Anyone who knows me at all would know I’m a massive fan of Tetris. That’s a lie. I don’t actually play that much Tetris. However, I have written about video games a few times and posted said writing on the internet. This makes me one of the most qualified people to talk about any video game, including Tetris.

That said, even though I may not play that much Tetris, there has always been something that’s been bothering me. That something being, of course, that I have never written out a ranking of every Tetris piece. It’s sinful, really. Blasphemous, even. How could I have never done that? What was I thinking, writing anything but that? But don’t worry. Now is the time for me to correct the only mistake I have ever made, by ranking every Tetris piece in terms of usefulness.

#5: Z and S

This is an easy one. The Z and S pieces are easily the least versatile. There are very few situations where you would get one of those two pieces and think ‘yes, this is exactly what I needed’. Rather, you usually think ‘ugh, guess I need to figure out the LEAST bad place to put this’. These pieces incite anger. Frustration. They are not Good Vibes. 

Don’t get me wrong. As letters, Z and S are rad. Easily some of the best letters in the entire alphabet. But the Tetris pieces don’t even look like the letters, they just couldn’t think of letters they looked closer to, and honestly? That’s offensive. As a fan of the letters Z and S, it hurts me to see them be appropriated like this. This is why I don’t play very much Tetris.

#4: J and L

J and L, unlike Z and S, are pretty good. Z and S are really the only bad pieces in Tetris. J and L fit into a good amount of situations, but not all of them. Typically when you get one you can find SOME way to use it, it might not be perfect, but you can work with it.

As useful as J and L can be, there are more useful pieces. One point in their favor is that they do actually look like the letters J and L. However, while J, as a letter, is potentially up there with Z and S, L is not. Therefore, it does not matter as much as it did with Z and S. I will give credit where credit is due though, them looking like the letters they’re based on is nice.

All in all, they’re pretty decent pieces. Not the best, but far from the worst, despite being number 4 out of 5 in this ranking. Most of them are pretty good.

#3: O

O works in a decent amount of situations, it’s a fairly versatile piece for sure. It doesn’t work in every situation, in fact there’s a fair amount of times you’ll be disappointed to get it, but for what it is, it’s decent enough and fairly well rounded.

This is the first good piece in Tetris, but unfortunately, despite that, it’s kind of boring. Like, a square? Really? That’s not even what O’s are shaped like. Stupid. Maybe it is bad actually. Oh well. It happens.

#2: I

Some would say this is the best piece in the game, seeing as it’s the only one to allow you to get a Tetris, and for that reason, it is very good. However, it only really works in that situation. It’s more versatile than Z, S, J, and L, but that’s not saying a whole lot.

If nothing else though, it can usually get you out of bad situations, because it’s pretty easy to get line clears with it. It’s not a bad piece at all, just definitely not the Best One. In my (qualified) opinion.

#1: T

The legend itself. T is far and away the best piece in the game. There’s little to no situations it doesn’t work in, plus it lets you clear lines, and if you’re skilled enough even get T-spins. There’s not a single situation where you’d get this piece and not want it, it’s excellent. Near-perfection.

However, that perfection comes with a cost. It once again doesn’t really look like a T. why do they do this? Why do they name them after letters if they barely even look like that? It’s a shame, really. A blight on an otherwise perfect piece. Oh well, it’s still extremely good, and the best one.