Tetris - From Russia with love for 20 years now
Tetris has turned twenty on Wednesday. The highly addictive game developed by the Russians - Alexey Pajitnov and Vadim Gerassimov became a major hit when it was released. The simplicity of the game was one of the major factors why the game proved to be a blockbuster and a perennial favourite of millions including yours truly.



The game was Pajitnov idea inspired from a board game called Pentamino. Then a 29 year-old programmer, he made the first prototype from a glass and little blocks to drop inside it, each of which consisted of four cubes. You scored extra points for completing a row.



Gerassimov, then 16, was Pajitnov’s friend and did the programming to allow the game to run on western IBM computers.



After the game was out, copies were made elsewhere and an astonishing 6 different companies made claims to own the rights of Tetris. Thankfully, no one got it and the original Russian duo got the recognition. However, none of them made much money with the game that proved to be one of the major hits in the gaming world.



The guys are now in the US and develop video games. Thank you both for giving us such a beautiful game to get hooked on to.



Source: The Inquirer