I recently learned about a word called Ikigai. It’s a Japanese philosophy that can be boiled down to “your reason for being”. There’s a Venn diagram graph that visually explains the concept in more detail. At the bottom of the graph is “What you can be paid for”, the top is “What you love”, the left is “What you are good at”, and the right is
“What the world needs”. Ikigai is the center of all these circles. It combines all four statements and makes them one. I find this philosophy fascinating, and found a book (the book?) That deviled into the word, its origins, and how to apply it to your own life. I’m about halfway through the book, and really enjoying it, but realized something one day. Tetris fits into the concept of Ikigai at its base form. And here’s why.
Tetris is a complex game that masquerades as a simple one. The goal, place blocks in a formation that creates lines, which removes them from the screen. Easy enough, until you realize the best way to rack up points. Create a four block high set of lines, and you make a Tetris. The game has difficulty modes that give you the choice of how fast the pieces fall from the sky, but besides that you choose how hard the game is. Wanna make multiple Tetrises, you’re gonna have to watch where you place the pieces. Creating single lines and eliminating them is straightforward and un-complex, but nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing those four lines flash at once and disappear causing a little ding to play. Summed up, Tetris is a fast-paced puzzle game with a satisfying prompt.
How does this relate to Ikigai? While playing Tetris, I realized that I was fulfilling everything that Ikigai asks of an individual, with varying levels of completion on the “what you’re good at” portion of the philosophy. Now obviously nobody’s paying me to play Tetris. That being said, Tetris keeps your mind working, which in turn makes me a better worker, so let’s just say this as the reasoning and move on. “What the world needs”, in this case, is to stack blocks in such a way that I create a four line combination, and make the little Russian town in this game happy. A task is given, and the execution is unique for every individual. “What you are good at”. I wish I could say I was really great at the game, but at my best I can barely achieve three Tetrises in one go, and since the blocks are randomized I usually only achieve one per game. That being said, when I’m in the zone, playing Tetris gives me the feeling of floating on clouds of rectangular majesty. From what I’ve heard, this is a universal feeling. For the final question Ikigai asks, “What you love”. And I love Tetris with every fibre of my soul. Placing blocks in poetic symmetry is a combination of strategic thinking and praying that whatever piece the game throws you next will fit. Tetris is perfect. Tetris is Ikigai.