Tetris celebrates 25th anniversary

Video game industry legends Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov today announced the kickoff of the 25th anniversary celebration for TETRIS®. TETRIS is one of the world’s most popular casual computer games with over 125 million products sold on more than 30 platforms and available in more than 50 countries.

“TETRIS has driven the entire casual computer gaming industry,” said Rogers, President & CEO of Blue Planet Software, the company that manages the exclusive licensing rights to TETRIS. “One reason why TETRIS is so enduring is that it transcends culture. It is beyond language. It is part of a universal desire for order. Ultimately, it’s a mental sport – a mix of fun and mental stimulation.”

In June 1984, Pajitnov, a Russian-born mathematician wrote the program for TETRIS in his spare time. His love of puzzles inspired him to create a game where players arranged distinctive puzzle pieces in real time along the bottom of the rectangular playing field or “matrix” in order to clear lines. “For a short time, I was the best TETRIS player in the world,” he said.

Rogers and Pajitnov said TETRIS is not resting on its laurels. “We have exciting plans for the future of TETRIS,” said Pajitnov. “We want to make TETRIS more accessible to kids, boomers, and busy moms – everyone who enjoys a fun, stimulating and even meditative short escape from the daily grind.”

Said Rogers, “The best is yet to come. We’re working on versions of TETRIS that will make it possible to have ‘international’ games similar to the Olympics, or the World Cup. The next generation of TETRIS games will align themselves to the user – so they can always be exactly what best fits any specific individual – ‘smart’ TETRIS games that quickly ‘learn their partner’ and adjust to give maximum game play satisfaction.

“We have a vision of the future where people all over the world can meet and become friends without speaking the same language. TETRIS players can better understand each other through mutual game play and create a new world fabric of ‘likenesses’ instead of differences by being connected through the universal language of Tetriminos – the distinctive world-famous playing pieces of TETRIS.”