This year’s Tech Week show stopper? Tetris on the Cira Centre

Don’t say we didn’t warn you:

Don’t say we didn’t warn you:

That was an early trial run captured after last year’s kickoff event. Letting people play Pong on the Cira Centre was a big hit; why not go even bigger with Tetris?

“One regret that I had was that we only used one side of the building,” said Drexel game-design professor Frank Lee. “This year, I wanted to find a way to use all sides of the building and truly create an aesthetic of a unique and fleeting moment shared by all the people in Philadelphia.”

The bigger-and-better encore for Lee and Philly Tech Week (organized by NewsWorks partner Technically Philly) is scheduled for Friday, April 4.

Interestingly, Tetris, not Pong, was the video game that inspired Lee’s project in the first place:

Lee says the vision for his tech-art mashup came when he was driving by the building one day.

“Other times I passed by, I didn’t really think too much about it, but this time, in 2008, when I was passing by, I saw Tetris shapes rotating and falling. And that began this long journey to make this game,” he says.

Last year, gamers squared off from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This year, the joysticks will be set up at nearby Eakins Oval.

And here’s the really important part: If you go to ph.ly/tetrislottery, you can sign up for a chance to play.