Tetris: How a Soviet Puzzle Became an Enduring, Global Game

PARIS — Few video games have endured for four decades, crossed political systems, survived technological revolutions and remained instantly recognizable around the world. Tetris, the deceptively simple puzzle game created in the Soviet Union in 1984, has done all of that and more.

Speaking at a panel discussion at VivaTech in Paris, Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris Company Chairman Henk Rogers recounted the unlikely journey of a game born on primitive Soviet computers that would eventually become one of the best-known entertainment brands in the world.

Pajitnov said the game’s origins were humble. A programmer fascinated by puzzles and mathematical games, he was looking for ways to translate familiar puzzle concepts onto a computer with severe technical limitations.

“The problem was that I have no graphic or sound on my computers,” he recalled. Working with only a few lines of text available on-screen, he experimented with geometric shapes that rotated as they fell. Watching the shapes move sparked the idea for a real-time game.

The game’s name combined “tetra,” referring to the four-square geometric pieces known as tetrominoes, and “tennis,” one of Pajitnov’s favorite sports. He simplified earlier puzzle concepts involving more complex five-block shapes because seven tetromino pieces proved easier and more enjoyable for players.

An addictive game

Thousands of miles away, Rogers first encountered Tetris at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 1988. At the time, he ran a game publishing company in Japan and regularly evaluated new titles.

Unlike other games that held his attention for only a few minutes, Tetris kept drawing him back. “I wanted to play again,” Rogers said at the tech event, which sponsored The AI Innovator‘s trip.

The game’s simplicity did not concern him. While many publishers were focused on increasingly sophisticated graphics, Rogers saw something deeper in Tetris, comparing its appeal to the ancient strategy game Go. Some industry executives disagreed. One major Japanese company dismissed the game as “too retro” in 1988, Rogers said.

That decision proved costly.

Recognizing Tetris’ potential, Rogers pursued licensing deals across multiple platforms and later championed its inclusion with Nintendo’s handheld Game Boy. He famously argued that while Mario would attract young boys, Tetris could appeal to everyone. Nintendo ultimately bundled Tetris with the Game Boy, helping transform both products into global successes.

But securing the rights was anything but straightforward.

The Soviet Union lacked modern intellectual property laws, leaving ownership of Tetris murky. Rogers traveled to Moscow in search of answers, navigating a maze of government officials, bureaucrats and competing claims. The story later inspired the 2023 Apple TV+ film “Tetris,” though both Rogers and Pajitnov said Hollywood at times took significant liberties with the facts.

What the movie captured accurately, they said, was the atmosphere of the late Soviet period.

Bonding as game designers

The real breakthrough came when Rogers met Pajitnov in Moscow. The two bonded not as businessmen but as game designers.

“This was the beginning of our friendship, which never ends,” Pajitnov said.

Their friendship would prove crucial. Although Pajitnov initially received little financial benefit from his creation, he said he deliberately prioritized broad distribution over immediate compensation, believing future opportunities would follow.

An early decision also helped establish his claim as the game’s creator. Pajitnov entered Tetris into a computer contest and explicitly identified himself as its author, creating a documented record of ownership long before intellectual property disputes emerged.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Rogers and Pajitnov eventually consolidated ownership rights and established The Tetris Company. Today the company remains independent, with a small staff focused on licensing, brand management and protecting the game’s intellectual property.

The brand has expanded far beyond its original computer screen. Tetris has been played aboard the International Space Station, projected onto skyscrapers and featured in drone displays involving thousands of synchronized aircraft.

Simple but enduring

Yet its creators believe the game’s staying power comes from something simpler.

Pajitnov described Tetris as a constructive rather than destructive game. Unlike many modern titles, it contains no violence, characters or narrative conflicts. Its abstract nature allows players to focus entirely on the challenge itself.

Rogers sees an even bigger future. He pointed to research suggesting Tetris may help reduce symptoms associated with trauma and predicted the game could evolve into a lasting competitive sport with professional players and organized tournaments.

Four decades after blocks first began falling on a Soviet computer screen, Tetris remains a rare phenomenon in technology: a digital creation that has survived generations of hardware, political upheaval and changing tastes.

As Rogers put it, while countless video games have come and gone, Tetris increasingly resembles something more enduring — less a product of the computer age than a timeless game, akin to chess, soccer or baseball.