Ye Olde Games: Welltris

Today on Ye Olde Games, we take a look at Welltris by Alexey Pajitnov (yes, THAT Alexey Pajitnov) and Andrei Sgenov. It was released for DOS in 1989, and various other computer platforms in the following two years. Having been billed as a sequel to the original Tetris, the gameplay remains largely the same while building on the concept of the original. This time around, the bottom is at the center of the screen and surrounded by four walls. When a piece hits the center area, it will slide as far as it can until it hits either the other side or another block. Upon clearing a line, the blocks closest to the walls will shift towards the center. If you place a block so that part of it doesn't leave a wall, that wall will become frozen, and you will be unable to move blocks through it until it unfreezes on its own. Once all four walls are frozen, it's game over. After the title screen, some copy protection will pop up, consisting of a flag, a question about the republic of said flag, and the page it can be found on in the manual. The sound is entirely PC speaker and only plays when you clear a line, freeze a wall, get a game over, or pass a level. There's no music, so if you play it, I suggest making a playlist of Tetris music. If you like Tetris at all, I highly recommend hunting this game down.