Tetris Cricket @ gavinunderhill.co.uk

Tetris Cricket

There are probably people out there who can play Tetris all day long at the highest level and never lose a life, but try as I might, I'm not one of them. So to keep me motivated playing what is probably the most frustrating computer game ever invented (but which I would choose as my one luxury on a desert island if given the choice), I've devised a variation on the standard routine.

The rules are pretty simple: Play 10 games in a row*. In any game, each line you make counts as a "run", and each time the game is over you've lost a "wicket" (ignore the actual Tetris score you've made). Add each of your individual game scores together for an "innings" total. For extra incentive, keep a note of your highest individual and team scores and try to better them - for the record, my highest individual score is 213, and my highest team score is 652, but normally if I get over 300 (at an average of 30 per "wicket") then I'm doing pretty well, which is eerily similar to actual cricket scores!

Of course, you can play this game on your own (like patience), but if you can find an opponent to play with, then take turns to play an innings each (like a One-Day International) or two innings each (like a Test match). Hours of fun...

* For a Test or One-Day International, starting level is 10, and starting rows is zero. For County matches, starting level is 9 (once you get close to a "century", it automatically adjusts to level 10, which again is spookily like real cricket i.e. "the nervous nineties"). Anything less than level 9 is strictly for amateurs or flat-track bullies...