Multris

Multris is an online multiplayer block-dropping game for Mac OS X by Viktor / Spogg, in the Tetris lineage. Players compete head-to-head against opponents around the world, choosing between a friendly high-score mode and a "mean mode" that lets clearing two or more lines at once dump junk rows on rivals.

Gameplay

The author's release notes describe it as "this classic block dropping game" where you "compete against players of different skill levels from all over the world." The two modes split between "a nice game to get a high score" and a "mean mode to bomb the other players and improve your ranking," with multi-line clears producing "crap rows" that are sent to opponents.

Spogg and the membership model

Multris was part of Spogg's online Mac games portal at macgames.spogg.com. The release notes lay out the business model: "The game is free to play the first month, then game play is limited to one hour a day unless you are a paying member of www.spogg.com," with membership listed at $4 a month at the time of release.

Requirements

Multris targets Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther" or later and requires an internet connection because matchmaking and ranking happen on Spogg's servers. The cataloged Info-Mac file is multris-10.hqx, contributed by viktor@spogg.com.

Sourcing note

A dedicated Macintosh Garden entry for Multris was not found via site search; the description above is drawn from the BinHex header of the Info-Mac release. As an online-only client tied to a now-defunct portal, the multiplayer side of Multris is unlikely to be functional today even if the binary still launches.