Russian man behind world-famous Tetris game
Published 25 June, 2009, 12:57
Russian researcher Alexey Pajitnov is the man who created the addictive puzzle game Tetris in Soviet times, but it wasn’t until 1996 that the rights to the world-famous video game were returned to him.
With its striking roof and yellow cube design, the building of Moscow’s Academy of Sciences could itself pass for a Tetris block. Ironically, it was in that very building in Soviet times that the idea for the world-famous video game was hatched.
Like all the best ideas, it's simple. Tetris is a mathematically-based puzzle, wherein players have to coordinate falling blocks of different configurations into solid horizontal lines to make them disappear in order to score.
At the time, the young researcher Alexey Pajitnov at the science academy harbored a love for puzzles and riddles. He says the game’s success lies in its creativity
“In most games player needs to destroy the data and basically it shouts or kills or takes away some obstacles or enemies. In opposite to that Tetris has some kind of creative style or creative spirit,” says Alexey, the father of Tetris.
25 years on, the addictive puzzle has sold a staggering 70 million copies around the globe, but Alexey never saw any of the profits as the rights were snatched away by the Soviet state, leaving him to his basic wage.
Video games giant Nintendo were hooked early on, snapping up the license in 1989, but the rights reverted to their creator following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1996, allowing Alexey to finally profit from his invention, but his friends always knew who the brains behind the game were.
“We knew right from the start that the game is totally unique. And it was also obvious that Alexey was no ordinary guy. Alexey’s ability to build those complex spatial concepts served him well,” says Alexey's friend Mikhail Kulagin, head of a laboratory at the Academy Of Sciences.
It was on an old Soviet computer that Alexey Pajitnov first created Tetris using brackets to make blocks. Now versions of the game are everywhere – on computer consoles, portable media players and even mobile phones.
A simple idea gave Alexey a new life in the US. He won't play the game or tell us how rich it has made him, but even after all these years he is still as passionate for the game as ever.
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