Blockout

Blockout is a puzzle videogame, originally created in 1989 by California Dreams, designed by Aleksander Ustaszewski and Mirosław Zabłocki. The game is the logical extension of Tetris into the third dimension. Tetris requires the player to manipulate a set of tetrominoes which fall from the top of the screen into a two-dimensional pit. The aim is to complete rows at the bottom of the screen, which then disappear and score points. Poor play leads to incomplete rows, caused by inefficient arrangements of tiles. These rows do not disappear, giving the player progressively less space and less time to play subsequent pieces.

Blockout is the three-dimensional analogue of this. Polycubes appear in the foreground and fall "away", using perspective to make them seem to fall into a three dimesional pit. The pieces can be rotated in the three axes, and moved horizontally and vertically. The game presents the player with a real-time packing problem. Efficient arrangements lead to completed layers, points, and room to move. Incomplete layers build up and make gameplay progressively more difficult.