Install vitetris with Homebrew, apt, Nix, zypper, winget

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• tetris

Project history

The official homepage presents vitetris as a classic terminal game with minimal library requirements and several compile-time optional features. The GitHub README describes it as a virtual-terminal clone with rotation, scoring, levels, and speed modeled after early Nintendo versions, plus a short lock delay for higher-level play.

FreshPorts records the FreeBSD port as added in September 2008 at version 0.51, which shows the project had already crossed into operating-system package collections by the late 2000s. The GitHub releases page lists later 0.57 and 0.58 series releases and a 0.59.1 release in December 2020.

Adoption history

vitetris did not become a large platform project; its adoption history is the quieter history of a stable terminal game that package collections can carry for years. FreeBSD, Homebrew, Debian-family, Nix, and other package ecosystems have all treated it as a useful small game package.

Its continued issue traffic and maintenance around portability, controls, and older platforms reflect a project used by people who value terminal-native games and retro behavior more than graphical effects.

How it is used

Users run the packaged `tetris` or `vitetris` executable in a terminal. The game supports one-player play, two-player play on the same machine, and network play where both players can choose level and height.

The project is also useful as a lightweight terminal test case: it exercises keyboard input, screen updates, terminal sizing, color or appearance choices, and optional platform-specific features without requiring a graphical stack.

Why package nerds care

vitetris is package-nerd catnip because it is exactly the kind of tiny, portable C program that survives across package managers: low ceremony, useful offline, and fun enough to justify keeping around.

Its significance is not broad industry adoption but the preservation of a polished text-mode game in Unix package culture.

Timeline

• 2008: FreeBSD added a vitetris port at version 0.51.
• 2019-2020: The GitHub project tracked active issues and maintenance in the 0.57 and 0.58 release series.
• 2020: GitHub releases list version 0.59.1 as the latest release in December 2020.

Related projects

• vitetris belongs to the same terminal-game tradition as other curses or console puzzle games, but its README specifically anchors the gameplay feel to early Nintendo Tetris rules.
• The project has optional relationships with terminal libraries and gamepad support, but its official page emphasizes that the core can remain minimal.

Sources

• batch input source_facts.description and current_curation.tags
• https://github.com/vicgeralds/vitetris
• https://github.com/vicgeralds/vitetris/releases
• https://www.freshports.org/games/vitetris
• https://www.victornils.net/tetris/