"Mysterious as always..."
Sam curled his lips, becoming increasingly convinced that Ethan was just putting on an act.
Looking at the "Press Any Key to Start" message on the screen, Sam casually pressed a key.
As a gaming enthusiast, Sam had experienced countless games and had already developed his own understanding of video game control logic and design conventions.
Although the Commodore 64's keyboard lacked dedicated arrow keys, it only took a little experimentation to figure out the controls.
At the beginning, Sam's movements were somewhat clumsy as he awkwardly guided a Z-shaped block and stacked it against the side of the field.
Sam didn't know why, but even though Ethan hadn't explained anything, instinctively he wanted to see what would happen if he filled the bottom with blocks.
Before long, he had figured out how to rotate pieces and make them fall faster. His proficiency steadily improved.
"Aha! Now!"
When a cyan colored straight piece finally appeared at the top of the screen, he let out a relieved cheer and dropped it perfectly into a gap he had deliberately left open.
Beep-boop.
The buzzer made a sound effect.
The four completely filled rows on the screen flashed several times before suddenly disappearing.
In their place, the blocks stacked above dropped downward several spaces all at once.
"So that's how it works..."
His interest was completely hooked.
The hands that had been about to leave the keyboard immediately returned, and he threw himself wholeheartedly back into the game.
Ethan sat happily by the desk, drinking soda while inserting the videotape into the player.
Looks like this month's pizza was secured.
As Vader delivered the classic line, "I am your father," from the television, Ethan heard a series of exclamations coming from behind him.
"No! That's not true! That's impossible!"
Ethan turned at the sound.
Sam looked completely unhinged, clutching his head in disbelief as he stared at the pile of blocks that had once again reached the top of the screen.
The score display on the side informed him that this attempt still fell far short of his highest record.
Sam couldn't understand why. As the number of games increased, not only had his skill stopped improving, but he actually seemed to be getting worse.
Yet every time he saw the high score record displayed on the screen, he couldn't resist starting another game, determined to challenge it again at his absolute best.
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Every round, he felt that next time he could do better.
Simply put, he was addicted.
Ethan ejected the videotape and walked back over to Sam.
"Alright, alright. Your free trial period has expired. Please purchase pizza to renew your subscription."
Sam snapped out of his trance and practically launched himself out of the chair, panic written all over his face.
"What? Huh? Who am I? Where am I?"
His mind felt like a mess.
No matter where he looked, he seemed to see blocks falling. His hands even reached out unconsciously to press keys that didn't exist.
It was a very strange feeling.
Ethan completely understood it. In fact, every player who had ever become obsessed with Tetris had probably experienced the same thing.
Even after turning off the game, they could still see it playing in their minds.
"Holy..."
Sam opened his mouth but forcibly swallowed the curse that was about to come out.
"A masterpiece! To hell with E.T.! This is what a real video game looks like! Ethan, you're a genius!"
Sam was both a computer science student and a veteran gamer.
Naturally, he understood exactly how incredible the game before him was.
"Made in BASIC?"
"6502 Assembly."
"...Damn."
Sam's lips twitched.
He couldn't imagine how Ethan had managed it.
"You should sell this. You're going to make a fortune!"
Even trash like E.T. had managed to sell 1.5 million copies.
If a game like Tetris hit the market, how terrifying would its sales numbers be?
Sam didn't even dare continue the thought.
He had a feeling that he had just witnessed history.
"I'm planning to port it to arcade machines, but there are still a few problems I need to solve. It should all be sorted out within the week."
"Good! Good!"
Sam repeatedly voiced his approval, muttering to himself.
Only then did he remember why he had originally come over and smacked his forehead.
"Right! I came to ask you to watch a movie. I managed to rent Star Wars. Let's watch it together!"
"I already finished it."
"...?"
Sam stood frozen on the spot.
Looking out the window, he suddenly realized that it was already completely dark outside.
The last time he had become this obsessed with a game was Space Invaders, the title that had sparked a worldwide arcade craze.
After calming down and examining Tetris carefully, he realized there was actually nothing particularly advanced about it.
Everything it used had already been employed by earlier pioneers.
The moving blocks relied on the Commodore 64's hardware sprites.
The high score system was practically copied straight from Space Invaders.
The game had no movie license.
No famous IP.
No groundbreaking technology.
Yet it was so fun.
So, addictive.
Why?
Sam asked himself honestly and was shocked to discover that the answer was hidden within the question itself.
Because it was fun.
That was it.
Nothing more.
It was simply fun.
Perhaps this was what video games were always meant to be.
...
A few days later, Sunday.
Ethan was in his bedroom, focused on further optimizing Tetris, when a series of loud clanging noises suddenly came from outside.
This was followed by the sound of something heavy crashing to the ground and Sam's miserable scream.
Confused, Ethan opened his bedroom door, only to discover that there was a wall behind it.
More accurately, a wooden board completely blocking the doorway.
Yelping in pain, Sam poked his head out from behind it and flashed Ethan a grin so ugly it looked more like a cry.
"Look what I got for you!"
Only then did Ethan realize it wasn't a board at all.
It was an arcade cabinet.
A complete cabinet covered in dust, with Pac-Man artwork painted across its exterior.
It was obviously an abandoned Pac-Man arcade machine.
"My God, Sam, where on earth did you get this thing?"
There was so much dust on it that the moment Ethan opened his mouth, he inhaled a cloud of dirt and nearly choked.
Sam looked delighted, as though he had accomplished something truly heroic.
"The arcade down on the corner. I found the owner and picked this machine up for cheap."
He slapped the top of the cabinet.
A massive cloud of dust immediately exploded into the air, making Ethan cough repeatedly.
"Didn't you say you wanted to port Tetris to arcade machines? So I thought I'd see if I could get you an actual cabinet. It's second hand liquidation stock, dirt cheap."
"Good grief. If you told me you dug this thing out of the ground, I'd believe you. Go get a rag, quick."
Covering his mouth and nose, Ethan carefully examined the arcade cabinet before him.
He had to admit, Sam had brought him one hell of a surprise.