The Simple Yet Remarkable Evolution of Tetris

Rotate blocks, and fit them strategically to form a solid line that breaks down your stack before they reach the top. Sounds simple, right? That is the premise of Tetris, the beloved iconic game that has captivated gamers both young and old.

Conceived in Soviet Russia by a man named Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, the phenomenal journey of Tetris began when the software engineer decided to recreate his childhood game that featured pentominos, a term describing a polygon in the plane made up of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge.

He imagined a game where these random shapes descended from the top, which players could rotate to fill in empty spaces at the bottom. Once he had the concept up and running on an Elektronica 60 using brackets and symbols to visualise the shapes, he found out that the shapes would rapidly fill up the screen.

This was when he decided to delete a full row, inadvertently creating the Tetris gameplay mechanic we know and love.

Pajitnov named the game Tetris, which is derived from the Russian the word ‘tetra’. Tetra translates to ‘four’ and his favourite sport tennis.

How It Began

The first playable version of Tetris was released on June 6, 1984, and was first introduced to his colleagues. It was an instant hit with the entire department, and many of his colleagues got hooked to Tetris’ addictive gameplay.

Within a few weeks, almost everyone in Moscow had played the game or at least heard about it. In fact, it was banned by the Moscow Medical Institute as people stopped working to play Tetris.

Almost a decade later, Tetris was brought to the Western world and ported to platforms such as Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.

Keep in mind that the ’80s wasn’t such a great time as far as US-Russia relations were concerned. At the height of the Cold War, the game was shipped to the US with an announcement that read: "Made in the United States of America, designed abroad". The game was a great success in both Europe and the US despite initial skepticism due to its Soviet origin.

Tetris was also popular on handheld consoles such as the original Nintendo Game Boy that was about to hit markets in 1988. It was deemed a commercial success, but Tetris did not achieve its legendary status without a lengthy legal battle between two rival game companies Nintendo and Atari Games, who each wanted the rights to sell the game.

Now

Tetris is, without a doubt, one of the largest gaming brands in the world today. The simple block-stacking game has spawned many versions of the game on many modern platforms. Tetris was named the most ported video game in history by the Guinness World Records, having debuted on 70 distinct platforms as of October 2010.

The game has evolved, adapted, and assimilated into the world of modern gaming with the introduction of esports. Tetris esports sounds boring but the fact that it is one of the most intense esports titles I have ever seen makes the game a unique title to bring to the modern competitive scene that is filled with tactical shooters and sports titles.

The Portland Retro Gaming Expo hosts the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC), an esports championship series. The tournament began in 2010, during the production of Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, with the aim of unearthing the world's best Tetris player.

Tetris was also amalgamated with different genres. For example, the most farfetched genre to have been combined with Tetris is battle royales as seen in the Nintendo Switch exclusive Tetris 99.

The game pits 99 players in an online lobby, in which each player attack and defend through stacking and deleting rows efficiently. The last player standing in the lobby is the winner.

"It hasn't lost any of its play value and nothing has come to replace Tetris," said Henk Rogers, one of the first people to bring Tetris to the Japanese market.

"It's like 'Happy Birthday'. There have been lots of songs that come and go, but 'Happy Birthday' is still always sung in the same way. Tetris has become the 'Happy Birthday' of computer games."