🧩 Interview with Galactoid: A Tetris Expert & Guidebook Author
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| Image Credit Gwen_30 Pixabay |
Happy World Tetris Day!
Tetris may look like a simple puzzle game at first glance, but for dedicated players, it can become a world filled with strategy, creativity, and endless learning. In this interview, I spoke with Galactoid, a Tetris guide creator, researcher, and longtime player known for writing extensive Tetris guides. We talked about how they first discovered Tetris, what makes the game so fascinating at a high level, and the life lessons they’ve learned through years of playing and studying one of the world’s most iconic puzzle games.
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Q. Can you start by introducing yourself and sharing your journey with Tetris?
Galactoid: Hi! I’m a 7-time Tetris guidebook author from Singapore in my late 30s and the
founder of both howtotetris.com and galactoidtetris.wordpress.com!
I have also published many spiritual and philosophical dark fantasy novels, once
taught sociology and economics courses at a university, and am now writing a Tetris
spiritual and philosophical novel.
I briefly played some Game Boy Tetris when I was very young, but I only played a
few games and never really knew it was Tetris. I didn’t get into it back then. Of
relevance (which you will see below), I penned a Puyo Puyo guide when I was 6
years old.
I officially started playing Tetris around 2018 to 2019, my first real, committed Tetris
game being Puyo Puyo Tetris. I was primarily drawn to it because I played the Puyo
Puyo series when I was young. Originally, I wanted to main Puyo Puyo, but when I
got into matches versus Tetris players, I realized Tetris had a phenomenal speed
advantage, decimating Puyo Puyo players. Hence, I began playing Tetris, my first
match against the Taiwanese Tetris legend, PokeDialga, and, of course, I lost.
I didn’t know why I got so passionate about Tetris, but during the first week, I trained
myself to make 8 back-to-back perfect clears. By the second day, I could already
make T-spins. By the third, I could create T-spin triples mid-game. Then, by the
second week, I had already memorized nearly 50 openers.
Over the years, I compiled a journal of many Tetris methods and experimented with
them. I didn’t know what they were for at first, but I later realized I could publish them
on my Galactoid Tetris WordPress website, which I did. Over many years, as I
became more proficient in Tetris, the number of guides grew from just one to the
hundred that the website has today.
I originally wanted to quit Tetris to focus on my passion for creative writing and
spiritual development (I’m highly spiritual, deeply enamored of Eastern philosophy,
and have had 8 out-of-body (OBE) experiences and many psychic experiences
throughout my life, though I won’t publicly reveal the specifics).
Subsequently, various people and the community wanted me to share more of my
Tetris ideas. Hence, I started writing the How-to-Tetris guidebook series, which
emerged today as the most comprehensive and authoritative Tetris research
worldwide. I have also created nearly 70 Tetris video tutorials on my relatively new
GalactoidTetris YouTube channel.
I honestly never expected that something so small – Tetris – would evolve into an
entire ecosystem of books, videos, and websites. More importantly, Tetris has guided
my philosophy, and I am now busily penning a philosophical and spiritual Tetris novel
to impart my perspectives and offer solutions to many psychological and sociological
problems.
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| The Tao of Tetris The Laws of Spiritual Reality book. |
Q. For people who may not know much about Tetris, what makes Tetris so fun and challenging at a high competitive level?
Galactoid: I won’t say Tetris is entirely fun at a high competitive level – the not-so-obvious genre
that the game falls into is a horror game. High-level competitive Tetris can be
extremely off-putting for many people who aren’t prepared for the horrors of facing
monsters that can demolish you in a few seconds in a Tetris match.
To my knowledge, Tetris is an extremely casual game. Only the top 0.1 to 1% involve
themselves very seriously in competitive Tetris. This is not a far-fetched statement,
since I estimate that 90% of Tetris players are so mega-casual that they can’t even
make T-spins, a central Tetris technique. Most people see Tetris as a social game to
have fun casually and interact with each other – they won’t diligently study what a DT
Cannon or Imperial Cross technique is.
