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Tetris oscilloscope hack, named Scopetris

9:15 AM on 02.15.2008, Dale North 21 comments

     Things gamers do

Man, I suck at Tetris. It's now to the point where I lose every time, without fail. These days, all I can do is struggle for a few minutes before defeat, and then tell the victor that "at least I've seen a real vagina." This a*shole is really good - I played him for his job, as well as an invite to the Epic Games offices, and lost both times.

Imagine how much harder this game would be on an oscilloscope. I'll tell you one thing now: I wouldn't want to play Tetris against someone smart enough to build a game out of an oscilloscope. Better yet, I would never play anyone who claims to understand this:

With an R-2R ladder, a value expressed in digital bits can be converted to a corresponding analog voltage. The circuit makes the most significant bit affect the voltage with Vcc/2, the next bit with Vcc/4, the next Vcc/8 and so on. For instance, the R-2R ladder configuration for a 4-bit converter is as follows...

Lars Pontoppidan does understand, and he built this game called game called Scopetris. Witness geekdom at its finest as someone plays a good game of Tetris on modded electronic test equipment while listening to DRAX. That's like a quadruple geek whammy!


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MiOdd's Avatar
MiOdd at 02/15/2008 09:25


..still the best Tetris ever
copulatingduck's Avatar
copulatingduck at 02/15/2008 09:35
Holy crap, I gotta try this!
Justice's Avatar
Justice at 02/15/2008 09:37
Incredible!
Orionsaint's Avatar
Orionsaint at 02/15/2008 09:55
So basically with the proper know how. Tetris could have been created in the 50s?
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 02/15/2008 10:15
That is really flippin' cool. WOW
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 02/15/2008 10:32
Wikipedia says:

"An oscilloscope (sometimes abbreviated CRO, for cathode-ray oscilloscope, or commonly just scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test equipment that allows signal voltages to be viewed, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences (vertical axis) plotted as a function of time or of some other voltage (horizontal axis)."

myaimistrue's Avatar
myaimistrue at 02/15/2008 11:04
Holy crap, this is the most awesome thing i've seen on destructoid since the creature racing video!

I actually got an *copy-paste hard to spell word* oscilloscope at home, it was an impulse buy a couple of years ago at a flea market. Thing weighs like 10-15 kilos and cost me 20 Euros. Now i finally know what the hell to do with it!
Crapsh00t's Avatar
Crapsh00t at 02/15/2008 11:08
So I've downloaded the Maniacs of Noise D64 files, and have the CCS64 emulator... now how do I get the emulator to not pause when I select a different window?
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 02/15/2008 11:12
wow that is EPIC! unbelievable!
Crapsh00t's Avatar
Crapsh00t at 02/15/2008 11:13
Nevermind, I did something to the cfg file that I don't understand but it seems to work now.

That video is awesome, and so is Drax's music.
Orionsaint's Avatar
Orionsaint at 02/15/2008 11:24
The Beastie Boys are currently obsessed with the Oscilloscope. It's the theme of their current CD. Having gone back to the 80's and 70's. The 60's being overplayed. The Beastie Boys skipped the 60's and went real old skool to the 50's

http://www.beastieboys.com/Click on LAB



Tennis for Two was the first video game ever developed in 1958 on an oscilloscope which simulated a game of tennis or ping pong. Created by American physicist William Higinbotham, it was based on analog, rather than digital computing. The game is important in the history of video games as one of the first electronic games to use a graphical display.
Lynx's Avatar
Lynx at 02/15/2008 11:39
Not to be an ass, but it kind of bothered me that the line of blocks above empty spaces would drop down into the empty spaces combo-style when you complete a line. That's not in any version of Tetris I remember playing. If you complete a line and there are empty spaces below it, nothing should fill those spaces a la combo until they are filled with blocks by the user.

Still fucking awesome, and I always thought oscilloscopes would be perfect for Tetris, what with their gridded screens. Wish I could've had this in my ELT class.
Fleet3000's Avatar
Fleet3000 at 02/15/2008 11:45
this guy plays like SHIT!
Emrah's Avatar
Emrah at 02/15/2008 12:08
@lynx: yeah I noticed it too, the rules of the game is different, the hanging blocks should not go down. (Still, that means there's an extra code, because it is easier to code it without the independent drops)

Very cute tetris :)
SourGr8pes's Avatar
SourGr8pes at 02/15/2008 14:22
Ok, I use oscilloscopes at school (they're mostly used for measuring AC waves), and I have trouble working the damn thing for ordinary use.

It boggles the mind that this man programmed fucking TETRIS out of one of these things. Trust me, especially if you see one of the newer ones, it's a very intimidating machine. Lots of dials, knobs, and whistles.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 02/15/2008 16:33
I like the music, at least. Also, I like how the blocks actually drop.
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 02/15/2008 16:45
I'll be impressed if he gets it to play on a '50s radio.
grrza's Avatar
grrza at 02/15/2008 17:02
That's pretty freakin sweet. But man that guy sucks at Tetris.

The blocks dropping through takes all the challenge out of what makes a Tetris game though. Maybe the guy was sucking on purpose so that you could actually see blocks getting stacked up...

Music was great too. Reminded me of Autechre a bit.
Fading Star's Avatar
Fading Star at 02/19/2008 07:47
Tetris!
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