Tetris. Today it's a household name, but the origins of arguably the best-known video game in the world are not a simple matter. From its development in Moscow’s Dorodnicyn Computer Centre to its arrival on the Game Boy, Tetris has found itself at the heart of government control and business rivalry. This isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that oh-so-familiar name.
In 2004, the BBC ran a documentary entitledTetris: From Russia with Love. It chronicles the origins and successes of this simplistic puzzler, following it from Alexey Pajitnov's computer-center terminal to the middle of a bitter rivalry between Atari and Nintendo.
Tetris: From Russia with Love excels at capturing the disorder and palpable tension of Tetris’s trip across the iron curtain. Since he was in the Soviet Union and under communist rule when he created Tetris, Pajitnov had absolutely no ownership right to his addictive game. Instead, it belonged to a government as unprepared for negotiations with capitalists as it was Gorbachev’s whirlwind governmental changes.
The result was a four-year struggle between British and American companies and against obtuse and unfriendly Russian agreements.
Clearly, we know who won the war over Tetris, but this documentary shows just how crazy the fight to publish the game worldwide really was.
You can watch all of the documentary on YouTube:
Woah! When you first started on Bitmob did you not start posting docs under the heading of Peculiar Documentary Theatre? Ah, the memories.
This is a great film.
Great article! I hoep more people see this documentary. I have seen it 3 times and absolutely love it. The fellow from Japan who went to get the tetris publishing rights, Hank Rogers , was featured in Robert Ashleys most recent "A Life Well Wasted" pod cast titles "Big Ideas".