Game Programming

Hey /prog/ I've been offered a job to teach game programming. What games should I have my students make? I was thinking start off with a text-based RPG, then Tetris, Space Invaders, Pacman, Super Mario. Anything I should add or replace on the list? It's a 12 month course so, I don't want to overload them.

Don't start them off on text-based RPGs. It's a lot of hard work for little gain, or, if you use something like Inform 7, a fair bit of work from which they'll learn nothing.