A strange little side quest
The mechanics around Hawaii Match have roots that stretch far beyond modern browsers. Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in 1984 after drawing inspiration from pentomino puzzles, then simplified the idea around shapes made from four squares. The surprising part is how quickly the next milestone followed. Street Fighter II, released in 1991, turned head-to-head arcade fighting into a worldwide phenomenon and helped define the modern fighting-game genre. The screen is modern; the urge to test skill, pattern and timing definitely is not.
