Tetriller

What is it?: A weird Tetris clone, 1990, DOS/EGA.
What computer will it run on?: I played it on a Pentium 120.
Similar Games: Zmeyelov, 1993tris, the Entertainer.

There are a couple of candidates for the weirdest Tetris clone. Tetriller is one of them. Actually, Tetriller is intended as a parody.

The basic rules are the same. The shapes of the blocks are the same. But while Tetris is completely abstract, here we are taken to some dingy factory, and there's a man going to and fro. The blocks are quite real items, concrete, pipes, chains, and additionally to clearing lines we must keep them from hitting the man. If we pile them up so that he can escape through the openings in the upper half, we get some extra points or something. (I managed to do this only in practice mode, where there are no scores.)

If you google for Tetriller, nearly all the sites you find are Russian. Something seems to have gone wrong with the international distribution. There is an English Work version, not for distribution with rather awkward controls (you move the pieces left and right with the Home and Page Up keys) and lacking a real title screen; and there is a Swedish version with better controls and obviously finished. If it was ever regularily distributed, or if this is just a leak like Princess Maker 2, I have no idea.

Game Over

While Tetriller does not have a title screen, it does have a rather nice game over screen. Anybody who has ever played Tetris can confirm the factual accuracy of the scene depicted here.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

In 1992 Tetriller was ported to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum by A. Grushchin and D. Pashkov, if my Cyrillic has not failed me. This version was distributed in Russia only and never translated. You can find it at World of Spectrum.