But, I suppose, that for those who are really competitive, it’s the opportunity to keep
improving, building on one’s knowledge to optimize and min-max the game in every
way until they have become god-like. It’s just like Chess – you gain more knowledge,
build upon it, and push the limits. But even that is a glorification – I have seen too
many serious, competitive players quit over the years. Many high-level players I
once knew 6 years ago are no longer playing Tetris.
In summary, most people treat Tetris as a video game, but not a puzzle game – they
get immersed in the spectacle of Tetris Effect, but won’t memorize even an opener.
But if they get serious, the intense grind of securing a high Ultra score or a 40-line
sprint can burn them out.
Q. You’ve spent years creating Tetris guides and studying strategies. What inspired you to start teaching other players?
Galactoid: To be honest, I never really actively taught other players much. I might have coached
a few people, but my way of teaching aligns with the Tao of Eastern philosophy: by
not teaching.
A flower doesn’t need to grow legs to seek people out and ask them if it smells good.
Instead, a flower only needs to spread its redolence, and people will come to it. They
only need to be a flower; they needn’t try to be a flower.
For my case, I never really actively desired to teach. The essence of my teaching
came from me just dumping my knowledge and experience on my websites and
books. People just came to them, and I never sought players to teach.
It has kind of reached a stage in life where I prefer to focus on the process and
being, rather than the outcome and becoming.
So, just by playing Tetris, and personifying my experience and manifesting my
wisdom through it, people learn from my gameplay (through my streams or YouTube
tutorial videos). It’s something I have learned from creative writing: show and don’t
tell. By showing my gameplay instead of delivering hours of lectures, I accomplish
more through inaction than through action.
Q. Do you have any memorable Tetris moments that you would like to share?
Galactoid: I have had many Tetris moments, but my conception of time isn’t linear – it’s holistic
and processual.
To me, time doesn’t follow the ticks of a chronometer. Moments do not appear to me
as milestones – hence, I never actively chased a 40-line sprint personal best or other
overt achievements. When you actively chase something, like an end goal, you
forget the process, never truly living, but are just existing. The present, the now,
becomes filtered out (just like how many people doomscroll social media until they
forget the moment).
To me, I don’t need milestones; instead, I just immerse myself completely in the
sheer delight of being in the moment. When you see me play Tetris, I mostly don’t
force setups; I make setups based on the flow, choosing the optimal method given
what the previews and fields allow. Every moment is a gong that reverberates
through time: when I play Tetris, I experience the eternal in the now, and therefore
never really need any memorable Tetris moments to feel accomplished.
Even “memorable” moments like the day I published my Tetris guidebooks, made my
first Tetris tutorial videos, or made 100 T-spins in a Tetris 99 match resonate little
with me. They are just proxies – poor surrogates – for the actual experience of Tetris
in the now. When one fully embraces the Tao of Tetris, they don’t need specific
memorable moments: every second is.
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| "G" for Galactoid |
Q. What do you think separates a casual Tetris player from an expert player?
Galactoid: A casual Tetris player spends many weeks playing like a child.
Intermediate Tetris players spend many years trying to play like an expert, like Kazu.
But truly expert players spend a lifetime playing Tetris like a child again.
That’s the core distinction: when you first master any skill as a casual or semi-casual
intermediate player, you might go all fancy with many fancy setups to impress others.
However, they often cannot create setups reliably by ensuring that all components:
proper stacking, timing, piece and field dependencies, and safety, all fuse into a
harmonious moment where the setup becomes successful.
Expert players no longer force that. They already know the nature of Tetris lies in its
flow. Hence, they force nothing, only creating setups that are optimal at the right time
and place, without deliberately trying to be fancy. The fanciness comes inadvertently
as a natural coincidence, but not as a forced consequence.
Simply put, casuals and intermediate players treat Tetris as a puzzle to be studied.
Experts realize you can’t study Tetris: you must bend and flow with it, because
experience is the essence of reality. You don’t stop a process by observing it; you
flow and dissolve into it.
