Hundreds of Tetris fans had a little fun Saturday with a big version of the classic video game.
The Philadelphia skyscraper-sized version created a spectacle against the night sky that organizers hoped inspired onlookers and players to think about the possibilities of technology.
The 29-story Cira Centre, which has hundreds of LED lights embedded in its glass facade, normally displays colorful geometric patterns at night. On Saturday, images of supersized shapes “fell” on two sides of the mirrored tower as competitors used joysticks to maneuver them into place.
It wasn’t the first time Tetris has been played on a building. But the 100,000-square-foot “screen” — which includes the north and south faces of the structure — could be a record.
City resident Sam Robinson, 30, said he signed up on a whim for the lottery to play because he figured “it would be cool to play the world’s largest game of Tetris.”
“It has been probably 15 years since I played Tetris last on a Game Boy, and it’s much different playing on the side of building that’s a half-mile away,” he said. “Everything’s happening so quick.”
The spectacle kicked off a citywide series of events called Philly Tech Week. It also celebrated the upcoming 30th anniversary of Tetris, a game revered as the epitome of elegance and simplicity, said Frank Lee, an associate professor of digital media at Drexel University.
