# Competitive Puzzle Games



## Silky (Sep 21, 2020)

I've recently been getting into competitive Tetris, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Catherine. Thought I'd make a thread to talk about competitive puzzle games since they're adjacent to competitive speedcubing. Please include any other cool competitive puzzle games !

*Puyo Puyo Tetris Video:* 





*Catherine Full Body Video:* 





*Nes Tetris Video: *


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## swburk (Sep 21, 2020)

PPT is a lot of fun. Tetris 99 is great too if you have a Switch.


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## Silky (Sep 22, 2020)

swburk said:


> PPT is a lot of fun. Tetris 99 is great too if you have a Switch.


I'm going to be picking one up pretty soon so I'll definitely check it out. PPT2 is coming out this December which is pretty exciting.


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## CrispyCubing (Sep 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> I've recently been getting into competitive Tetris, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Catherine. Thought I'd make a thread to talk about competitive puzzle games since they're adjacent to competitive speedcubing. Please include any other cool competitive puzzle games !


I've started playing NES Tetris recently as well! What's your PB?

Also, I'm interested in speed sudoku but I don't really know where to start. I've been using a random sudoku app but I'm wondering if there is a central website. I found this but idk if most people use it. Is anyone here into speed sudoku?


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## Username: Username: (Sep 22, 2020)

Dude, I'm recently very into competitive Tetris as well! I average around sub 2 minuteish in 40l, what's y'alls?
(rip I'm not using NES Tetris or PPT lol I'm using this website called tetr.io it's pretty nice.)


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## swburk (Sep 22, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> I've started playing NES Tetris recently as well! What's your PB?
> 
> Also, I'm interested in speed sudoku but I don't really know where to start. I've been using a random sudoku app but I'm wondering if there is a central website. I found this but idk if most people use it. Is anyone here into speed sudoku?



I love sudoku. If it weren't for cubing, I'd probably spend much more time working on sudoku. If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend Good Sudoku . It's the most polished sudoku app I've tried, and is really great for learning and getting faster. If you're interested in some more learning resources, feel free to PM me.


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## Silky (Sep 22, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> I've started playing NES Tetris recently as well! What's your PB?
> 
> Also, I'm interested in speed sudoku but I don't really know where to start. I've been using a random sudoku app but I'm wondering if there is a central website. I found this but idk if most people use it. Is anyone here into speed sudoku?


I think somewhere around 200k and yourself ? I've never heard about speedoku but it sounds really cool, definitely will check it out.



Username: Username: said:


> Dude, I'm recently very into competitive Tetris as well! I average around sub 2 minuteish in 40l, what's y'alls?
> (rip I'm not using NES Tetris or PPT lol I'm using this website called tetr.io it's pretty nice.)


I'll check out tetr.io soon and update. If you want to get into nes tetris check this out. It's also a great site for other classic games.


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## Username: Username: (Sep 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> I think somewhere around 200k and yourself ? I've never heard about speedoku but it sounds really cool, definitely will check it out.
> 
> 
> I'll check out tetr.io soon and update. If you want to get into nes tetris check this out. It's also a great site for other classic games.


Cool, I will sure try that out and I'll wait


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## CrispyCubing (Sep 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> I think somewhere around 200k and yourself ? I've never heard about speedoku but it sounds really cool, definitely will check it out.


Nice. I'm at 117k 



Username: Username: said:


> Dude, I'm recently very into competitive Tetris as well! I average around sub 2 minuteish in 40l, what's y'alls?
> (rip I'm not using NES Tetris or PPT lol I'm using this website called tetr.io it's pretty nice.)


Just played my first 5 games of tetr.io 40l, my PB is 2:49.

Edit: Just got 2:33


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## xyzzy (Sep 22, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> Dude, I'm recently very into competitive Tetris as well! I average around sub 2 minuteish in 40l, what's y'alls?
> (rip I'm not using NES Tetris or PPT lol I'm using this website called tetr.io it's pretty nice.)


Just tried a few games on tetr.io to check what my average was (because I usually spam resets) and it looks like I average around 1:25 1:20.

