Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Tetris

Description

A puzzle game where seven different types of blocks continuously fall from above and you must arrange them to make horizontal rows of bricks. Completing any row causes those blocks to disappear and the rest above move downwards completing four rows at once is called a Tetris. The blocks above gradually fall faster and the game is over when the screen fills up and blocks can no longer fall from the top.

Tetris was produced by Atari Games in 1988.

Atari Games released 88 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1984. Atari Games was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari Games during the time period Tetris was produced include: Xybots, A.P.B., Atari R.B.I. Baseball, Blasteroids, RBI Baseball, Cyberball, Vindicators, Toobin', Vindicators Part II, and Assault

Specs

Name	Tetris
Developer	Atari Games (United States)
Year	1988
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	10081
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Puzzle
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Color
Conversion Class	JAMMA
Game Specific	Tetris Pinout
Dipswitch Settings	Tetris Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)
# Simultaneous Players	2
# Maximum Players	2
Game Play	Competitive
Control Panel Layout	Multiple Player Ambidextrous
Controls	Joystick: 3-way (down, left, right) Buttons: 1 - Rotate
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard Cocktail Cabaret/Mini - Klax Cabaret factory conversio
Instructions	Tetris Instructions Image
Bezel	Tetris Bezel Image
Control Panel	Tetris Control Panel Image
Side Art	Tetris Side Art Image
PCB	Tetris PCB Image

Video Clips

Atari Tetris Arcade Game Review - Cabinet - 1988

Game Introduction

You must arrange bricks to form rows without the 'wall' getting too high, or it's game over. You can rotate bricks so that they fit into the wall and once a row is complete it will disappear, thus lowering the wall. Eliminated rows will lower the number of lines you need to complete a level. Bricks fall faster in the higher levels and sometimes there are already bricks in the field that block your path. Often, when you try to make a Tetris four rows of lines that are removed at once, you end up waiting a long time for the long red brick the only way of completing a Tetris. It is interesting to note that every brick is made up of exactly four blocks.

Tetris KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.45 (7 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.97

Overall Like	4.33
Fun (Social)	3.83
Fun (Solo)	4.17
Collector Desire	3.17

Technical Rating: 3.36

Gameplay	4.50
Graphics	2.83
Originality	3.57
Sound/Music	3.00

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

If you tap the "rotate" buttons when the guy in the doorway is doing his "victory dance" a hook will reach out from the side and drag him away by the neck. If you do it when he is just dropping down to do the "Cossack Kicks", he'll dodge the hook the first time, but get caught by it on the return!

More pictures

Trivia

The original designer is a Russian programmer called Alexey Pazhitnov, which is why the artwork has Russian buildings and dancers.

Gilman Louie was the first one to license Tetris from its developers in the Soviet Union.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Tetris Census

There are 14,753 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,474 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 164,463 machines (6,895 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 409 known instances of this machine owned by Tetris collectors who are active members. Of these, 84 of them are original dedicated machines. 99 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 224 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 13 active VAPS members with a Tetris machines for sale. There are 14 active VAPS members with a Tetris circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Popular - There are 23 active VAPS members currently looking for Tetris. There are 4 active VAPS members looking for Tetris boards sets.

This game ranks a 82 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 32 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

The game uses a 6502 microprocessor and two Atari Pokey sound chips. Game settings and the top six high scores are saved in EEROM Electrically Erasable ROM. The game only uses font-mapped graphics there are no sprite graphics.

Manuals

Misc. pinout and DIP switch settings - Tetris Manual — **Misc. pinout and DIP switch settings**
(8 pages, 1.4 MB File)

Tetris PDF - Tetris Manual — **Tetris PDF**
(20 pages, 1.5 MB File)

Tetris CO-328-01 1st Printing - Tetris Manual — **Tetris CO-328-01 1st Printing**
(1 page, 72 kB File)

Tetris CO-328-02 1st Printing - Tetris Manual — **Tetris CO-328-02 1st Printing**
(1 page, 125 kB File)

Tetris TM-328 1st Printing Kit - Tetris Manual — **Tetris TM-328 1st Printing Kit**
(18 pages, 6.5 MB File)

Tetris TM-328 2nd Printing Kit - Tetris Manual — **Tetris TM-328 2nd Printing Kit**
(20 pages, 1.5 MB File)

Kit Installation Instructions - Tetris Manual — **Kit Installation Instructions**
(15 pages, 1.8 MB File)

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

See the game at:

This game is available at the following public arcades, bars or museums:

Name	Location	State	Country	Details	Check-ins
8-Bit Beans	100 Brock St South, Whitby	Ontario	Canada		0
Bartari	101 Adams Ave, Scranton	Pennsylvania	United States	Arcade Bar (Classic Videogame and Pinball) Children: Only in daytime Focus: Classic & Modern Games Food: Yes Alcohol: Yes Payment Method: Coins	0

eBay Listings

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