose to give to the game represents its only measure of your success.

Currently, the majority of meditation falls into one of two modes: sitting meditation and walking meditation. In either case, the instruction comprises "Focus on your anchor. When you discover that your attention has strayed, make mental note of that, then return your focus to your anchor." In sitting meditation the breath typically serves as the anchor. Walking meditation presents two main options: the yogi (meditator) may walk as slowly as they can, anchoring their attention on each individual footfall. Alternatively they may walk at a modest pace and anchor their open attention on all sensory input. Sitting very still for many consecutive hours on intensive retreat can cause injury, so walking meditation offers the benefit that by switching between sitting and walking meditation, yogis can safely meditate all day.

Gaming meditation offers a third mode of meditation. It operates under the same instruction: "Focus on the game. When you discover that your attention has strayed, notice that. Then return your focus to the game." This is the whole of the practice.

Sit or lay comfortably. Feel free to mindfully adjust your posture as needed as you game. Like walking meditation, gaming meditation presents two disparate potential approaches:
1) Play as slowly as you possibly can. Set the game level to 0, and focus your attention on each. individual. line. fall. that each piece makes as it drops. This parallels to anchoring on your footfalls in walking meditation while walking as slowly as you can.
or 2) Choose a level slow enough that, for your specific skill as a Tetris player, given your directed attention you can play sustainably for an indefinite amount of time without topping out. Then give the game your full attention for an extended period of time. This serves as a parallel to opening your attention during walking meditation.

Every meditation tradition presents potential pitfalls. For gaming meditation, rather than meditating, you may find yourself just hanging out and playing video games; the game may merely offer another distraction rather than a useful anchor for sustained directed focus. The responsibility here ultimately falls to the yogi. If you find the game more distracting than useful, by all means transition your practice to feature more traditional sitting meditation and less gaming meditation. However, if you wish to increase your useful attention span, and you haven't found the motivation to spend more time sitting in meditation... Meditatris can offer a valuable additional mode to add minutes to your daily practice.

Deric Miller, December 2020




Modifications to the original ROM include:
- Level (and speed) never increase as you complete lines, so you can play indefinitely.
- You can no longer soft drop pieces down, so the pace of the game remains constant and out of your hands.
- You can no longer see the number of lines you've completed or the specific piece statistics so that you can focus on the present, not the past.
- You can no longer see the next piece, so you can focus on the present rather than the future.
- You can no longer pause the game, because sustained attention is the game.
- You can no longer see your score during play so that you won't be distracted by taking stock during play.
- And finally, your score now represents the number of consecutive minutes you've played, because the game has no valuable quantifiable aspect other than time.

Also:
- The game screen now lacks extraneous decoration.
- Each tetrad now features its own unique block sprite.
- The game uses one unified color palette across all speed levels.
- No music plays throughout the game.
- The title screen features some graphical tweaks.
- An instruction screen replaces the Game Type selection screen.
- The default high scores table features lower, individually achievable high scores.



Database match: Tetris (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20180803-121122)
File SHA-1: A99F922E9DA20B2A27E4398348505D2E9D15271B
File CRC32: DD66846
ROM SHA-1: FD9079CB5E8479EB06D93C2AE5175BFCE871746A
ROM CRC32: 1394F57E