(and also I just got a PB of 1:08 while checking lol)


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## Silky (Sep 22, 2020)

Username: Username: said:


> Cool, I will sure try that out and I'll wait



First attempt was 3:49. I have to get used to it since its fairly different from nes tetris ( hard drops, T-spins, storage, next piece, etc. )



CrispyCubing said:


> Nice. I'm at 117k


Nice ! It's a pretty brutal game compared to modern tetris ( at least with not having piece outlines and really fast piece lock in ). I usually average around 100k and would like to get 500k someday. Which level do you start on ?

Also update: I found another look looking 1v1 puzzle game called crystal crisis. Doesn't seem to have a competitive following but still..

*Crystal Crisis Video:




*


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## CrispyCubing (Sep 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> Nice ! It's a pretty brutal game compared to modern tetris ( at least with not having piece outlines and really fast piece lock in ). I usually average around 100k and would like to get 500k someday. Which level do you start on ?


My 117k is a level 5 start but I am now starting on level 9 and shooting for 300k.


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## Username: Username: (Sep 22, 2020)

My PPS and accuracy basically is trash compared to my tetr.io stats lol


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## Silky (Sep 22, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> My 117k is a level 5 start but I am now starting on level 9 and shooting for 300k.


Level 9 is a really good start statistically speaking. 



Username: Username: said:


> My PPS and accuracy basically is trash compared to my tetr.io stats lol


What is your PPS and accuracy ( do you mean finesse % ? ). I seem to be averaging around 2:30 for 40L with 40%-50% finesse and ~.75 PPS.


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## Username: Username: (Sep 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> Level 9 is a really good start statistically speaking.
> 
> 
> What is your PPS and accuracy ( do you mean finesse % ? ). I seem to be averaging around 2:30 for 40L with 40%-50% finesse and ~.75 PPS.


.36 PPS lol, and yeah, finesse, cause I can't do a hard drop in NES Tetris and maybe more factors.


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## Silky (Sep 24, 2020)

@CrispyCubing do you want to race to 200k? I'm a bit out a practice so I may take a bit to get back up.

@Username: Username: do you want o race to 1:30 or maybe just play some versus ?


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## CrispyCubing (Sep 24, 2020)

Silky said:


> @CrispyCubing do you want to race to 200k? I'm a bit out a practice so I may take a bit to get back up.


Not even joking, I just got 311k 5 minutes ago, I’m still shaking... What about racing to 350k? idk how long that will take, or if I can get 300k again but...


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## Silky (Sep 24, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Not even joking, I just got 311k 5 minutes ago, I’m still shaking... What about racing to 350k? idk how long that will take, or if I can get 300k again but...


Dang. Congrats. 350k sounds good. What are you playing it on btw?


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## CrispyCubing (Sep 25, 2020)

Silky said:


> Dang. Congrats. 350k sounds good. What are you playing it on btw?


Assuming you mean hardware: I have all OG hardware and I play on normal TV (not a CRT TV yet...)


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## Silky (Sep 25, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Assuming you mean hardware: I have all OG hardware and I play on normal TV (not a CRT TV yet...)


Yeah. I play online emu with keyboard. Not sure if there is a significant difference. But thats rad. I might be picking up a switch soon and may get it on VC. However, there are a bunch more tetris games on switch so who knows.


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## Spacey10 (Sep 26, 2020)

Silky said:


> Yeah. I play online emu with keyboard. Not sure if there is a significant difference. But thats rad. I might be picking up a switch soon and may get it on VC. However, there are a bunch more tetris games on switch so who knows.


Don't get a switch. You can not play because of the controller drift


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## Nmile7300 (Sep 26, 2020)

Spacey10 said:


> Don't get a switch. You can not play because of the controller drift


From what I've seen, the drift is quite easy to fix. I haven't experienced it personally, but I watched a few tutorials for fixing it, the solutions seemed really easy, and I didn't see any comments saying it didn't work.


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## Spacey10 (Sep 26, 2020)

Nmile7300 said:


> From what I've seen, the drift is quite easy to fix. I haven't experienced it personally, but I watched a few tutorials for fixing it, the solutions seemed really easy, and I didn't see any comments saying it didn't work.


