science

Perestroika (video game)

Perestroika (video game) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Perestroika (video game) rather than just read about it. In short: Perestroika (also known as Toppler) is a Soviet video game released in 1990 by a small software developer called Locis (Nikita Skripkin, Aleksander Okrug and Dmitry Chikin, currently - Nikita online) in 1990, and named after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of Perestroika. The music playing on the title screen is a Russian folk song "Dubinushka" from the 19th century.

Key takeaways

Perestroika (video game) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Perestroika (video game) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Perestroika (video game) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Perestroika (also known as Toppler) is a Soviet video game released in 1990 by a small software developer called Locis (Nikita Skripkin, Aleksander Okrug and Dmitry Chikin, currently - Nikita online) in 1990, and named after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of Perestroika. The music playing on the title screen is a Russian folk song "Dubinushka" from the 19th century.

Gameplay The splash screen features a stylized Gorbachev, whose presence causes the Kremlin—the seat of Soviet government—to break apart. The game consists of controlling a small frog-like creature which jumps from one lily pad to another, trying to reach a coin, symbolizing a higher standard of living. The frog symbolizes a democrat and the lilies, symbolizing the ever-changing laws and acts, constantly shrink and disappear only to appear in other places. The player can collect dots in four colours, blue symbolizing grocery goods; red, currency transactions; yellow, taxes; and brown, business ventures. A currency transaction can sometimes add extra life, a tax reduces the score, and a company can sometimes sink the figure. From the seventh level, the game also features one or more evil creatures called "bureaucrats" which follow the frog and try to eat it. The frog dies if the lily pad on which it is standing disappears, if the player moves it to a place where there is no lily pad, or if it is caught by a bureaucrat. Perestroika runs under MS-DOS, it was written in Borland C++ using the Borland Graphics Interface and has a resolution of 640×350. It can be run on modern IBM PC compatibles with the emulator DOSBox. Nikita Online released in 1995 a remake of this game for Windows 3.1x Toppler for Windows, all gameplay remains the same, only on the title screen, instead of Gorbachev, a frog is displayed and the coin to advance to the next level has been replaced by a lily flower. The frog itself and the second game name (which is mentioned in the file name toppler.exe) may be inspired by the Tower Toppler game.

Other versions The game exists also in a version for computers ZX Spectrum and compatible. It was programmed by a Czech programmer group GCC under a Czech variant of the name Perestrojka. The producer was a company Proxima - Software, the game was published in 1992 as a part of compilation Mah Jongg. In 2005, it was released a remake Toppler for Microsoft Windows by the Czech developer René Puschinger, the coin was turned into a yellow star and black bureaucrats were added, which can be eaten. The a JavaScript version of the game can be played online. There are also several look-alikes in JavaScript and in Flash. This game also has few remakes for mobile smartphones, e.g. iPhones Perestroika Revival (now unavailable), and for older Android phones Leap frog Toppler.

References

External links Toppler can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive Perestroika at MobyGames NIKITA Toppler for Windows Archived 2008-01-06 at the Wayback Machine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Perestroika (video game)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Perestroika (video game) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Perestroika (video game) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Perestroika (video game) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Perestroika (video game)

In research: Perestroika (video game) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Perestroika (video game) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Perestroika (video game) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1990 in the Soviet Union, 1990 video games, Cultural depictions of Mikhail Gorbachev, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Perestroika (video game) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Perestroika (video game)” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Perestroika (video game) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Perestroika (video game) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Perestroika (video game) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Perestroika (video game) in simple terms?

Why does Perestroika (video game) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Perestroika (video game)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Perestroika (video game).