Studies of recorded human civilization usually begin with the ancient Sumerians, who inhabited Mesopotamia from 4000-2500 BC. The iconic image associated with the Sumerians is that of the massive ziggurat, a terraced stone structure bearing some resemblance to the more famous pyramids of ancient Egypt. Unlike the pyramids, however, ziggurats are completely solid, containing no internal chambers. This has led to some confusion over their purpose, usually assumed to be religious. Recently, the History Bluff’s crack team of under-funded archaeologists has discovered that the real purpose of the ziggurats was recreational; resembling a massive, three-dimensional version of the game we now call Tetris®.

Alalngar of Eridug was missing one of those long straight pieces.

Sumerian civilization was organized around a number of allied city states with individual kings for each. When they got bored with bureaucratic duties such as developing the wheel, they would think up complex shapes and send them to other kings, who would then add the shapes to their towers. The king whose tower lasted the longest without collapsing won. The ziggurats which survive to the present day were almost always the winners, being the most structurally stable.

Dumuzid of Larag got to level 17 before being overrun by the Akkadian Empire.

The Sumerian kings likely would have thought up a faster way to play had they known how many different empires would surge across Mesopotamia over the course of the next few millennia. After the death of Sumerian civilization, the development of puzzle games would lie mostly dormant until the ancient Phoenicians developed a primitive form of Minesweeper®.