Bruh mine is crazy then. I still can't play fortnite with 0.5 deadzones.


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## Silky (Sep 26, 2020)

Spacey10 said:


> Bruh mine is crazy then. I still can't play fortnite with 0.5 deadzones.


Is it just joycons or all controllers ?


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## Kit Clement (Sep 26, 2020)

Panel de Pon (also Tetris Attack or Pokemon Puzzle League) has been one of my favorite competitive puzzle games to play. Haven't seen a big intersection of cubers and people who play this game, but if you want to give it a try, the Japanese copy is available for Switch in the SNES library.


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## Spacey10 (Sep 26, 2020)

Silky said:


> Is it just joycons or all controllers ?


From what I know, it's only joy cons. But a pro controller that's wired, you can get one for about 30 dollars, but I don't have one yet.


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## Natanael (Sep 26, 2020)

I play guideline tetris (jstris and tetr.io) and have done so for 1.5 years now!


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## Nmile7300 (Sep 26, 2020)

Silky said:


> Is it just joycons or all controllers ?


Interestingly, I've experienced "Nunchuk drift" on my Wii quite a bit. It was always fixed by unplugging the nunchuk accessory out of the wii remote and then putting it back in, so it was more of an occasional annoyance than a real issue.


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## Silky (Sep 28, 2020)

@CrispyCubing 
Goal: Supra-350k
Week 1: De-rust

Averaging ~ 35k ( RIP )
PB 65k

Next week: Work on burns and cleaner stacking ( maybe with a level 7 start ). Try to average ~50k +


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## Silky (Oct 11, 2020)

S, bizarre update. I recently found the strangest puzzler non-puzzler competitive game. Ikaruga. On face value it is simply a fantastic shoot em up ( shmup ) however, below the surface, it is a intricate puzzler as you optimize high score runs through chains ( groups of 3 ships ). It has a pretty difficult learning curve but its addicting and wildly entertaining to watch. One of the most beautiful games out there. Can't recommend it enough.


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## Silky (Oct 12, 2020)

Goal: Supra-350k
Week 2: De-rust but more

Averaging ~ 85k
PB ~150k

Next week: Get a Supra-175k and work on 7 + 8 level start.


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## CrispyCubing (Oct 14, 2020)

Week: 2
Goal: Supra 350k

Avg: ~80k
PB: 311k

Goals for this week: At least three 100k+ games. Do level 19 starts to get used to the speed and go for at least 10 lines.


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## Silky (Oct 15, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Week: 2
> Goal: Supra 350k
> 
> Avg: ~80k
> ...


Level 19 ?! You wildin' !


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## CrispyCubing (Oct 15, 2020)

Silky said:


> Level 19 ?! You wildin' !


Yeah, mostly just for fun... Most amount of lines I've gotten is 8. Normally I do level 15 starts.


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## CrispyCubing (Oct 21, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Avg: ~80k
> PB: 311k
> 
> Goals for this week: At least three 100k+ games. Do level 19 starts to get used to the speed and go for at least 10 lines.


Good news! Last week I got 5 games above 100k and improved my consistency. I used to randomly get ~20k games but I worked on burning lines and cleaner stacking.

Still averaging 80k
PB: 311k

Goals:
At least one game >200k and go for 10 lines on level 19 again.


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## Silky (Oct 21, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Good news! Last week I got 5 games above 100k and improved my consistency. I used to randomly get ~20k games but I worked on burning lines and cleaner stacking.
> 
> Still averaging 80k
> PB: 311k
> ...


Still averaging around 85k.
PB ~150k

Goals 150k-175k + average ~100k with level 8 start. Start grinding level 9 start + work on better transitions.

A quick tip for burning => Leave the column next to the well 1-3 blocks less than the rest of the stack. This leaves burns open to L, J, T, O, Z, and S pieces. Z only works with one less block, the rest 3 except O.


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## Silky (Oct 22, 2020)

Btw are you any good at tucks ?


