Trojka

Trojka is a 1994 falling-block puzzler from Maarten Los of E4-Software that twists the Tetris formula: you clear sets of three or more same-colored blocks, but only along rows or diagonals. Vertical columns refuse to disappear, so every drop forces you to plan in two directions at once.

How it plays

You steer pieces with the cursor keys and try to assemble matching runs of three or more across horizontal or diagonal lines. Stacks that grow straight up are dead weight unless you can angle a match through them.

Chains and scoring

Clearing several groups in quick succession triggers chain bonuses, rewarding players who set up cascading collapses rather than chasing single matches.

System requirements

Trojka runs on classic 68k Macs under System 7.0 through 7.6 and on Mac OS 9, and is comfortably playable today through SheepShaver or Basilisk II.

Distribution

The Macintosh Garden release ships as Trojka_img.sit, a roughly 297 KB StuffIt disk image preserving the original shareware build.