The story of Tetris

EdS · November 30, 2021, 3:14pm

There’s a short account here, by way of a review of a graphic novel of the story:
The Bizarre History of ‘Tetris’

And some snippets of that graphic novel can be seen here:

When Byte magazine ran a modest piece buried hundreds of pages deep in their November 1984 issue on a Soviet personal computer showing the clear “influence” of the Apple II, it became the second most popular article in the issue according to the magazine’s surveys. Unsurprisingly in light of that reception, similar tantalizing glimpses behind the Iron Curtain became a regular part of the magazine from that point forward

Before the end of the 1980s, an odd little game of falling blocks would ride this tidal wave of Soviet chic to become by some measures the most popular videogame of all time. An aura of inscrutable otherness clung to Tetris , which the game’s various publishers — its publication history is one of the most confusing in the history of videogames — were smart enough to tie in with the sense of otherness that surrounded the entirety of the Soviet Union, the game’s unlikely country of origin, in so many Western minds.

As the dust settled from the battle over Tetris and a river of money started flowing back to the Soviet Union, the Soviet Academy of Sciences made a generous offer to Alexey Pajitnov. In acknowledgment of his service to the state, they told him, they would buy him an IBM PC/AT — an obsolete computer in Western terms but one much better than the equipment Pajitnov was used to. This would be the only tangible remuneration he would ever receive from them for making the most popular videogame in the history of the world.

and there’s a video here (although I confess I haven’t watched it, it looks pretty well done)

In 1984, during the Cold War, a Russian programmer named Alexey Pajitnov created something special: A puzzle game called Tetris. It soon gained a cult following within the Soviet Union. A battle for the rights to publish Tetris erupted when the game crossed the Iron Curtain. Tetris not only took the video game industry by storm, but it also helped break the boundaries between the United States and the Soviet Union.

There’s at least one book too, although again I haven’t read it:
The Tetris Effect: The Cold War Battle for the World’s Most Addictive Game by Dan Ackerman

AtariHQ has a history write-up too:
The Saga of Tetris

And Gamer Law has a look:
Games Law History: the Tetris saga – Gamer/Law

Nintendo Life contributes this: