3D Tetris with LED Matrix

Tetris has been a fixture of gaming since the 1980s, and its simple falling-blocks formula has been adapted to a range of computing systems. While the classic Tetris format involves arranging four-block shapes to fill voids in a 2D playfield, why couldn’t these so-called tetrominos instead be used in a 3D space?

To accurately depict falling blocks in 3D, Max Siebenschläfer and company employed a 3x3x12 LED matrix display controlled by an ESP32-based ESPduino dev board for their 3D Tetris game. This LED matrix uses PL9823 addressable LEDs, so the whole thing runs off of one ESP32 output pin, making wiring relatively simple for this collection of 108 LEDs.

Control of the device is via a web interface generated by the ESP32, allowing players to log on and manipulate the falling blocks. In case the action gets too will, the matrix is protected by a plexiglass shield, and electronics are concealed in a 3D-printed base module.

This project was inspired, in part, by the Tetris game at 3dtetris.de, which you can play right now. Notably, some of the shapes there are different than classic Tetris – such as the 1x3 block used instead of a 1x4 tetromino that wouldn’t fit in the playfield. Still, with rotation about the X, Y, and Z axes, there’s plenty to think about.

A short demo of this device in action is seen in the video below, though sensitive listeners may wish to mute the background music. Code for the device is available on GitHub.