Tetris: The Blockbuster Story of How a Simple Game Conquered the World"
One of the most successful games of all time, Tetris was developed by Alexey Pajitnov, a software engineer at Moscow’s Soviet Academy of Sciences.
Written By: Abhinay Krishna
(Read time : 3 Minutes)
Tetris is a game that many of us have played at some point in our lives. However, how many of us are familiar with its history?
Let us delve deeper into the evolution of the 'ideal' game that continues to hold significance even today.
Uncovering Tetris’ Origins
Tetris wasn’t made to make money. It was just for fun.
In 1984, a guy named Alexey Pajitnov made it. He was a computer whiz in Moscow.
Back then, the world was tense with the Cold War. The USSR called the shots on what got made and shared.
Pajitnov was checking out a new Soviet computer called the Electronika 60. He thought, "Let’s make a game!"
He took an old puzzle from his childhood, called pentomino, and turned it into a computer game.
He named it Tetris, mixing "Tetra" (which means four) and "Tennis" (his favorite sport)
It became super popular because it was easy to play. You just had to stack blocks to make lines disappear.
Pajitnov said he couldn’t stop playing it himself. It was like a puzzle addiction!
How Tetris Took Over the World
In just a year, Tetris became a hit among programmers across the Soviet Union. They shared it like wildfire on floppy disks.
When Tetris got made for the IBM Personal Computer, which had better graphics, it spread fast. It was everywhere in the USSR.
Then it jumped borders, reaching places like Hungary. That's when Robert Stein, a software seller, spotted Tetris.
He wanted to sell it in the West, but the USSR didn’t allow business with the West. Still, Stein went for it.
He thought he had the green light and started selling Tetris in the US and UK. But he got a warning: it wasn't legal.
Eventually, Stein got the rights, and Tetris hit PCs in the UK and US in 1988. It made headlines as the first Soviet software sold in America.
Meanwhile, a guy named Henk Rogers saw Tetris at a US trade show and got hooked. He knew it would be perfect for Nintendo's new Game Boy.
He struck a deal with Nintendo to include Tetris with every Game Boy. It was a hit, selling millions.
But there was a snag: lots of companies claimed they owned Tetris. Rogers went to the USSR to sort it out.
After a long legal fight, Nintendo got the rights to Tetris for its consoles. And the rest is history.
What made Tetris so addictive?
One big reason for Tetris's addiction is its simplicity, making it enjoyable even for beginners.
The Tetris Company reports that the game has hit over 65 platforms and amassed more than half a billion downloads on mobile devices.
Niels Monshouwer, co-founder of WeirdBeard Games, describes it as the perfect blend of being easy to pick up yet challenging to master.
Professor James Newman from Bath Spa University's Playable Media Lab explains Tetris's appeal as offering players a sense of control amid constant challenges, allowing them to strategize and organize blocks amidst apparent chaos.
Henk Rogers, in a 2014 interview with Business Insider, attributes Tetris's universal appeal to its basic geometric nature, tapping into a fundamental pleasure center shared by all, unlike characters like Mickey Mouse or Mario.