What's it about Tetris?

How does this game still survive so easily among today's gamers? I mean, it made sense back in the early 90's, sure, but now? In this age of FPS's and Shocker Horrors, or whatever the scamps are playing nowadays? For those who don't know, Tetris DS was the latest remake of the original Tetris game, which debuted in the USSR way back in 1984, finally shuffling its way into the west in 1989.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Tetris. I still have my GameBoy (yeah, the fat one. Who needs your DSI Go XL 3000 or whatever it is you play?) and my Tetris cartridge, and I got that when I was four years old. Do I still play it? Nope. Am I damn glad I own it? You bet your ass. I've always been a fan of Tetris. Call me conformist, but I too bought Tetris DS. Why? Because it's Tetris. It's irresistible. But the point of these shenanigans is not to fawn over this brilliantly-designed game, no. The point of this entry is to address the why and how of this game and how it still attracts customers today.

Let me restate my previous statement: This game is brilliantly-designed. Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov really crafted a winner with this one, let me tell you. Why? Because the game is so simplistic, yet so addicting. As you likely know, there's really no way to beat Tetris. You just keep going until you get the highest possible score you can, and then you start all over and try to beat the previous score. In this sense, you're competing against yourself, and who doesn't like that? That's what Ghost Saves are for in the Mario Kart series!

The game itself is simplistic enough so that anyone, and I mean literally anyone, can grasp it easily and get addicted. Tetris is a pick-up-n-play type of game, and it's hard to put it down once you've got it in your hands. There is some sort of self-satisfaction whenever you knock out four lines, successfully scoring yourself a Tetris. Or whenever you can best Level 15. Or whenever you can beat 200,000 points; your old high score. You feel good by completing something that feels easy.

And it is easy, once you play enough. But once you start, you can't stop. You constantly push yourself to play more and beat the last score. You never stop playing because you never stop battling against yourself. Tetris in itself is not game against man, it's man against man; however, in a sense where the man is facing some sort of inner conflict to outdo himself. When we finally get that new high score, we've just bested ourself. However easy it may have been, we did something that was difficult to achieve beforehand, and it was all while having simple fun.

Many other games fall under this same sort of category, such as Bejeweled or Diner Dash, and almost all of these games fall under the large category referred to as "casual games". I myself don't see anything wrong with this category. It might not bare huge fun against others like Call of Duty or Street Fighter, but it brings fun in the form of one-player "puzzles", where you're almost always trying to outdo your previous self. There's nothing wrong with casual games, really. They bring in a new crowd of gamers, namely grandmothers and bored office space-esque workers who just want some simple fun. Of course I'm exaggerating, don't be silly. Like I stated before, Tetris has kept me occupied for a good amount of years and it has still yet to bore me. How many other games have been able to claim that? How many have been able to exist for twenty-five years and still be able to produce remake after remake, continually gaining not only more cash, but more players as well?

Very few.

-Taylor