GDC08: Tetris, "the Slim Jim of video games"
by Richard Mitchell 
on Feb 18th 2008 9:45PM
In what is destined to become the most interesting metaphor used at
GDC this year,
iQ212 founder Rick Marazzani noted that
Tetris is "the Slim Jim of video games." The proclamation came during a lecture entitled "
Tetris: Best/Worst Mobile Game Ever," in which Marazzani analyzed the success of
Tetris on mobile platforms. Slim Jims -- much like
Tetris -- are "brandable," descriptive, and easy to consume, all of which are very important factors for
mobile games meat snacks to succeed. Marazzani contends, however, that
Tetris would not succeed if it had been invented in today's market. The primary reason for this is that
Tetris isn't winnable, which is apparently a requirement for mobile users. To the best of our knowledge, Slim Jim's aren't winnable either, so the metaphor stands the test.
Most of it makes some amount of (meat-related) sense, but we'd take exception to the idea that a game must have a win condition to be successful (several lecture attendees pointed out games like
Bejeweled and
Lumines, for example).
Would Tetris succeed if it were invented today?| Of course it would | 2019 (46.3%) |
|---|
| No, not enough headshots | 971 (22.3%) |
|---|
| Yes, if it was called Puzzle Quest | 654 (15.0%) |
|---|
| COD4 is so much better than Tetris | 716 (16.4%) |
|---|
