A prototype of Tetris Reversed appeared at the Game Developer Conference. It is a a unique variant of the legendary game about logic and skills which was never put on the market. And in fact it was thought to have been lost.

Alekséi Pázhitnov, the game’s creator during his time at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, has already revealed the intricacies of the game’s creation and its complicated launch, as well as his departure from the Iron Curtain thanks to his friend Henk Rogers. who licensed the video game. All of this can be faithfully seen in the Tetris movie, in several interviews and in the talk the engineer gave at GDC last year, but there was another chapter in the story.

Tetris Reversed is a prototype created by engineer and programmer Vedran Klanac and based on the instructions of the creator. It was created on the authority of the co-founder of Guerrilla Games, who had Pazhitnov’s approval to create a special variant of the video game.

What is reverse Tetris?

Tetris players work hard to place different geometric shapes that fall randomly to complete horizontal lines and keep moving forward. Although there are several versions of the game, the way it works is basically the same: correctly place the tetromino on four identical squares and increase your score by playing the most levels. We recently learned that it is possible “beat Tetris”However, no one has reached level 255, which is considered game over.

Tetris Reverse is something else, as it aims to encourage more comprehensive play and planning that covers the entire playing field. The rules are similar to normal Tetris. Players control the falling blocks by moving, rotating or quickly dropping them. However, the blocks fall in front of the colored background that the player tries to clear.

The surname “Reversed” comes from the fact that full and empty spaces can switch places, thus reversing the playing field. Certain conditions trigger this automatically, but players also have 15-20 manual undos. Additionally, cleared garbage leaves unplayable space, reducing the available playing field as players progress.

The goal is the same as the original: last as long as possible and get a high score. Rollbacks can extend the game if players clean up all the junk. Obviously, it is much more complicated and Pážitnov came to define it as “Tetris for people with an IQ of 300”. Tetris Reversed has never been released and it is unknown if it will ever make it to market.