Tetris
The perfect game
Alexey Pajitnov's falling-block puzzle conquered the world, sold the Game Boy, and proved games could transcend language and culture.
Overview
Tetris needs no explanation. Rotate falling blocks. Complete lines. Don’t let them reach the top. The rules fit on a napkin. The game has consumed billions of hours across four decades, every platform ever made, and every country on Earth. Created by a Soviet programmer in 1984, it became the Game Boy’s killer app and one of the best-selling games in history.
Fast facts
- Creator: Alexey Pajitnov, at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
- Year: 1984 (original), spreading West through 1986-1989.
- Name: from “tetra” (four) + “tennis” (Pajitnov’s favourite sport).
- The pieces: seven tetrominoes (four-block shapes), each named by letter: I, O, T, S, Z, J, L.
- Game Boy bundle: Nintendo bundled Tetris with Game Boy in North America—a masterstroke.
- Rights battles: complex legal fights over licensing consumed the late 1980s.
- Sales: hundreds of millions of copies across all versions.
The creation
Pajitnov worked at the Soviet Academy of Sciences:
- Programmed on an Electronika 60 (no graphics)
- Inspired by pentomino puzzles
- Reduced to four-block pieces for simplicity
- Added gravity and line-clearing
- The game spread through Soviet computer labs via copied disks
The rights war
Tetris licensing became legendarily complicated:
- Soviet government owned the rights (Pajitnov was state employee)
- Multiple companies claimed licences
- Mirrorsoft, Spectrum HoloByte, Atari, Nintendo all involved
- Nintendo secured handheld rights directly from Soviet agency ELORG
- Legal battles continued for years
The documentary Tetris: From Russia with Love and the 2023 film Tetris dramatised the chaos.
The Game Boy connection
Nintendo’s Henk Rogers secured Game Boy rights:
- Flew to Moscow, negotiated directly
- Bundle deal made Tetris synonymous with Game Boy
- Perfect portable game: quick sessions, infinite depth
- Sold Game Boy hardware to non-gamers
The Game Boy succeeded partly because Tetris appealed to everyone—children, adults, people who’d never touched a game console.
Why it works
Tetris is mathematically elegant:
- Seven pieces: enough variety, few enough to master.
- Gravity: constant pressure, escalating speed.
- Line clearing: satisfying feedback, clear goal.
- No winning: play until you lose, then try again.
- Infinite skill ceiling: professionals play at inhuman speeds.
The “Tetris effect”—seeing falling blocks when you close your eyes—demonstrates how deeply the game engages the brain.
Platform ubiquity
Tetris appeared on everything:
- 8-bit computers: C64, Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC Micro
- Consoles: NES, Game Boy, every generation since
- Arcade: Atari’s arcade version became a classic
- Modern: phones, browsers, VR, battle royale (Tetris 99)
If a device has a screen, someone has put Tetris on it.
Legacy
Tetris transcended gaming. It’s psychology research, cognitive therapy, cultural touchstone. The music (Korobeiniki, a Russian folk song) is globally recognised. The gameplay needs no localisation—blocks fall the same in every language. It’s as close to a universal game as humanity has created.