1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF DECEMBER 17 | THE ESSENTIAL 100, PART FOUR

The Essential 100, No. 4: Tetris

Cover Story: Where organizing different block patterns never gets old.

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s Tetris proof that every person has a built-in penchant for organization? Maybe. At least, that would help explain why Alexey Pajitnov's wonderfully simple block puzzle game has endured across so many different platforms. Rarely does a game appeal to so many different people, and even fewer games represent such a sterling example of deceptively straightforward concept and steadfast execution. Thanks to its rare staying power, you can play Tetris on almost anything today, from dedicated gaming handhelds to mobile cellphones -- even if you don't have a smartphone -- to competitive matches with people on Facebook. It's a phenomenon that happened way before mobile hits like Angry Birds or Cut the Rope, and it helped influence the future and design of portable video games for decades.

Before I go on any further, stop and take a quick second to picture the first time you played Tetris. What do you see? I see an impressionable Puerto Rican youngster who had no idea what to make of it at first. "A game where you move blocks around?" I thought. "That's just weird." Regardless of my unfavorable perception of the game, I have to admit that my mom pulled off the impossible for Christmas of 1989: She purchased not one, but two Nintendo Game Boys for our tiny household, a rare feat for kids from a single-parent home in the Bronx. After the initial excitement of getting a Nintendo portable system wore off, I curiously examined the art on the tiny cartridge, unprepared for what I was in for. I popped it into my bulky Game Boy and tried it out. Little did I suspect this game would become one of my favorite games of all time.

Tetris represents a rare phenomena in video games -- something that only happens a few times in a generation

I don't know if you shared the same skepticism I did, but, at least on paper, Tetris sounded like a really boring video game. Yet this wasn't true at all. In fact, its design feels lifted from early arcade games. Pieces -- referred to as Tetrominos -- would drop down from the top of the screen and a player had to arrange them into completed lines. Each line you formed would flash and disappear, contributing to your overall score. The more lines you erased at once, the higher your potential score, and the Tetrominos would fall with increasing speed as you progressed. Each run lasted as long as a player could survive. The addictive nature of it all tantalized them with the promise of just one more game.

Tetris represents a rare phenomena in video games -- something that only happens a few times in a generation -- but I still can't explain its wide appeal. Maybe so many people loved Tetris because of its freeform gameplay, which gives the player complete control to shuffle and organize incoming blocks quickly and with zero instruction -- and, more importantly, however they see fit. Few puzzle games have ever offered such a clever gameplay loop, allowing you to apply dozens of different solutions to a single problem. Eventually a player would discover a distinct strategy to strive for, but the act of playing never fell into a tired gameplay pattern. You would see a piece appear at the top of the board and react by and trying to find the best slot on the screen for it.

I realize that Tetris debuted on PCs and initially became available in the U.S. in arcades and on consoles, but its distribution as a portable game on the Game Boy helped prove the potential of the early mobile gaming market. Obviously portable video games existed before Game Boy and Tetris -- from Nintendo's Game & Watch lineup to the adorable Coleco Donkey Kong -- but none of them appealed to such a wide range of people. The Game Boy became a must have portable system for everyone -- not just gamers -- and Tetris played a major part in that desire.

The idea of organization may not sound like a fun premise for a video game, but Tetris transformed us all into expert-level pack rats. Its iconic Tetrominos have become a big part of video games and mainstream culture. In fact, this might just be the one video game almost everyone has played at least once. The fact that it's still relevant today says a lot about this block puzzle game from Russia, and its lasting influence will help shape games for years to come.

Jose Otero

Jose Otero has never had a dream (or nightmare) involving huge Tetris pieces. You can read all about his weird obsession with old video games on Twitter.