Algorithm That Lets You Draw Pictures By Playing Tetris

Clearing out endless rows of blocks in Tetris always put me in a Zen-like state. If you were to say that state of "Zen" is really just me using a fancy Japanese word to describe myself laying slothfully on my couch for an entire afternoon, you'd be right.

Here's a much more involved and artistic approach to the classic game. In this video, Michael Berkin demonstrates the Tetris Printer Algorithm at work. 

The algorithm converts pixels from a source image into squares in the Tetris playfield, one row at a time from the bottom up. 

So for every row you clear one block remains, the image emerges from these leftover blocks. The algorithm feeds you specific blocks, allowing complex and gravity-defying images to be created. For the full detailed explanation of how it works, click here.