The Tetris Mod

Building the Base

To support all the structure of the independent and interconnected PCs, we needed a good base. Of course, the base wasn't just for weight - it would also be where every monitor should be integrated. Because it would house so many wires, monitors and various peripheral jacks, it would also end up with several large holes cut in it.

The base was built in wood (1cm thick MDF board) and it was designed to hold the weight of a mod that would tower way over our heads. Though the blocks themselves would be built in a fairly light acrylic, some of the PCs would end up over three metres tall.

At one end of the mod's base, we wanted to add our own arcade machine, complete with the Tetris game (the Atari original one) to remind people those old memories.


The base started its life as some sheets of MDF, but a few carefully laid holes and some assembly later, and we were already looking at the start of a Tetris-style monolith. Inside, the base had supports designed to carry the weight of the acrylic above down to the floor without stressing too much.


The assembled base was then primed before we began painting. First, a soft paintbrush layer was applied, then some masking tape and after that, some airbrush and finally freehand airbrush touches. The design of the painting is a conical perspective of the pieces exploding out from the centre of the base.


The end-cap for the mod would feature an authentic Atari Tetris machine, as found in the arcades. Of course, that didn't mean that the paint job couldn't look a little different...