Tetris

Tetris is a puzzle video game created by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer, in the mid-1980s. While working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences, Pajitnov developed the game in his spare time, inspired by pentomino puzzles. He first programmed it in Pascal for the Elektronika 60 computer in about three weeks, then spent over two months porting it to the IBM PC with help from colleagues. Floppy disk copies circulated freely in Moscow before spreading to Eastern Europe. A Hungarian encounter led to licensing interest from Robert Stein of Andromeda Software, who sublicensed it to Mirrorsoft in the UK and Spectrum HoloByte in the US. Both released Tetris in 1988 to commercial success. Henk Rogers of Bullet-Proof Software negotiated with the Soviet state organization Elektronorgtechnica to license Tetris to Nintendo, resulting in versions for the Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989. The Game Boy version sold 35 million copies by June 2024, becoming the highest-selling version and popularizing the game. In 1995, rights reverted to Pajitnov, and The Tetris Company was formed to manage licensing, establishing guidelines and minimum specifications. Mobile versions began in the 2000s, with Electronic Arts holding a license from 2006 to 2020. The game saw renewed popularity with Tetris Effect (2018) and Tetris 99 (2019). As of December 2024, Tetris is the best-selling video game of all time with 520 million copies sold, and it was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2015. Its gameplay has influenced puzzle games and casual gaming, and it has been studied academically for psychological intervention. A competitive culture, particularly around the NES version, features annual tournaments like the Classic Tetris World Championship. A film dramatization of its development was released in 2023.