Gamer Creates a Tetris Tee That’s Actually Playable

Tetris, the classic game that has been on pretty much every game system to come out in the past 30 years, has broken into a new frontier: clothing.

Superfan Marc Kerger has created a wearable, playable version of the game in the form of a T-shirt. The DIY project made its debut on YouTube — and it’s quickly finding a following among loyal fans of the game.

Kerger, based in Luxembourg, used 128 LED lights and assorted hardware to build the underlying technology, and then designed a shirt specifically to both showcase the game and house the hardware (which runs on four AA batteries). The front has a play field, while the back goes over the rules of the game, for those half-dozen people who don’t know how to play.

Tetrominos are moved, flipped and sped up by buttons built into the shirt, which might be a bit difficult to manage yourself, since you’d be viewing the game from a top-down angle.

Once you lose, the shirt scrolls your score across your belly.

Of course, T-shirts aren’t the weirdest place the game has shown up over the years. Fans have played the game on the side of a 29-story building. Earlier this year, technical designer Kevin Bates came up with a business card that featured a playable version of the game on the back. And let’s not forget the Tetris pumpkin — the project that Kerger says inspired him to create the Tetris T-shirt.

Unfortunately, due to its DIY nature, there’s no way — yet — to get your own Tetris shirt. Kerger says he’s exploring the feasibility of selling it at retail but will likely just show fans how he put it together.

“I am looking into possibilities to produce the Tshirt,” he notes in a YouTube comment. “In this form it is not possible (too much work, too expensive, too heavy…) … However, I would like to keep it open source somehow so other programmers can use it as a platform for other ideas.”

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