Neon Retro Arcade

Tetris

1988

Atari

Tetris was made famous as the pack-in game for the Nintendo Game Boy. The Game Boy is an incredible handheld that has stood the test of time, but it is hard to imagine it launching without the addictive Tetris cartridge. This is the game that makes even non-gamers obsessed. This arcade version adds full color (whoo hoo!) and an incredible two-player mode (in addition to those cool backwards Rs)!

Story

Tetris is the quintessential puzzle game- you rotate and drop pieces to form solid lines, which are then erased. Over time, the pace picks up and it is much harder to put pieces in the proper places to avoid leaving holes. Tetris was originally designed by Alexey Pazhitnov, an engineer at a Soviet R&D center. As a government employee, he received no royalties for his masterpiece. He later went on to design the puzzle game Hexic.

Tips & Strategies

Pay attention to the top left corner- the next piece is displayed so you can plan ahead.

Two-player mode is a lot of fun, but be careful- it has been known to end friendships.

Press the 'rotate' buttons when the man in the door is doing his victory dance- a hook will pop out and grab him.