======Tetris======

Developed in 1985 by Russian programmer [[people:Alexei Pajitnov]] for the Soviet Electronica-60 computer (then soon ported to the IBM PC), //Tetris// is **the** [[genre:block puzzle]] game and indeed the game which fired off the whole [[puzzle game|puzzle]] genre.

The object is to stack variously shaped "[[pattern:tetrad|tetrads]]" that fall from the top of the screen into a "well", with the purpose of completing horizontal rows across the well; when completed, a row will vanish, opening more space in the well. The strategy element involves trying to eliminate multiple rows at the same time for a much higher score.  The player can rotate the tetrads left or right 90° at a time, and in most versions can "slide" tetrads for a short time after they have touched the bottom.

The player progrsses to higher levels --- which do nothing but change the block color (and in some versions the background illusstration) and increase the speed at which blocks drop --- by eliminating a given number of rows. Some variants also include "B Type" mode of play, where random junk blocks are placed on the screen at the beginning, but the baic gameplay remains the same.

=====Major Variations =====
  * Atari Tetris (Arcade) (1987)
  * Tengen Tetris (NES)
  * Classic Mac Tetris (Macintosh)
  * Nintendo Tetris (Game Boy) (1989)
  * Nintendo Tetris (NES)
  * Tetris DX (Game Boy Color)
  * Tetris - The Grand Master (Arcade)

===== Sequels =====
  * Tetris II: //[[Welltris]]// ([[1989]])
  * Tetris III: //[[Faces]]//((Facetris?)) ([[1990]])
  * Tetris IV: //[[Wordtris]]// ([[1991]])
  * Tetris V: //Super Tetris// ([[1991]])

=====Spin-offs =====
  * //Tetris 2//
  * //Tetris Attack//
  * //Tetris Blast//
  * //Hatris//
  * //Sextris//

===== Terrible, awful, no-good, very bad versions =====
  * //Tetris Worlds//
=====Clones =====
  * //[[Dr. Mario]]//
  * //[[Columns]]//
  * //[[Klax]]//
  * //[[Puyo Puyo series|Puyo Puyo]]//

=====Further reading=====
  * [[http://www.kobash.com/tetris/theory/history.html|Unofficial Gameboy Tetris Home Page]]