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International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®


Tetris

テトリス
Tetris - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

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 89 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, Road Blasters, 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 / Tile Match
Monitor
  • Orientation: Horizontal
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

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: 3.58 (8 votes)

Fun Factor: 4.06

Overall Like 4.43
Fun (Social) 3.86
Fun (Solo) 4.29
Collector Desire 3.29

Technical Rating: 3.50

Gameplay 4.57
Graphics 3.14
Originality 3.63
Sound/Music 3.14

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.

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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!

Images

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 15,377 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,711 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 167,452 machines (7,024 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 417 known instances of this machine owned by Tetris collectors who are active members. Of these, 85 of them are original dedicated machines. 101 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 226 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

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

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 25 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

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Tetris is playable at 5 locations:

Name Location State Country Details Check-ins
8-Bit Beans 100 Brock St South, Whitby Ontario Canada Unknown 0
Arkadia Retrocade 1478 N College Ave, Fayetteville Arkansas United States Arcade 1
Bartari 101 Adams Ave, Scranton Pennsylvania United States Bar 0
Greta Bar 213 10 Ave SW, Calgary Alberta Canada Arcade 2
Stop Button Bar + Arcade 4251 Legion Road, Hope Mills North Carolina United States Bar + Arcade 1

eBay Listings

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

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TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Tetris

Ebay Compatible Application

Working Original Block Out Technos arcade board PCB Jamma Like Tetris

Auction ends in: 1 month, 6 hours

FixedPrice
$100.00

Exclusive edition: 7-Eleven Slurpee Portable Tetris Game

Auction ends in: 5 days, 1 hour

Auction
$100.00

Nintendo Playchoice 10 Tetris Cart Pc-10

Auction ends in: 20 hours, 1 minute

FixedPrice
$114.99

Tetris Arcade Sign, Classic Arcade Game Marquee Tin Sign

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 2 days

FixedPrice
$6.48

Tetris Jamma Board PCB for Arcade game(NOT ORIGINAL),Money Bank Guarantee.

Auction ends in: 2 days, 5 hours

AuctionWithBIN
$139.00

TETRIS Nano Handheld Electronic GAME Clip-on Carabiner Basic Fun 80's. NOS

Auction ends in: 1 hour, 5 minutes

FixedPrice
$24.99

TETRIS NES Nintendo complete GamePak CIB

Auction ends in: 5 days, 1 hour

Auction
$17.50

Auction Results

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Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2015 1 345.00 345.00
2016 1 230.00 230.00
2018 1 531.00 531.00
All Years 3 345.00 368.67

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