On June 6, 1984, Alexey Pazhitnov almost by accident wrote the game Tetris, which became famous all over the world. The programmer worked at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences and dealt with AI problems and speech recognition. He created the popular computer game “Electronica-60”.
Where did the idea come from?
The idea for the game was born after Pajitnov got acquainted with the Pentomino Puzzle, a puzzle by American mathematician Solomon Golomb, in which several small pieces had to be assembled into one large one.
“Why don't we make a computer version of this puzzle?” — Alexey thought, and... off we go!
Why Tetris?
By the way, the developer didn't just take the idea, but transformed and improved it. Alexey wanted the game to have five different figures that needed to be rotated. However, this was too difficult for the computer at the time: it lacked resources. So Pazhitnov decided to keep four figures instead of five. Consequently, instead of the original “pentamino” (from the Greek “penta” — five), it turned out to be “tetramino” (from the Greek “tetra” — four). Alexey came up with a name for his new game by combining two words: “tetramino” and “tennis”.
Interesting facts about Tetris:
Theme music
Tetris's theme song is an instrumental arrangement of the Russian folk melody “The Peddlers”.
Renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has composed the music for The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and many Hollywood movies, has also remixed Tetris-themed music. In 1992, under the moniker Doctor Spin, he and producer Nigel Wright released a remix, and it peaked at number six on the UK music chart.
In 2013, General Motors used this music to promote the Chevrolet Traverse.
Tetris went to... space
Tetris was the first game to be taken to space.
This is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records 2014.
The first “space” gamer was Alexander Serebrov — it was he who took Tetris with him to the Mir station in 1993. According to him, he enjoyed playing the game when he had free time.
Figure names
In 2019, Twitter user Vecchito created a meme claiming that Tetris figures have the following names: Orange Ricky, Blue Ricky, Hero, Smashboy, Tiwi, Rhode Island Z, and Cleverland Z. However, this was just a fan's invention. In fact, the figures did have names, but they were not so unique and original. They were only distinguished by their forms: I-block, J-block, L-block, O-block, S-block, T-block and Z-block.
Tetris heals
It turns out that Tetris can be used for medicinal purposes!
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University studied the effect that Tetris had on patients with injuries. According to their study, Tetris's visual images can work wonders: if you play the game shortly after a traumatic event, the intrusive memories of the trauma will decrease significantly. How does this work? The game process creates a competing image that delays the traumatic event and gives the brain a different food for thought. Scientists are also researching whether Tetris could be a magic remedy for older injuries.
The biggest and the smallest
Students from Amsterdam have created the world's smallest Tetris game. It had to be played using an electron microscope and 42 glass microspheres the size of a grain of sand. To move parts, a computer and a highly focused laser beam were needed.
And in 2024, Tetris was first played, streaming the game to a skyscraper! It was a music show that hundreds of people enjoyed.
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