Hatris (US)

Hatris is a two-player puzzle game released in 1990 by Video System Co., offering a unique twist on the familiar block-dropping formula. Instead of falling blocks, players manipulate stacks of various hats – top hats, wizard hats, beanies, and more – attempting to create vertical columns of five identical hats. When such a column is completed, it disappears, clearing space for new hats to descend. Different hat styles impact how they stack, adding an element of strategic planning to the gameplay. The objective in Hatris is to build these hat stacks as high as possible without allowing any stack to reach the top of the screen. Special elements occasionally appear: a red flame burns off only the uppermost hat of a stack while a blue flame clears an entire column. Players use an 8-way joystick for control, maneuvering hats and aiming for those crucial matches that will clear space and keep the game going. Designed by Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Pokhilko, Hatris found its way to various platforms following its arcade debut, including consoles like the Nintendo Game Boy and NEC PC-Engine, as well as computers such as the Acorn Archimedes.