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## CrispyCubing (Oct 22, 2020)

Silky said:


> A quick tip for burning => Leave the column next to the well 1-3 blocks less than the rest of the stack. This leaves burns open to L, J, T, O, Z, and S pieces. Z only works with one less block, the rest 3 except O.


Thanks for the tip! I’ll work on implementing this into my games.


Silky said:


> Btw are you any good at tucks ?


Not exceedingly. I can do it when the need arises but I don’t do tucks that often (Usually not more than 5 per game) Are you?


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## Silky (Oct 22, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> Thanks for the tip! I’ll work on implementing this into my games.
> 
> Not exceedingly. I can do it when the need arises but I don’t do tucks that often (Usually not more than 5 per game) Are you?


I'm pretty decent, I think. I always start with 1-2 tucks at the beginning with Z and S pieces and I'm usually okay when I have misdrops. Sometimes I can S/Z spin but I can't get T spins at all. I don't think its super crucial overall except when you have misdrops and your stack is high. I think one of my strong suits is being able to recover after mistdrops and high stacks but it always ends up with low scores since you aren't getting tetri.

WEll maybe not recover but hang on for a long while

Tucks are always impressive but its way better to have clean stacking and just avoid situation where you're forced to tuck


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## Silky (Nov 5, 2020)

Update:
Averaging closer to 100k but not sure where exactly.
PB 184k !!

Goals 200k + average 90-100k solidly. Still work on the level 9 grind.

On another note have been playing a bunch of tetris 99 and got a bunch of top 10 finishes. Still haven't clutched a victory though


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## Kit Clement (Nov 8, 2020)

I mentioned Panel de Pon/Puzzle League games in an earlier post, so I thought I'd post a video of me getting my first sub-10 speedrun on hard mode earlier. Super fun game that has really similar look-ahead skills to cubing if you're interested in a new puzzle game.


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## Silky (Nov 11, 2020)

Kit Clement said:


> I mentioned Panel de Pon/Puzzle League games in an earlier post, so I thought I'd post a video of me getting my first sub-10 speedrun on hard mode earlier. Super fun game that has really similar look-ahead skills to cubing if you're interested in a new puzzle game.


Congrats on the PB ! when I get the time I'll play it on emu.


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## CrispyCubing (Dec 12, 2020)

I finally got an NES Tetris PB of 414,789! (320k Previous). Started on level 9, topped out on 16. I was doing level 9 starts to practice efficient and consistent stacking so it was just a matter of survival... I think I'll go for 500k next!


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## Silky (Dec 12, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> I finally got an NES Tetris PB of 414,789! (320k Previous). Started on level 9, topped out on 16. I was doing level 9 starts to practice efficient and consistent stacking so it was just a matter of survival... I think I'll go for 500k next!


Congrats !! I recently topped out at 14 with a level 9 start but only got a 120k. Great to see you destroying your records ! Closer and closer to a max out ! I'll catch up soon don't you worry..

I've recently been playing Tetris 99 ( going for my first W ) so hopefully that translates to classic NES.


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## abunickabhi (Dec 13, 2020)

Nice, a lot of cubers are getting into tetris this year, D2 F' E2 R' E R2 E R' F D2 .


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## xyzzy (Dec 13, 2020)

Ha, this thread kind of became a Tetris general thread, didn't it?

I managed to get sub-minute 40 lines on tetr.io a while back; my PB's standing at 57.9x currently.


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## Nir1213 (Dec 13, 2020)

i got 40 lines at 8:16.073, it was my 2nd time playing it. It's a start i guess.


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## DNF_Cuber (Dec 13, 2020)

I got to 36 lines in 40 lines on tetr.io. Success soon!
EDIT: first success, was a 9:01
EDIT2: then a 7:49


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## Silky (Dec 14, 2020)

xyzzy said:


> Ha, this thread kind of became a Tetris general thread, didn't it?
> 
> I managed to get sub-minute 40 lines on tetr.io a while back; my PB's standing at 57.9x currently.


Lol yeah. If people were interested in doing Catherine, Ikaruga, or Puyo Puyo 2 I'd be down for that. Tetris seems to be the main interest atm which makes sense since it's both the most accessible and an absolute classic.


