Blockout

Overview

Blockout is a puzzle videogame, created in 1989 by Polish developer - California Dreams, designed by Aleksander Ustaszewski and Mirosław Zabłocki. The game is the logical extension of Tetris into the third dimension. In Tetris, the player manipulates a set of tetrominoes which fall into a two-dimensional pit (seen from the side). The aim is to solve a real-time packing problem by forming complete rows, 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. Similarly, in Blockout, the player manipulates a set of polycubes which fall into a three-dimensional pit (seen from above; the pieces appear in the foreground and fall away). The pieces can be rotated around all three axes, and moved horizontally and vertically. The aim is to form complete layers.

Developed by

Logical Design Works

Published by

Tec Toy, Technos Japan, Rainbow Arts, California Dreams, American Technos, Electronic Arts, Sega Entertainment, Atari, Acclaim Japan

Facts

Game modes

Single player, Multiplayer

Player perspectives

First person

Themes

Action

Release dates

• Amiga: Oct 1989
• Arcade: Oct 1989
• Mac: Oct 1989
• Apple IIGS: 1989
• Commodore C64/128/MAX: 1989
• DOS: 1989
• Nintendo Entertainment System: 1990
• PC-8800 Series: Jan 18, 1991
• Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Jul 1991
• Atari Lynx: 1991
• Web browser: Jan 15, 2021