A strange little side quest
Rings Rotate may feel immediate, but the ideas around puzzles have been evolving for a very long time. The name Tetris combines a reference to four-square pieces with Pajitnov's interest in tennis. The timeline takes another interesting turn: Street Fighter II, released in 1991, turned head-to-head arcade fighting into a worldwide phenomenon and helped define the modern fighting-game genre. So a round of Rings Rotate is not just a quick distraction; it is a tiny stop on a much longer puzzles timeline.
