A Tetris Nerd’s Mecca, AKA Solution To The Latest XKCD

Here is the latest XKCD, which I found amusing. (If you’re one of the 4 people on the internet who hasn’t seen XKCD, do. Then be amused at the blog XKCD Sucks, which has a scathing criticism of each new cartoon often hours after the original is released!) Not content with merely looking at this tetris masterpiece, I wanted to score some nerd points. so I started arguing with Alan Baxter about it:

I contend that this board whilst difficult is not impossible. And trust me, I have some expertise: tetris is pretty much the only game I’ve played in the last 10 years — due to the laziness of obtaining others and lack of time. If the board is symmetrical, you can launch a straight line, a T piece or an L piece horizontally straight down the middle and it will be perfectly horizontal. You can then use overhanging to extend the flat base. Here is a sample solution, where I am about to make a line in Randall Monroe’s diabolical version of tetris. Note how only the first red piece had to touch, the others just hang in the air:

Of course I had to amateurishly adjust the rounded part a bit to make it more regular. But give me a break — being forced to play tetris on a board that’s actually a perfect rendition of Randall Monroe’s freehand? That would be hell indeed.

UPDATE: Someone’s actually built this version of tetris. XKCD fans are fanatical!