Tetris

Manufacturer: Atari Games
Year: 1988
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Puzzle
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color

Conversion Class: JAMMA
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Competitive
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player Ambidextrous
Controls:

Joystick: 3-way (down, left, right)
Buttons: 1 [Rotate]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

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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.

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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.

CAPS/VAPS Arcade Census

There are 6,492 members of the Classic Arcade Preservation Society / Video Arcade Preservation Society, 3,731 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 61,187 machines (3,630 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 177 known instances of this machine owned by Tetris collectors. Of these, 29 of them are original dedicated machines, 40 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 108 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

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

Wanted - There are 3 VAPS members currently looking for Tetris.

This game ranks a 8 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

For Sale - There are 6 VAPS members with Tetris machines for sale. There are 6 VAPS members with extra Tetris circuit boards for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them even though arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses, while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up.
Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector.
In particular, since VAPS started out focusing on videogames, statistics for other types of machines should not (yet) be an indication of scarcity.
For a clue to value, look at absolute numbers of owners and potential owners above, compare a ratio of how many people want this game vs. how many people have this game (2%) and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

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.

Trivia

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

Manuals

Kit Installation Instructions 15 Pages, 1796 KB File.

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Tetris Videogame machines and related items.

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TODAY'S PICKS FOR:
Tetris

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