How Tetris Fell Into Place

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2009 10:19 AM CDT
How Tetris Fell Into Place
This undated screen shot provided by THQ shows the game "Tetris Evolution."   (AP Photo/THQ)

Alexey Pajitnov was supposed to be an artificial intelligence researcher for the Soviet Academy of Sciences, but when he got his first computer 25 years ago, he used it to write games. He tweaked and translated mathematical puzzles he’d always loved, and one stood out right away. “The program wasn’t complicated,” he tells the Guardian. “But I started playing and I couldn’t stop. That was it.” That was the birth of Tetris.

Pajitnov couldn’t cash in on his invention—the rights were owned by the Soviet government—but it was soon discovered by a Dutch games publisher and fatefully licensed to Nintendo. It became such a craze that some suspected it was a Russian plot to divert America’s youth. These days Pajitnov has the rights again. The official copies of the game he licenses must meet exacting technical criteria and, most importantly, contain the Russian folk theme song.
(More video games stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X