Where this game comes from
Sokoban (the warehouse puzzle)
Hiroyuki Imabayashi made Sokoban — Japanese for “warehouse keeper” — in Japan in 1981. His company, Thinking Rabbit, first sold it in December 1982, on cassette tape for the NEC PC-8801 home computer.
One thing to hold: A box you can push but never pull.
Why it matters: One shove into a corner can make a level impossible, so the whole game is thinking several moves ahead.
What we don’t know: Sources disagree a little on the year he made it (1980 or 1981); the 1982 release is not in doubt.