History
This game was created by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian software engineer, in 1986. This game has been published by many different companies since then and the rights have been disputed many times. For some time, it was owned by Nintendo, until Pajitnov co-founded The Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage the rights. Tetris has made an appearance on most major consoles, PC and mobile, becoming one of the best-selling game franchises of all time.
Rules
- Pieces, called Tetriminos, constantly descend.
- The player can move the pieces left or right as they descend, rotate them, or make them fall faster.
- When a horizontal line is completed, it is cleared and awards points to the player which increases the level.
- In most versions, the pieces fall faster as the level increases, making it harder as the game goes on.
- Most recent versions of Tetris let the player hold a Tetrimino in a separate compartment where they can call it at any time.
- When the pieces fill the top of the screen, the game ends.
Goal
The goal of the game, in most versions, is to keep going for as long as possible and to get a high score. Often, the best way to score is with a Tetris, which is when four rows are deleted at the same time, using a line piece. This will generally be the optimal strategy to get the best possible score.