Tetris at 40: A chat with creator Alexey Pajitnov – “I never imagined anything like what we see today”

Tetris is one of the best games of all time, and for good reason. Since its 1985 debut, and as a pack-in game to the Nintendo Game Boy in 1989, the falling blocks have become iconic, as well as its music, inspired by Russian folklore. 40 years later, there are countless titles available to play that offer new ways to play Tetris, while keeping the core concept intact.

Its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, has been able to enjoy the fruits of the game’s success since setting up the Tetris Company with Henk Rogers in 1996. But just this month, the Red Bull Tetris Finals were held in Dubai, where hundreds of drones displayed the final match. Escapist Magazine was present and also spoke with Pajitnov extensively about Tetris.

The Escapist recaps

• Tetris was first released in 1985 on the Russian-made Elektronika 60 computer, created by Alexey Pajitnov.
• For years, Pajitnov didn’t own the rights to the game. It wasn’t until 1996, when he and Henk Rogers set up the Tetris company, that future royalties were owed to them.
• The Tetris World Finals were held in Dubai on December 13, where two players competed in the game via 2,800 drones that displayed the matches on a massive screen.
• The winner was Fehmi Atalar of Turkey, who won a three-day all-inclusive trip to Dubai.

A feat of Elektronika engineering

The Tetris World Finals felt like the culmination of the game, and it was fitting that they took place on the 40th anniversary of the game. 2,800 drones were used for the final two matches, which consisted of two flights of 1,400 drones each. The winner was Fehmi Atalar from Turkey, beating Leo Soloranzo from Peru in a very tense final match.

From developing Tetris on a Russian-made Elektronika 60 computer in 1984 to watching these matches at the Dubai Frame, Alexey Pajitnov never expected Tetris to turn out like this.

“Frankly, when I had the very first prototype, just blocks breathing on the screen, without score or decoration, I pretended I was debugging something”, Pajitnov says. “But I caught myself unable to stop playing. That’s when I realised it was a very good game. But I never imagined anything like what we see around here today, that’s for sure.”

It’s also intertwined with the fact that Pajitnov didn’t initially hold the rights to Tetris. “In the first years, unfortunately, I had no control at all over publishing. It was essential to just get the game out there. It spread like wildfire across Sinclair, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari – all with different features, screen resolutions, and limitations.”

However, it wasn’t until Pajitnov met Henk Rogers that everything fell into place. “Surprisingly, the game survived all of this scrutiny. Then Japan came into force, and Henk took over publishing there. He collected the best elements, ordered the scoring system and bonuses, and arrived at a version we still build on today.”

There’s also the fact that the Sega and Nintendo versions of Tetris had different ways of controlling the pieces, but Pajitnov reveals that what millions play today took a while to get right.

“We struggled for a while with two different directions: the Sega arcade approach, where you drop the piece first and then place it, and the Nintendo approach, where you control it in flight. It took a lot of work to merge these ideas,” Pajitnov reveals. “In the end, the company did a great job combining them, especially with rotation and playfield design. We eventually arrived at a solid, sustainable version that’s very enjoyable to play.”

There’s also the factor of Tetris being used as a speedrunning game. The title features a ‘true kill screen’ moment, where players reach a point at which the game would run out of memory and crash. Pajitnov didn’t expect this to happen with Tetris either. 

“Tetris was one of the first games to use a random generator, so you never repeat the same game twice. That makes it fundamentally different from games like Donkey Kong or Mario. Because of that, I never expected predictable endpoints or scripted behaviour – the surprise is part of the nature of the game.”

40 years of Tetrominos

Indeed, players have wondered about whether Tetris could benefit from new mechanics or even new pieces, but this is something Pajitnov refuses to do, being content with what he did in 1984. “I was pretty happy with my own mechanics, which were more zen-like. I didn’t focus much on rewards or bonuses. When bonuses were added later, I was totally fine with that, but I never wanted to break the gameplay. I think the gameplay itself is and has always been very good.”

However, Pajitnov does enjoy the hold piece, which lets players store a Tetromino and use another. “I really appreciate the hold piece – it helps serious players a lot. The emphasis on T-spins created a new strategic layer, which I think works very well. Combos are not as successful yet and probably need some help in the future. Still, for such a simple game, having three strategic layers is great.”

There’s also the prospect of rising technologies, such as AI. Despite Tetris having AI as opponents in certain games, we put it to Pajitnov whether there could be a good use case for AI in Tetris someday.

“We already have obvious uses of AI in competition, like qualifying players against artificial opponents. That’s very basic – any coder can do that quickly. What I really want from AI is a very fast, sharp-minded opponent. That would be interesting and could be a great example for other games as well.”

Pajitnov followed up on this thought. “It could encourage you, swear at you, give you a hard time, or enjoy your game and say, “Wow, that’s good!” It could warn you when the long piece is coming, or tease you about your mistakes. You could adjust the level of swearing or compliments. That would be a great product.”

Where can Tetris go?

With many Tetris games available to play, such as Tetris Effect Connected and Tetris 99, Pajitnov holds a lot of respect for these titles. “Tetris Effect is wonderful – I play it on PlayStation sometimes and enjoy it very much. But Tetris 99 is probably the best competitive version. It’s intense but still lets you enjoy playing, which surprised me. Usually in massive multiplayer games, you’re eliminated very quickly, but Tetris 99 gives you time.”

We asked Pajitnov whether we would ever see a similar scenario again, as with Tetris being bundled with the Game Boy in 1989, but he put it to Escapist that it had already happened. “It’s already happening in a way with Tetris 99. It’s clearly a console game, people enjoy it, and the company is very happy with it.”

Finally, with the Tetris World Finals all over, Pajitnov was quick to mention how amazed he’s been to see many champions of Tetris over the years. “I’m an amateur player now, but a long time ago I was world champion when nobody was watching. Not for very long, though.

There was a time when another player on my computer took over the top score, and then suddenly, a woman became champion and held the title for two or three months. That was amazing. There are hundreds of versions now, all with different scoring systems, so the numbers don’t really matter anymore.”

Looking to the future, it appears that we’re only just starting to see Tetris become part of huge championships, as Pajitnov looks to the Olympics.

“It’s our goal to make Tetris an Olympic sport. I believe video games should be part of the Olympic Games, and Tetris is one of the best candidates. We’re not there yet – competitive formats still need refinement – but with partners like Red Bull helping to shape the rules, I believe we’ll get there soon.

Socially, Tetris has a long history, strong recognition, and a global audience. That gives it a very good chance.”

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References

1. Tetris 99® for Nintendo Switch (Nintendo)