Packing for a Christmas Road Trip? Honda's got some Tetris tips...

If there's one thing Christmas road trips and Tetris have in common, it's that letting things pile up in the wrong way will lead to a sorry ending.

Fitting all the Christmas luggage into the car can be an awkward and tiring affair, even when owners have the versatility of Honda’s Magic Seats to help them out.

Jumping onto a well-worn joke, Honda has consulted a competitive player of the classic puzzler Tetris for advice on making the best use of a car’s space.

'DanV' first started playing Tetris on his Nintendo Game Boy in 2003, but has recently joined the competitive circuit in 2020 with the aim to play in the annual Classic Tetris World Championship.

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DanV (Photo via aGameScout and EricICX)

“When packing items into a car, you can think of it in the same way: if something doesn’t fit, you can make it work, whether that is rotating a big box, or re-arranging the order you have placed items in,” he says.

Offering the idea of treating the boot and cabin as two separate Tetris boards, DanV details important considerations on which items should be on top, such as snacks that will need to be retrieved easily from the boot during stops on longer journeys.

While a game of Tetris challenges players with differently-shaped pieces at random, there is an inherent advantage with boot packing by knowing the order of the different shapes that are to be packed.

“The ‘O piece’ can be the perfect piece to start out with…” Dan says, referring to the 2x2 square piece that often Tetris throws at players, “... ‘O pieces’ have a reputation as a piece you’d rather not have, as it always seems to come at the wrong time.”

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2024 Honda ZR-V boot

An iconic creation of Soviet-era software engineer Alexey Pajitnov, Tetris appeared on many different gaming platforms before becoming the must-have game to accompany Nintendo’s pioneering Gameboy portable gaming system.

While it is possible to beat the puzzler, fitting all the Christmas needs into your car is not quite as arduous, especially with the luxury of having pliable and softer items.

“Smaller items can either go in the backseat, or be squeezed into any gaps boxes may have left behind, to ensure you use up as much space as possible.”

We'd suggest you not get it exactly right, of course. You might see a row of suitcases disappear before you eyes...

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Clever Christmas marketing or a bit cringe?

Honda has long been known for its clever internals, offering segment-leading cargo space and other innovative ideas – like those Magic Seats and doors that open to 90 degrees to help with access.

Consulting with a Tetris dynamo on matters relating to cargo only seems like a natural partnership, although even the experts can have troubles with oddly-shaped items, such as a Christmas tree.

“The T-piece is one of the trickiest blocks to deal with. If you don’t know what to do with a T-piece, you’ll most likely find yourself in trouble.” DanV says.

Gotta say though, Honda, we're pretty disappointed there's no video to go with this...