TETRIS Original coin-op version Copyright ½ 1989 ATARI Corp. This unofficial ATARI ST version by Trevin Beattie This is NOT another TETRIS clone! I emphasize NOT a CLONE! THIS TETRIS is the real thing! Well, as close as I could come to it on my own. I spent weeks as the arcade studying the official ATARI game in order to get every detail just right. So why hasn't this been done before? Well, it has, I think, but there have been several complications due to the interference of some unnamed corporation. You see, soon after ATARI released TETRIS into the arcade, software developers for all kinds of computers and video game systems started working on home versions of the game, as is the norm for most arcade games. However, in the meantime, some guys from the unnamed company went to the Russian authors of TETRIS and asked for exclusive rights to TETRIS on home computers and video game systems, which (for some people at least) comes separate from the rights to the arcade version. Why or even if this is so I can't say. This whole story is hearsay, anyway. But when those guys got the rights to the home version, they made everybody else who had the official version already on the market take it back off the market. If you haven't seen them before, there have already been versions out for the ATARI ST by Spectrum Holobyte and for the Nintendo game system; these are no longer available. But apparently, these guys stopped at taking the real games off the market. I haven't seen any other TETRIS release -- in fact I haven't seen any TETRIS release at all, since I was out of the country when all this took place. Like I said, I only heard the story myself after I had started working on this game, since I was wondering why in the world all the TETRIS clones were so blasphemously different from the real thing. You know, I'm not even sure whether those Russian guys created the full arcade implementation or just the idea of fitting blocks together or whatever inbetween .... So that's the story, as far as I know about it. Since I can't release TETRIS commercially (Spectrum Holobyte should have that right), I'm releasing this version of the game into the shareware market. As I said, it is almost exactly like the arcade game. The main differences are missing features: there is no sound (yet); there are no russian dancers (I'm a terrible artist); and it doesn't have an autoplay feature to demonstrate the game (I'm working on that one). But the playability is good, two players can compete at once, and the scoring is exactly the same as the arcade version. How to Play If you've never seen TETRIS or it's clones before, the object is really simple. Sort of like a puzzle, there are seven different shapes of blocks, each made of four squares: ** **** *** *** *** ** ** ** * * * ** ** square line 'L' 'T' 'J' 'Z' 'S' (text doesn't do any justice to the awesome graphics.) Randomly picked blocks will fall one at a time down a pit, which is 10 squares wide by 20 squares high. The object is to fill entire lines without leaving any gaps. When a line becomes full, it disappears from the pit and all the blocks above it are moved down in its place. When you complete a certain number of lines, the round is finished and you get to move on. Simple? It's not as easy as it sounds for a beginner, but it quickly becomes easier with practice. To control the blocks as they fall, use a joystick; the player on the left side (the one-player side) uses port 1, so you don't have to unplug your mouse unless you have two players at once. Moving the stick left or right will move the block left or right. Moving the stick down will accelerate the block's fall. Pressing the trigger will rotate the block one quarter turn counter- clockwise (Note: using an auto-repeat firing mechanism is a very bad idea). Just like it is in the arcade. To start a game going, press the asterisk (top right) key on the keypad to give yourself some 'credits' (inserting coins in the arcade game), then press F1 for a one-player start or F2 for a two-player start. If you wish to join somebody who is already in the middle of a game, press F1 to start the left player or F2 to start the right player. Simple. As close to the arcade as a computer can get. If you make it into the top 16 high scores, you will be asked to enter your initials when your game is over. To do this, move the joystick left or right to the correct letter, then press the button to go to the next letter. Don't make a mistake, because you can't backspace, and you only have 25 seconds to finish entering your initials. The only other controls in the game are the ESCape key to pause the game and the UNDO key to quit. These features are obviously not found in the arcade game, but are necessary for a computer version. That's everything you need to know in order to start playing. How the scoring is done is left as an exercise to the game player (I spent weeks in figuring it out, so I'm not about to give out the formulas for free!) but I will give you some hints: The more lines you can clear at once, the better your score will be. And keep the playing area as low as possible, since you get a bonus after each round for the empty lines your leave on top. Shareware This program is being distributed as shareware, which means that if you think this game is worth playing often, send a small donation (I'll take any amount -- whatever you think it's worth) to help me continue developing programs for the ATARI ST. Also, feel free to send any comments, suggestions, or bug reports (very important!). Trevin Beattie 7690 Dell Road Salt Lake City, UT 84121 Updated versions of this game will come out whenever I can find the time to make improvements (I'll hurry if somebody requests it $$ :-> ).