Q. Many people see Tetris as a puzzle game. What are some things about Tetris that would surprise most people?
Galactoid: As mentioned earlier, I feel that most people see Tetris first and foremost as a video
game, and second as a puzzle game.
Most people are drawn to Tetris for its theatrics and storylines. Hence, people are
drawn to Puyo Puyo Tetris 1, 2, & 2S for its cute cartoon graphics and narratives.
Then others are drawn to Tetris Effect: Connected for its stunning visuals and
soundtrack. That’s the issue: they see Tetris as a video game and play it like The
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim or Marvel Rivals.
But, only a tiny percentage take Tetris seriously, as a puzzle game, just like Chess.
This is the greatest paradox: that the visuals and video-game vibe of Tetris draws
people in. Yet it’s its puzzle-game nature that keeps people engaged. However, I feel
that the Tetris Company is marketing Tetris incorrectly by appealing to the former
through horizontal expansion rather than the latter through vertical integration. If the
Tetris Company reads this, I could offer them my serious feedback to them.
Perhaps, the greatest surprise of Tetris to most people is that they think Tetris is just
about that 4-line Tetris line clear. They think Tetris is just about stacking up, leaving a
hole on the right side, then inserting I-minos to score Tetrises. When they play
modern Tetris, they realize there’s a whole lot more going on: T-spins, back-to-backs,
combos, perfect clears, all-spins, and so forth.
This is one misconception I want people to understand: Tetris isn’t just a simple
video game. Instead, it’s a complex, multifaceted spatial-reasoning puzzle game that
matches the depth and complexity of Chess. To market Tetris and let it grow further,
people must understand that Tetris is fundamentally a puzzle game first, and a video
game second.
Q. On your website, you mention that you enjoy puzzles, philosophy, and learning in general. Do those interests influence the way you approach Tetris?
Galactoid: There is no “philosophy” or “Tetris” or “any other discipline.”
Just as, for the case of a plant, there is no “plant” and “non-plant.” The plant draws
its water and nutrients from the soil, and air and sunlight from the surroundings.
When it perishes, it returns to the all-that-there-is. Simply put, there is no “this” or
“that” – there’s only a cosmic oneness, where everything is integral and vital to an
inseparable whole.
I understand the question of how other disciplines and interests affect my approach
to Tetris.
And my answer to that is that there is no “Tetris” or “non-Tetris.” Everything about
Tetris concerns life, just as life concerns Tetris. I published a free spiritual book, The
Tao of Tetris, on my website that explains how life reflects many of Tetris’ spiritual
themes, and vice versa.
For instance, the spiritual principle of cause and effect (so-called “karma”) arises in
Tetris when you keep making the same terrible habit of stacking in a jagged manner,
which cripples your long-term follow-up continuations. This then leads to a higher
loss rate, and you carry forth this karmic tendency to all future games until you break
it.
The same is for many Tetris setups like DT Cannons or the ultra-advanced ones like
Andromeda, which I researched – the spiritual principle of oneness is at play here.
They are all composites of T-spins, just like how the entire cosmos is made of
discrete components that think they are separate, but they are not. Hence, they
come together in a spiritual or cosmic synergy and cooperation.
To play Tetris fully is to become the Tao of Tetris – where you embody the cosmos’
ever-expanding consciousness in your every action, paralleling that in Tetris.
Hence, many people approach Tetris in a competitive and technical manner – they
like to break down why a method is not optimal, how to min-max everything, and how
to beat top players like Amemiya.
This arises when you have a highly materialistic and achievement-oriented mentality.
However, as you gain sophistication and complexity in life and incorporate many
other fields and philosophies, your perspective expands beyond the material into the
spiritual realm.
You are no longer a player who seeks to win in Tetris. Instead, you are an
infinitesimal fragment of an eternal cosmic consciousness manifesting itself through
you. Hence, milestones, scores, or winning no longer matter. All that matters is the
sheer presence of experiencing Tetris, flowing with it, and no longer against it.
To summarize, the more perspectives you have, the more holistic and expansive you
will approach Tetris, just like life. For instance, in life, what was once a black-and-
white morality, a materialistic rat race, or relational drama becomes a conduit for
transcendence and manifestation, where you express the all in the one and
celebrate the uniqueness of the one in the all.
