Tetris and games like it can be good for your mental health.
The block-stacking and puzzle-solving game was first launched in 1984 on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It’s now enjoying a surge in popularity thanks to video game streaming services like Twitch.tv, which had 55,000 players tune into a recent broadcast of Tetris play, and the 2020 launch of the World Puzzle League, which features Tetris champs competing against one another.
Experts have noted that Tetris is a great stress-reliever for our current era of anxiety. The nature in which puzzle pieces fall and must be manipulated in the game is therapeutic.
Manhattan psychotherapist Dana Dorfman explains, “There is something symbolic about things coming at you, or things that seem ill-fitting that you are trying to organize and compartmentalize. We are trying to internalize obstacles and make some order of them so we can continue to maintain our own equilibrium.”
Other construction-like games, such as Minecraft and RollerCoaster Tycoon, can offer similar benefits when enjoyed in moderation and used to relieve tension, rather than adding to it.
