Have you ever experienced a "Tetris Effect"?

[guroboss]

The Tetris effect (also known as Tetris syndrome) occurs when people devote so much time and attention to an activity that it begins to pattern their thoughts, mental images, and dreams. It takes its name from the video game Tetris.

People who have played Tetris for a prolonged amount of time can find themselves thinking about ways different shapes in the real world can fit together, such as the boxes on a supermarket shelf or the buildings on a street.They may see colored images of pieces falling into place on an invisible layout at the edges of their visual fields or when they close their eyes. They may see such colored, moving images when they are falling asleep, a form of hypnagogic imagery.

I've experienced the Tetris Effect a handful of times in my life (not always related to games) and was curious about other people's experiences with it/how you usually experience it!

I have only ever really experienced Tetris Effects when I'm trying to fall asleep/just waking up in a not-dreaming way, but kind of picturing stuff when my eyes are closed.

The first time I ever experienced it was in regards to my first job as a cashier when I would constantly picture myself swiping items or punching in the PLU for bananas, specifically, and the first time I ever experienced it in regards to gaming was when I was learning how to play a healer in an MMO and would picture my party list/healthbars in the part of my vision where it is on my screen as I was trying to fall asleep.

What about you? Have you ever experienced the Tetris Effect? What was it like?

[horselover3302]

I kinda do that but with the Papa's cooking games and my job as a fast food worker XD Definitely makes work go by faster when my brain just thinks of it as a game.

[Winstalgia]

I kinda do that but with the Papa's cooking games and my job as a fast food worker XD Definitely makes work go by faster when my brain just thinks of it as a game.

literally me with my job lol - I serve ice cream and some days pretending it's a papas freezeria game is the onyl thing that gets me through my shift. Or that ice cream minigame in moshi monsters.

For me, chess. I don't play it much anymore and I never did play it super seriously, but there was one point I played extremely often to practice so I could beat a family member. I'd be standing diagonally next to someone and think "If I move diagonal I can catch them!" because yeah.

There was one point I was deep in a depression slump and binged bojack horseman, to the point my dreams were in that artstyle, and some of the characters. Spread to "game transfer phenomena" as well, like when I was younger and played animal jam 24/7, I would hear the music from the game even when I wasn't playing it.

My most notable moment was when I had spent an entire day playing job simulator on my oculus, and then went to work the next morning, where I tripped and fell into the counter, fully thinking I was about to clip through it because for a genuine moment there, I thought it was virtual. No, video games are not good for me mentally, lol.

[rileypillow]

I'm really into reading and writing. I imagine that I’m constantly writing a nonexistant diary of every event that happens to me. Sometimes my wall turns into the alphabet when I've read too much.

My dream job is a film director. Sometimes I dream that I’m sucked inside the TV and become a part of the storyline. All of my dreams have a film plot-like structure; they often inspire my own stories.

If I play a game too much, I still dream that I'm playing it. Sometimes even months after I’ll still be in the game in my head xD

[slushy puppy]

yeah! i do that all the time, i just didnt know there was a name for it. i did it for tetris, sudoku, origami, jigsaw and other puzzles, even after i looked through pinterest this one time for hours because i was making a warrior cats board, my brain just generates fake cat images. I often do it after i read a book too but its a little different

[Squecca]

I thought everyone experiences that lol

I experience it when I play a game for like several hours and then try to go to sleep. I'll be seeing patterns from that game behind my eyes. It has happened with Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Toontown, and probably others as well lol

I don't know if this counts as part of it, but as a kid I'd often play on the trampoline from sunrise to sunset. In bed at night I'd feel like I'm moving up and down and see "bouncing" images/particles behind my eyes

[KingSpinosaurus]

Experienced it when playing pattern games on Flight Rising. I don't really remember the name, but it was the lightning themed one. Same thing happened with coliseum related stuff after LvP several years ago.

[Ebony Stardust]

^Shock Switch? I can so see that happening to me, lol

I'm pretty sure I've had it happen, because when I was young and could play on the DS all day, I would have trippy dreams about whatever game I'd been playing. This usually happened when I played the game repeatedly and avidly over a period of time (such as a week or several).

I had it happen with some game apps, too, a few years back, before I decided I didn't want very many games on my phone. Same thing there; if I played the game frequently, I'd see the shapes, (though fainter), when I closed my eyes at night.

I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone if they frequently or intensely engage in any repeating activity.

[sadradplantdad]

I had it when I was playing too much skyrim and fallout 4, I kept trying to "quick save" irl before doing anything risky lmaooo

[EmberzTale]

I've finally figured out what its called! This happens to me sometimes when I play Chicken Smoothie a lot. I start thinking what objects rarities are and such and its weird and unexplainable lol