Simon Lc

https://tetr.io/ is probably the best unofficial game, especially if you're into multiplayer variants. For single player https://jstris.jezevec10.com/ or https://simon.lc/tetr.js/ are the best.

negative. modern tetris has moved way beyond NES' system. there have been many improvements to the game, like a holding piece, hard drop, the ghost piece you mentioned, advanced maneuvers like t-spins, and most interesting of all (to me) is the improved piece selection [1]. you're probably aware of the tall block meme -- when you need it, it never shows up! well that's been more or less solved. there's also interesting strategies/techniques like 4-wide [2]. there's a whole rabbit hole to follow... if you want to try out modern tetris, check out jstris [3]. the skill level people have attained is unbelievable [4], and can't be replicated on NES tetris. [1] https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers [2] https://harddrop.com/wiki/Combo_Setups [3] https://jstris.jezevec10.com/ [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3QmU79Vli8

There are lots of fun ways to smooth out short-term variation in game randomness. This article shows a few used by various Tetris games, with one of them being your deck-of-cards approach: https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers One of my favourite techniques not listed there is weighting the probabilities by distance, so individual outcomes get more likely the longer you've not seen them (making the gamblers' fallacy real, I guess).

This is a bit of a tangent, and not sure I’ll have any other opportunity to mention this here, but… I used to play the heck out of Tetris on to OG Game Boy. I probably played it, by far, more than any other Game Boy game, and probably any game around that 5-10 year period. But boy has it not aged well, at all. I played it recently on the Switch, and couldn’t handle it for more than a few minutes. The lack of multiple next tetrominos, no hold, no instant drop, no ghost, the completely random draw of pieces [1], and it just felt sluggish. I didn’t realize how much it had evolved, and how spoiled I was to the QoL updates over the years (and I think these were all fairly evolutionary additions, making it hard to realize the drastic difference). I’m usually more nostalgic for classic games (I still enjoy playing some classic NES/SNES games), but when it comes to Tetris, give me the modern one any day (Tetris 99 and Tetris Effect are two of my recent favorites). [1] https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers Edit: corrected next and quick drop.

this one? https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers

See also: "A history of Tetris randomizers": https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers via: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20872110

Interesting, I didn't know about the tetris randomizers! https://simon.lc/the-history-of-tetris-randomizers

The sole purpose of TTC seems to be licensing and protecting Tetris. They don't make any games, but recently have started selling merch online. There is no copyright on Tetris, the lawsuits were based on "trade dress", which is silly, since nearly every Tetris game looks different. I actually have my own clone online, and so far haven't heard a peep from TTC. knocks on wood I think maybe it's because they've relaxed a bit in that area, but I could be wrong. You can see it here if you like: https://simon.lc/tetr.js/