A strange little side quest
Zoom out from World of Alice: Star Sequence for a moment and the timeline gets surprisingly deep. Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in 1984 after drawing inspiration from pentomino puzzles, then simplified the idea around shapes made from four squares. It also connects to a different milestone: The Oregon Trail eventually appeared across generations of computer hardware and sold tens of millions of copies, making it one of the most enduring educational games. That long chain of experiments is part of why puzzles still feels fresh when a game finds the right twist.
