Tetris
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Developer: Spectrum HoloByte
Platforms: Commodore 64 and Nintendo Game Boy
Release Date: June 6, 1984
Why this game mattered: Tetris introduced the concept of pick-up-and-play games that allowed you to have an enormous amount of fun in five, 10, or 20 minutes. It also helped launch the Game Boy for Nintendo, and the theme tune became recognizable anywhere all through the late 1980s.
Fun fact: In 1992, the Tetris theme was remixed into a dance track by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the writer of the Phantom of the Opera musical. It reached number six on the U.K. music charts.
Future games influenced by this title: Contemporary games like Columns and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, as well as modern classics like Bejeweled and Candy Crush all owe their existence to the popularity of Tetris. Then, of course, there's every new iteration of Tetris, like Tetris 99.
Where you can play it today: The Software Arcade Library is a great place to find the original Tetris.
