Play Klax (Proto) Online

Summary

Klax is a fast‑paced puzzle game that drops colored tiles down a conveyor belt while you steer a small paddle with a four‑direction joystick and a single button. You can hold up to five tiles on the paddle and drop them into a 5×5 well, trying to line up three‑plus matching colors horizontally, vertically or diagonally for points. The arcade version packs 100 waves into twenty groups of five, and after every fifth wave the game clears the drop meter and offers three future waves to choose from – picking a later wave nets extra points but also more drops to lose. Designer Mark Stephen Pierce and programmer Dave Akers built the original in a few weeks using AmigaBASIC before porting to C, citing Tetris and tic‑tac‑toe as inspirations and naming the title after the clack of tiles. Though Atari’s 7800 port, programmed by David Dentt, never saw a retail launch, ResQsoft’s Lee Krueger now sells complete copies with box, manual and a rare interview, keeping this hidden gem alive for collectors.