Ask anyone to name a classic Game Boy title and Tetris will doubtless get a mention. Developed by Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov in the second half of the ‘80s, the game first appeared on the PC, back in the days when an EGA graphics card was considered state of the art.

We won't insult you by describing the game mechanics, but after being critically acclaimed on the PC, 8bit versions of the game appeared and suddenly this puzzle wonder began to take off. It wasn't until Nintendo decided it was the ideal game to bundle with their Game Boy system, with its two-player link cable, that the game began to achieve the mainstream penetration it deserved. Suddenly everyone began manipulating blocks and they're still doing it. Curiously Tetris managed to appeal to a section of the gaming community that people are still trying desperately to tap into - girls loved it too.

The obligatory flood of sequels followed, and they were followed by the clones and the variations - some of which are quite good games in their own right, but none of which managed to retain the pure gameplay of that original version.

Future Gamer salutes one of the simplest, most addictive videogames ever devised. If you haven't gone to bed one night and dreamt of shapes until the next morning, you haven't lived.