Tetris
Originally created in 1984
Designer: Alexey Pajitnov
History:
Tetris is by far one of the most famous and widely recognized puzzle
games ever made, and one of the few true creative ideas to come from
Russia in its time. Creator Pajitnov, a computer programmer, first
developed it on a Russian computer system called Elektronika when he
was working at the University of Moscow. Soon afterwards, it spread
among the small community in Moscow that owned computers, and slowly
began to gain notice outside Russia as well. Because of the
communist-socialist structure still dominant in Russia at the time,
Pajitnov could not get it patented; it wasn't until 1996 that he was
finally able to establish full rights to his creation, and he did
make some fortune out of it then. Within this time, various versions
of the game began to appear on the market, and spread the popularity
of Tetris worldwide.
The shapes here are called tetrominoes,
and they sure are quite fun to try and assemble.
Besides being one of the most excellent games around, Tetris is also
a perfect reflection of the human condition. We try to set things up
in as perfect a manner as possible, but then we slip, and are racing
to fix things. But by then, the cancer has begun to spread, and we
do our best to slow things down.
Atari's
Tetris
Produced in 1988
Production staff:
Project leader: Kelly Turner
Programmers: Norm Avellar, Kelly Turner, Ed Logg
Video graphics: Kris Moser
Software engineer: Doug Snyder
Technician: Glenn McNamara
Audio: Brad Fuller
History:
With Tetris already taking the PC world by storm, it was only a
matter of time before arcade game designers would think to cash in
on this wonderful game as well. Atari did just that, producing one
of the first coin-op versions, and soon everybody was enjoying
themselves at the arcades as well as on the computer. What made this
version unique was the simultaneous two-player action, providing the
excitement of competition. When just one person is playing, the
other well serves to provide statistics.
I personally consider Atari's take one of the best, because of the
challenges it features, such as singular gray bricks that can appear
at any given moment on some stages and either help or hinder your
progress, rising-but-incomplete lines, and even the parts where you
need to work your way around the high-score initials current stores
in the database while the game is switched on! This is just what
makes Atari's version one of the most engaging of all time.
Sega's
Tetris
Produced in 1988
This is even closer to the original's approach, which did make use
out of pictorial backgrounds as it was developed. Points earned are
more for clearing lines than they are for just placing the
tetrominoes in certain positions. The game can go on until
999,999,999 points, 999 lines, and 99 levels are passed.
Video links: part
one, part
two.
Sega's 1999 update of Tetris
Produced in 1999
An updated version featuring semi-3D graphics and animal mascots to
accompany the action.
