“Tetris”
40 years ago, the colorful blocks conquered the world
Became world famous as a standard Gameboy game: “Tetris”.
© Jordi Villar/Shutterstock
The cult blocks are driving the world crazy. “Tetris” is celebrating its 40th birthday. Why is the classic game still so popular?
They cool down our nerves, pass the time and give us small successes. For exactly 40 years, young and old have been stacking the colorful cult blocks of “Tetris”. To date, the game has sold 520 million copies and has been released on all common consoles, computers and smartphones. This is the eventful history of the game – from a political issue in the Cold War to a popular gaming hit.
Just past “Pentris”
On June 6, 1984, the classic game “Tetris” was born in Moscow. His father: the Russian programmer Alexei Paschitnow (69). As a child, little Alexei loved playing the puzzle game “Pentomimo.” In it, you had to put together different figures from twelve game pieces (the pentomimos). While the pentomimos consisted of five (Greek: penta) squares each, the “Tetris” blocks are made up of four (Greek: tetra) elements each. It is said that originally the Tetris pieces were also supposed to consist of five squares each. But the programming effort was too great for IT genius Paschitnow. Hence: “Tetris” instead of “Pentris”.
Fight for rights: Even “Gorbi” involved
Henk Rogers (70) is the second father of the worldwide “Tetris” boom. The Dutchman founded his first software company in Japan in 1983. In 1988, he discovered the inconspicuous “Tetris” game at a computer fair – and entered into an unprecedented battle for the worldwide licensing rights. These were owned by the Russian state-owned company ELORG. At the time, Rogers saw Robert Maxwell (1923-1991), one of the richest businessmen of the time with good contacts to President Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022), as a competitor for the rights. Rogers became friends with Paschitnow and supported him in his emigration to the USA. This is how Nintendo’s first “Game Boy” came onto the market in April 1989 – including “Tetris”. Motto: Life punishes those who come too late.
Classical melody for the falling of stones
The well-known “Tetris” melody of the Nintendo original version, which accompanies the falling of the Tetris stones, is based on the Russian song “Korobeiniki”. The melody has the character of a Russian dance and is played with a constant acceleration in tempo. For classical music fans among gamers: The song has already been recorded by the WDR Funkhausorchester as Orchestral version performed.
Cinematic thriller story
Movies based on computer games are commonplace these days. The exciting story of the “Tetris” game is traced in the 2023 political thriller of the same name, “Tetris”. “Rocketman” Taron Egerton (34) took on the lead role of Henk Rogers, Nikita Yefremow (36) acted as “Tetris” developer Paschitnov. The two real “Tetris” fathers, Paschitnov and Rogers, were present at the film’s premiere in the USA in 2023.
Records upon records
“Tetris” has sold more than 520 million copies to date, making it the best-selling game of all time. Today, the game inspires people to take a short break or funny Tetris videos on social media. The first person ever to beat the “Tetris” game was Willis Gibson, then 13 years old, from Oklahoma/USA on December 21, 2023. The professional “Tetris” player reached level 157 and triggered a so-called “kill screen”. At the beginning of the year, he had the pleasure of defeating the Tetris fathers Paschitnow and Rogers in a Video call to meet. The gaming generations came full circle.
Blocks became bars
In 2002, Briton Faiz Chopdat found out that Tetris fun can also take on serious aspects. He played “Tetris” on board an airplane, even though he had been forbidden to do so several times. When he landed in Manchester, he was arrested for “endangering the safety of an airplane” and was sentenced to four months behind bars. It is not known whether he was allowed to use his cell phone and pass the time playing “Tetris” while in prison.