Tetris, Tetris, wherefore art thou, Tetris?

Well, they are off. Pam and Nich and Isabel are headed back to Iowa. My sister, her husband and baby have been visiting for a couple of weeks. Due to my schedule, I only got together with them about 4 times, but at least we got to catch up a little bit. 

Along the way we had a good time reminiscing about some of the stuff from them growing up. Since I am 9 years older than them (her and Deb are twins), I spent a lot of time babysitting first the twins, then my younger brothers as well.

I also felt a certain responsibility towards them since it was about that time Mom started getting the various cancers and so forth that would dominate the rest of her life. So I took it upon myself to supply as much of the little niceties of life as possible

For example, I got them a game system. Specifically, a Nintendo. The first game it came with was Volleyball.

So we used to have some good old 4 player throw downs with rotating teams. They were only allowed to play for 15 minutes at a time for the first couple years, but while playing, it was sure fun. 

There was also a soccer game and later, someone picked up Tetris. It was a game that back then I never cared for, though now I play it from time to time on my phone. But they loved it. They also used it for scams.

See, if you were playing a game at the conclusion of your 15 minute turn, you were allowed to complete the game as long as it was done in a reasonable amount of time.

Well, someone to remain nameless since she tells the story on herself once elected to abuse it. With about 2 minutes left on her time, Pam started a new game of Tetris. And since she was pretty decent at it, her game went well past the allotted time. 

Mom and Dad were out in the back yard, and the younger brothers were...well...antsy about getting their turn. 

Arguments ensued. 

And did not stop even after Dad made a couple of trips into deal with the situation. We were not allowed to throw fits or back talk lest we suffer consequences and Dad arriving on the scene was definitely more awe-inspiring (and obedience requiring, too) than Mom arriving.

Well, when the sum result of his inquiries was lots of accusations, recriminations, and further arguments, he did what he did; Tetris was banned from the house.

Ironically, a couple of years later, the offending party got a Gameboy and one of her games was Tetris. Her own little dirty secret. I had played it off and on all along since I was not there when the controversy happened and did not even know it was banned. 

In the long run, it was a pretty good lesson for the kids and they used it wisely. I guess. Mostly, it meant they learned to hide their disagreements better :-)