Blockout

Blockout is a puzzle video game developed in 1989 by the Polish developer California Dreams and designed by Aleksander Ustaszewski and Mirosław Zabłocki. The game is the logical extension of Tetris into the third dimension. In Tetris, the player controls a series of tetromino stones that fall into a two-dimensional pit (as seen from the side). The goal is to solve a real-time packing problem by forming complete rows, which then disappear and score points. Poor play results in incomplete rows caused by inefficient arrangements of tiles; these rows do not disappear, leaving the player with less and less space and time to play subsequent tiles. Similarly, in Blockout, the player manipulates a row of polycubes that fall into a three-dimensional pit (as seen from above; the tiles appear in the foreground and fall away). The pieces can be rotated around all three axes and moved horizontally and vertically. The goal is to form complete layers.