find a perfect fit for a given piece. Certainly a game using five-square pieces could have
been challenging in its own way, and perhaps a slower falling speed and larger play-field
could have compensated for the added complexity of the larger pieces. But would it
have beenTetris? No. Would it have been as fun and addictive asTetris? Probably not. At
some point a complexity level begins to stifle the core nature of a game and confuses
players instead of challenging them. Using five instead of four squares ruined the sim-
plicity Pajitnov was striving for, and as a result he reduced the number of squares a
piece could have. Similarly, if he had used only three squares, the game would have
been too simple. It would appearTetrisexpertly follows the adage that everything
should be as simple as possible but no simpler.
There are actually thirteen unique combinations of five squares possible, where
each square shares a side with another square. So it would appear that the original
pentomino game, with its twelve blocks, did not use a complete set of pieces. I have
never tried pentomino, so I have no idea how much fun that puzzle may be. Part of what
makesTetrisso elegant is the completeness of its pieces. Every possible permutation
of four squares with squares sharing sides is used in the game. Remove any one of the
pieces fromTetrisand the game’s balance would suffer. When playing, players will find
themselves presented with situations that cry out for certain pieces. Certain arrange-
ments of the blocks on the bottom of the screen leave holes that can only be perfectly
filled by a specificTetrispiece. Part of what lendsTetrisits balance is the fact that
Pajitnov was wise enough to include each piece possible, thus providing a piece for
every type of gap. The natural completeness and symmetry of the pieces available to
players inTetrisis a crucial component of its balance.
Fifteen Years On, Who Would Publish Tetris?...............
One must wonder, ifTetriswere created today, what publisher would be willing to pub-
lish it. OriginallyTetriswas sold as “the game from Russia” and featured art and music
of a similar nature, almost as a gesture to our new friends in what was then the U.S.S.R.
HadTetrisbeen dreamed up by a kid in a garage in Iowa one wonders if it ever would
have been published at all. (One would like to be optimistic and think that he would
have been able to code it up, release it as shareware or to the casual games market on
the Internet, and the game’s fame would still have been assured.)Tetrisis the ultimate
in low-technology gameplay, and many game publishers simply refuse to publish games
that do not utilize the latest in computer graphics wizardry. After all, where will they
find the pretty screenshots for the back of the box? The game lacks any sort of story or
even setting, another absolute must for the people in marketing. What sort of copy will
they write in their ads? Indeed, it is a testament toTetris’s brilliant gameplay that it can-
not be adequately described in any amount of words, much less in a catchy one-liner.
Even looking at a static screenshot ofTetrisis a thoroughly unexciting experience, one
which cannot hope to communicate the game’s sublime art. Gameplay is an elusive
subject for manipulators of the written word; it must be experienced to be understood.
150 Chapter 8: Game Analysis:Tetris