Tetris

Who it's for

Tetris fully occupies visual and spatial attention: you have to see the shape, rotate it and place it, over and over, with no story or words.

Feelings it meets

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Overthinking

What it is

Tetris is a tile-matching puzzle game created by Alexey Pajitnov at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center in Moscow in the mid-1980s (sources place completion in 1984 or 1985), later released commercially by many publishers and licensed through The Tetris Company. Shapes made of four blocks fall one at a time, and the player moves and rotates each piece to complete horizontal lines, which then clear.

Where to find it

Official versions on most consoles, PC and mobile (for example Tetris Effect: Connected, Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch Online, and mobile apps); availability varies by version.

Before you start

Age: Not verified (suggested 6+; ratings vary by version)

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.Marcus Aurelius, The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Book 2 (tr. George Long)