[jancsika]

The real puzzle is why there are so fewer young people playing Tetris-- a fairly recent game-- than, say, Chess-- which has been around for many decades. (An impressive 100% of known Chess masters are younger than the game.)

I'd venture to guess the graphics of Tetris already look outdated by today's standards whereas the realism of Chess is much more visually impressive.

[apetresc]

I can't tell if you're serious. Chess is a two-player game with centuries of theory behind it, tens of thousands of books, an incredibly competitive tournament scene with an international rating system. Moreover, it's a great spectator sport; watching chess helps you get better at chess.

Tetris, by comparison, is a single-player game (it has multiplayer analogues but they're very artificial) with extremely shallow theory. It is more akin to a puzzle than it is to a competitive game. Watching high-level tetris does nothing to improve your own tetris skill.

[yesenadam]

Watching high-level tetris does nothing to improve your own tetris skill.

Is that actually true? It's hard to believe. Surely you'd learn a lot about good strategy and other aspects of the game.

Chess is...a great spectator sport

Hmm yeah well...Watching someone think for 30 minutes about a move isn't that thrilling. Not uncommonly, both players will be away from the board at the same time. Most big tournaments seem to have hardly anyone actually going to them now - the experience of watching online with expert commentators is so much better. Even if you watch live in the room, you're looking at big screens on the wall, not the actual board.

Having said that, chess is the only game/sport I follow these days, I love watching tournaments and matches with commentary online, and analysis videos, banter blitz (grandmaster plays the public online while speaking their thoughts), chess lectures etc. I used to play a lot (it's extremely addictive) but gave up recently - playing (and peoples' behaviour online) can be quite disturbing, but watching is 100% enjoyable. I try to watch in Spanish when possible to improve my Spanish at the same time!

[EchoAce]

That seems like a valid reason; for me, it seems that the competitive nature of chess and its pre-existing establishment in society as a measure of intellect determines its popularity.

[newen]

Parents pay people to teach their kids chess. There are chess classes and there are large organizations devoted to chess. Chess is at a completely different league than tetris; it's ridiculous to compare the two scenes.