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## Silky (Dec 30, 2020)

Got my first 200k. Slowly climbing..


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## Ravagerous (Dec 30, 2020)

CrispyCubing said:


> I finally got an NES Tetris PB of 414,789! (320k Previous). Started on level 9, topped out on 16. I was doing level 9 starts to practice efficient and consistent stacking so it was just a matter of survival... I think I'll go for 500k next!


Nice break man!


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## Silky (Dec 31, 2020)

I literally just got a 16 KO game on Tetris 99 and choked the W. Someone hecking called me during top 10. Out at 4th place, RIP.


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## BenChristman1 (Mar 17, 2021)

I guess that this could go in this thread:


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## xyzzy (Aug 11, 2021)

Been trying to gitgud at Tetris (on tetr.io); some random notes.

There's this t-spin loop that I've been using a lot ever since I got matched up with someone spamming it in multiplayer. It's terrible for keypress efficiency (lots of soft drops), but it's so regular that I can just associate each piece's colour with a specific sequence of keys to hit and _actually look ahead_. I used it in 40L to get a 40.x PB, and in Blitz to get on the leaderboards (peak rank #796, iirc).

It's mediocre in terms of score efficiency, but being able to plough through it at 2.5 pieces/sec makes up for it. The slow progress with the t-spin loop has been frustrating, though (my last high score was literally just t-spin loop + getting lucky with a perfect clear), and I've been looking into different scoring strategies, moving towards higher score efficiency but still without too much thinking.

Sort of analogous to transitioning from LBL to CFOP, if you think about it: it's harder, but it also has a higher ceiling. The difference is that in tetr.io's Blitz mode, when you're unsure, you can't just wait and think like you can with solving cubes; pieces fall from the top to the bottom in like 0.4 second at level 8. Pausing to recognise cases can be fatal. Exploiting the half-second lock delay to plan ahead is almost necessary. This doesn't really have an analogue in cubing, I guess. (edit: or like metronome solves where you DNF if you miss any beat at all)

I don't play multiplayer too often, but I did get up to SS rank (top 11%). It doesn't feel all that impressive, given that my technique is obviously garbage compared to the best players (exclusively using easily-countered openers; never paying attention to opponent's field; zero finesse knowledge; etc.)… which is kind of the same as with cubing? 12-13 seconds on 3×3×3 makes me much better than median, but I _know_ my technique is horrendous.

update (2021-08-14): My peak rank on the Blitz leaderboards is now #697. (Fallen by a few places since then.) Also looked at the higher ranks on the leaderboard and saw Jayden at #99, lol.


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## Filipe Teixeira (Jul 9, 2022)

I learned about tetr.io today
used to play tetris battle a lot back in 2010 and I miss it so much. perfect match making system no other game managed to beat

there was tetris stars too and the official tetris for mobile that had a touch mechanic... really cool to play

there is flipon too on steam and mobile, go check it out

maybe I'll practice more in the next days and break the 2min barrier with 40l


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## Silky (Jul 9, 2022)

Filipe Teixeira said:


> I learned about tetr.io today
> used to play tetris battle a lot back in 2010 and I miss it so much. perfect match making system no other game managed to beat
> 
> there was tetris stars too and the official tetris for mobile that had a touch mechanic... really cool to play
> ...


Check out jstris. Similar to tetr.io but doesn't kill your computer


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## Filipe Teixeira (Jul 9, 2022)

Silky said:


> Check out jstris. Similar to tetr.io but doesn't kill your computer


I liked tetr.io better


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## Filipe Teixeira (Aug 5, 2022)

there is this new game that resembles rocket league where you play golf with cars. it's pretty dope
not a puzzler but involves skills and competition









Turbo Golf Racing on Steam


Turbo Golf Racing is an arcade-style sports racing game for up to eight players online. Slam into oversized golf balls, race your friends and climb the leaderboards in an explosive dash to the finish flag.




store.steampowered.com


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## Filipe Teixeira (Nov 2, 2022)

hey

my first sub2min 40L on tetris


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