If Video Games Could Blow Out Candles

No, that isn’t the title of a Philip K. Dick novel.
So apparently today is considered the 25th Anniversary of Tetris, a game of Russian space domination.
Wait…what?
I never quite got why successfully fitting different shapes into each other to eliminate lines caused rockets and space shuttles to launch, but for anyone who has played Tetris long enough, you’ll know that’s the end-result: destroying gradually speeded-up blocks allows for spacecraft to break through our gravitational pull.
It’s no wonder the Russians now sell flights into space to civilians (try using rocket fuel, comrades!).
It would have been pretty cool, though, if in a WarGames-like scenario, everytime you actually did send one of those rockets into space, the Soviets actually did launch a rocket. Alas, the fall of the Berlin Wall would have rendered this incredibly popular video game impotent in its real-world applications, but still–a kid in Des Moines could have been launching spy satellites by getting those descending pieces to fit just-so.
Obviously that’s crazy-talk. But for me, a person of the video game generation (you know, the first generation to grow up entirely in a world where home video game systems were available and prevalent–thanks, Atari 2600), Tetris was probably the first game I was ever actually better than my older brothers at, leading to a life-long affair with puzzle games (Dr. Mario, Columns, Snood, Puzzle Fighter, Lumines, Bejeweled). Tetris and my GBC (that’s Game Boy Color, for you laymen) got me through senior year of high school (and I still think Tetris DX is the best version of the game). And now, I know I always have entertainment literary at my fingertips, because I have not only Tetris, but Bejeweled and Columns on my cell phone.
I think what has always drawn me (and so many others) to these types of games is the combination of necessary concentration, problem solving skills, logic, and nerdiness needed to excel. Perhaps that’s just a stigma I put on myself, but I know I put in the time to be be good at these puzzle games (oh yes, I have stratagems), while not working hard to get good at more popular games, especially as the technology has advanced beyond the hand-eye skills of my aged body. Honestly–I find most sports games just too hard, now–and who wants to play a game that’s too hard (yes, I’m now Old Man Pomerico, waving his two-button controller at the pesky kids and their new-fangled X-Cubes and Playboxes)? At least with puzzle games, the basic mechanics don’t seem to change too much, but the skill level increases over time, meaning the more you play, the better you get, and the better you get, the harder it gets, and the harder it gets, the better you get…it’s a self-perpetuating cycle.
It’s a great way to kill a few hours.
And don’t forget the music–who couldn’t base a party entirely on that soundtrack?
So, spasiba, Tetris, and happy birthday. May you continue to rain down your colorful blocks and mesmerizing fun.