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| Screenshot from YouTube Video Mid-Game C-Spins (Intermediate Tetris T-Spin Guide) |
Q. Out of all the different Tetris games you’ve played, do you have a favorite version and why?
Galactoid: I won’t say I have a favorite.
After playing Tetris for so long, I’m kind of bored with the game and am slowly
moving on to other things. I only stream and play Tetris once or twice per month –
just during my monthly Twitch streams.
Hence, for me, the question is not which Tetris game I favor the most, but what I hate
the least.
And, for me, it’s Tetris 99.
Because, in Tetris 99, you don’t know who you’re facing until after the match ends
(unless you know you’re being sniped). And that’s awesome, as that means you
don’t develop competitiveness or rivalry. Also, the game doesn’t have a rating
system (it only has a level system, which has a near-zero correlation with skill).
Hence, you don’t worry about metrics: win rates, beating someone, or reaching a
certain APM (attack per minute).
You just play.
And playing is the ultimate expression of being, since it has no goals and no
attachments.
Q. What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve at Tetris, but feels overwhelmed by all the advanced techniques?
Galactoid: Less is more.
In my experience and observations of many Tetris players, they try to learn way too
many methods all at once. Then, they try to create a thousand and one methods in
Tetris, but ultimately fail.
My view is that one should not fear the person who knows 10,000 methods, but the
player who has practiced a single method 10,000 times.
In high-level Tetris, a vast majority of mid-game Tetris methods are simple T-spins
and Tetrises. The extremely fancy or complex ones are used only sometimes, and
are eventually picked up by players as they gain experience. These methods should
only be used at the right time and under the right circumstances, and should never,
ever be forced.
If one has to be more technical, my 7+ years of Tetris experience can be summed up
in just two areas to work on: parity management (handling field jaggedness) and field
harmony (stacking in relatively flat patterns). I have covered these two in my guides
– just by focusing on these two, which is relatively easy, everything else follows.
They are great because they don’t make your gameplay improve directly. Instead,
they let you build in a way that opens up so many more opportunities, so that you
have many more choices to automatically improve your gameplay.
Hence, by learning just these two dimensions, you metaphorically make your farm’s
soil more fertile, which creates more opportunities for harvest, even if it doesn’t
directly sell your crops.
Q. Is there anything else you would like to add that we did not touch on about your journey or Tetris in general?
Galactoid: Just a final word and piece of advice for players: please don’t take Tetris way too
seriously.
It’s just like life itself – most people worldwide (and I know this as my country,
Singapore, is super-materialistic) focus on outward achievements. They use labels,
brands, prestige, salary, membership, organization, nationality, religion, political
affiliation, achievements, and so forth (basically, external things) as a substitute for
life. I think that’s ridiculous, as life’s only purpose is life itself – you can’t put a price
tag on people, such as their net worth, to evaluate their value.
Life is just inherently valuable and worthwhile.
And when you attach all these external labels to yourself and actively seek them out,
it creates an endless cycle of wants that lead to more wants and attachments. And
when one doesn’t get them, they get disappointed.
The same is with Tetris: I have observed way too many people who quit or rage or
get into dramas over Tetris, over grinding for their TETR.IO or other Tetris games’
ratings, or try to get world records. Ultimately, they think enjoying Tetris equates to
these proxies or surrogates for the goal of just having fun, per se. Then, they get
burned out and quit.
Ultimately, Tetris is an end in itself – not a conduit for many means and external
achievements. Playing Tetris is its own reward.
Hence, if you’re not having fun by playing Tetris, such as by obsessing over scores, it
helps to take a break and decenter yourself from such attachments. Take a long sabbatical, then return months later to enjoy playing the game-as-it-is and not the
game-as-it-must.
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Want to Learn More?
Galactoid’s Ultimate Tetris Guidebook Series Website
Galactoid's Tetris Guides and Research
Purchase Galactoid's Guides on Amazon
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