Need help with Tetris calculations

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-05-15 10:58pm

I had a random thought while playing Tetris on my Game Boy today, and I need some help getting the calculations all figured out.

I asked myself, what is the probability of getting enough I pieces (4 blocks straight line) in a row to be able to get four Tetrises in a row, thus clearing the required amount of lines for a Type B game.

Some of the variables I already have:

There are seven different Tetris blocks.
The Tetris field is 10 vertical I blocks in length. Therefore, for the requirements to be filled, you would need 40 I blocks dropped, all in a row.

So, if someone has the probability on how often each block is dropped... then I can figure this thiing out...

I have no life...

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2003-05-16 07:29am

Probability: Unlikely.

That's the best I can do fer ya, pal.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2003-05-16 07:37am

You'd always have 1/7 chances, no matter what the playing field was like. What are the seven boxes, I only counted six (the line, the two Ls, the T, the crooked one, and the square)?

Of course, maybe the game has its own chances for blocks? Now I need to play Tetris, grrr!

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2003-05-16 07:44am

StarshipTitanic wrote:You'd always have 1/7 chances, no matter what the playing field was like. What are the seven boxes, I only counted six (the line, the two Ls, the T, the crooked one, and the square)?

Of course, maybe the game has its own chances for blocks? Now I need to play Tetris, grrr!

There are two crooked ones, not just one.

Code: Select all

**  *  **    ** ** *   *
**  *   **  **  ** *   *
    *              ** **
    *

Does that help?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-05-16 12:40pm

No, it's NOT a 1 in 7 chance to get the I block, because I have played Tetris a LOT over the years, and it is the least common piece to get. The appearance rates are not even. Of course, this makes the calcs even more complex.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-05-16 01:01pm

Correct. The probability of getting a piece appears to be nonequal between the various pieces.

Cpt_Frank · Post by **Cpt_Frank** » 2003-05-16 01:13pm

The square/cube and the s-shaped ones seem to be the most common.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-05-16 01:16pm

Raxmei wrote:

Does that help?

I think you meant this? :-

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**  *   **  **   *  *   *
    *               ** **
    *

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2003-05-16 03:23pm

Yeah, thanks, I forgot that there were two.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-05-16 09:13pm

Maybe if everyone sat down, played a few games of Tetris (Game Boy version, I don't want non-official versions from the 'Net messing up the calcs) and write down how many of each piece you get. Play Type B games, so that you don't take forever.

Let's say... five games, and then post the number of occurances of each. I'll save the data from you all, and when there are stats from 100 games, I'll do all the math and get a rough percentage from it.

So, who's with me?