Gorby's Pipeline

Gorby's Pipeline

Console: MSX
TV Standard: Region Not Set
Developer(s): Compile
Publisher(s): Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.
Release Date: 1991-01-01
Players: 1
Co-op: No
Type: Puzzle

In this falling-block puzzle game, a small girl—wearing a Russian national costume of sarafan, kokoshnik, and valenki—pushes tiles representing segments of water pipe down a two-dimensional, vertical shaft; this shaft is the field of play. A second girl, also in national costume, waves semaphore flags to give the impression that she guides the placement of the tiles.

The player must quickly rotate and place the tiles to catch and conduct a continuously-flowing stream of water from pipes on one side of the shaft to the other. When the player successfully links an inflow pipe on one side of the shaft to an outflow pipe on the other side, a row of tiles disappears, and the player earns points. If the player routes the water to a dead end, the game adds a layer of pipe segments for the player to clear. If the accumulating pipe segments stack to the top of the shaft, the game ends. By clearing the requisite number of rows, the player proceeds to the next game level.