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# Frequently Asked Questions

## Why is the game called U61?

In fact, when I first started this project, I had called it "Tetr61s". This was because the game was at first supposed to be quite close to Tetris(c) and there's a letter in Russian which is pronounced "i" (like in "tetris") and when you write it down it looks like you have written 61.

Since the Tetris Company (http://www.tetris.com) claims to have a look-and-feel copyright on Tetris(c), and sues independant game programmers who program Tetris(c) like games, I could not call the game Tetr61s, nor make a plain Tetris(c) clone. So I decided to start a new project, more general, and change the name. So "U" is because my nickname is "U-Foot" and "61" is because it is the successor of "Tetr61s".

## Can I copy the game?

Yes, since the game is Free Software (free as in speech), protected by the GPL (GNU General Public License). You should have received a copy of the GPL with the game. For more informations on the GPL, check www.gnu.org.

## Why did you use ClanLib instead of SDL?

SDL starts being a quite mature library, it's widespread, present in most Linux distributions, and used by professionnals such as Loki. Therefore, one might wonder why I chose ClanLib instead, knowing that it's much harder to install and also less common library than SDL.

I chose ClanLib because is a high-level programming library, and provides much more than SDL. Its main drawback is that it's still under developpement and therefore API changes occur a bit too often for me. But its big advantage is that it provides tons of usefull functions, and has a very clean design. I also like the idea that ClanLib is developped by independant programmers, just like me.

## Why did you code yet another Tetris(c) clone?

There are 2 answers to this question:

- If you really think U61 is a Tetris(c) clone, then you probably have not really played U61. Try and play with different set of rules using the "Game options" -> "Rules" menu, and play with friends - 3 or 4 players starts being fun... And don't miss the "special square" which is represented by a black and white "?" in the default theme.
- Of course I could have decided to tweak an existing game such as Tetrinet or Quadra instead of starting a new developpement from scratch, but I believe the final result would have been less flexible, and... ...I really enjoy programming 8-)

This documentation is also available on: www.ufoot.org.
Contact author: ufoot@ufoot.org