The video game Tetris, one of the most widely played electronic games in the world across many platforms, is celebrating the 30th year of its existence.
The game was invented in the former Soviet Union in 1984 by Alexey Pajitnov, a programmer who created games as a means for testing new equipment. He created Tetris (the name is an amalgam of tetra, the Greek word for four, and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport) based on his love for Pentominoes, a puzzle board game.
He created an electronic game where players arranged puzzle pieces in real time by having them fall faster and faster from the top of the screen.
In 1985 it is ported the IBM PC and becomes immensely popular in the Soviet Union. Tetris comes to American PCs in 1987 as its first outreach outside of the USSR. At a Las Vegas trade show, video game designer and publisher Henk Rogers discovers Tetris. In 1988 Rogers' company releases Tetris for PC and Nintendo (NES) in Japan where it sells over two million copies.
In 1989 Henk Rogers meets Alexey Pajitnov for the first time. Rogers then secures the handheld rights to Tetris, which he licenses to Nintendo. Nintendo releases Tetris on its Game Boy platform, which sells over 35 million copies.
Electronic Arts (EA) becomes the exclusive licensor of Tetris for mobile devices in 2006. In that same year, Tetris for iPod is premiered and soon becomes Apple's most downloaded game. EA Tetris is released for the iPhone/iPod Touch in 2008. Tetris for Wii also debuts. In 2009, the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition ranks Tetris #2 on the "Top 50 Console Games of All Time."
Tetris is ported to the Apple iPad in 2010. In that year, Tetris surpasses 100 million paid mobile downloads and becomes the best-selling mobile game of all time.
Over the next few years, Tetris variants such as Battle, Axis, Party Deluxe, Ultimate, Zone and Blitz are released for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation, Wii, iOS, Android, Facebook and for online gaming.
Tetris enters 2014, its anniversary year, having achieved over 425 million paid mobile downloads. It has been translated into more that 50 languages, released on over 50 platforms and is played in more than 185 countries.
When asked about the future of Tetris, Pajitnov said "The core game mechanics of Tetris will always remain the same, but technology and accessories will evolve, of course, and Tetris will be there like it has been for the past 30 years."
