I-block. 1-Up. Large Blinking Dot. Once household names, these icons of gaming have all but vanished into obscurity. These previous saviors of casual gaming from the days of Tetris, classic arcade games and Pac-Man seem to be all but gone for good, but that's not the way they like it. "All these young whippersnappers came in with their gems and their diners dashing!" said I-block from his retirement I-shaped castle in Russia. "When I was a young pixel, we only had one screen and I was king!" I-block, originally from the classic game Tetris, was commonly used to complete long rows of full blocks, creating what gamers would call a "Tetris." "Oh yes, I remember when little children would cheer for me when I would appear on the screen," he recalls while sipping his borscht. "'We can finally complete this row. Tetris!' they would say. And then I would make the row disappear and cycle back for another day."

I-block's story is not isolated. While I-block is extremely fortunate in that his children and grandchildren, also named I-block, have taken his role in other Tetris sequels, other gaming icons are not so lucky. According to the Clikstropolis Institute of Lengthy and Fake Statistics, every day, over 1 million gaming deus ex machina are ignored or laid by the wayside to be forgotten and unappreciated with no hope for another job. A perfect example of this is the plight of Large Blinking Dot. LBD was once at the top of his field with friends and a purpose. Now, he spends time in broken traffic lights, just hoping for a break. "I used to be a big shot!" he told The Clik as a car passed by on a rainy street. "I was in Pac-Man! And Ms. Pac-Man! I was the best. I made those ghosts scared out of their sheets. You know how Blinky got his name? Pac-Man ate one of me when he was born!" For those that might not remember, LBD was the main source of power in the classic game Pac-Man. When Pac-Man ate LBD, the enemy ghosts on the board would begin to blink blue and white, signifying that they could be eaten for points.

"Sure, I remember what it was like to be a big shot," he said. "Whenever a kid got into a tight spot, he would eat one of me and go to town like he was invincible. Now, I direct traffic." Unlike some of the other gaming deus ex machina, LBD has only managed to have a couple of other gaming-related jobs since Pac-Man's decline in popularity. "All these kids want today is their 'Massive Affection 2' and whatnot," he says. "Not a day goes by that I don't see some young whippersnapper playing Pokemans on their Nintendo DS in the backseat. What does Pokemans have that Large Blinking Light doesn't? Huh?" Unfortunately for LBD, the answer is simple. His spin-off game, Large Blinking Light takes on Las Vegas, was cancelled due to the massive number of seizures gamers had while playing - and the resulting warning label of the possibility of seizures in every game since has not helped his case. "I remember when blinking used to be a way of life," he says as another car rolls by. "Now, it's just something to be scared of."

But not all of the gaming deus ex machina have been ignored. Indeed, some have become such staples of games themselves that they have found a way to remain young and fresh while still being relevant to many games. I met 1-Up on the set of his newest game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii to speak about some of his success. "Well, part of the reason I think I'm so popular is that there are so many ways to get me in games," he said while signing autographs. "I can randomly appear in certain places or you can get a certain number of points and I appear - I give gamers hope when they may have run out, that's my gift." Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of 1-Up's distant cousin, Free Ball, who is not doing nearly as well. "Yeah, when the pinball craze hit, he was really into it," 1-Up recalls. "But he blew all his money on all the games he was in. Didn't save any of it. Kept saying, 'Pinball is here to stay!' The biggest thing he's got going on right now is that game Peggle. Really restarted his career."

"Am I a hero? No, I don't think so." 1-Up said in response to one of our many questions. "Part of me wants to believe that I help gamers get to where they need to go. I mean, they're always happy to see me and I'm happy to help out. There's nothing better than the feeling of making sure a gamer has the tools to accomplish their goal and get to the end of the game." Before 1-Up was called onto the set, we asked what the future held for him. "I'm not sure. So many hardcore games are trying to stop using the limited life system that it's actually getting more difficult for me to find work. I never thought I'd see the day. But I've got Super Mario Galaxy 2 lined up, so we'll see where that goes."

But what does the current generation of gaming deus ex machina think about their predecessors and how do they feel about their future prospects? "Hey, those old guys had their time," said Special Gem, most recently of Bejeweled and other Match-3 games. "It's my turn to shine now. Shine, get it?" Special Gem took a sip of his diamond-crushed martini from his platinum martini glass. "I'm going live forever, baby. There's nobody more popular in casual gaming than me. Every time I show up, players breathe a sigh of relief. All that work they put in to getting five in a row instead of three paid off. Now they get to explode a section of the board. BOOM!"

"Sure, I understand that those guys paved the way for dudes like me to take over and be the massive behemoth of success that I am," Special Gem continued. "But they had their chance in the spotlight. Now it's my turn. Match-3 is here to stay and I'll sic my dogs on anybody that says otherwise."

Special Gem's attitude is not uncommon for many of the young guns of casual gaming out there, but they are wrong about one thing. The deus ex machina of casual gaming endure even today. "Every one of those young children are just an extension of the principles and groundwork that we laid out," said I-block. "Without us, they would not even exist today. I am proud to have played my role in this fine tradition and I would hope that when gaming changes course, I am not forgotten."