(computerized music)
- [Narrator] Tetris.
It transcends age, culture, and language.
It's a gamer and non-gamer's game.
But did you know Tetris has a Soviet past?
(computerized music)
Tetris is the brainchild of this man, Alexey Pajitnov.
Alexey was a computer programmer in Russia.
He worked for the Soviet Union,
at the Moscow Academy of Sciences.
Alexey always had a propensity for math,
computers, and puzzles.
It was that propensity that led him
to the creation of the best video game of all time.
He drew inspiration from a little known game, Pentominoes.
Pentominoes was a puzzle board game
in which you had to fit geometric shapes together.
Alexey took the principles from Pentominoes,
upgraded them, and created a computer game.
Originally only intended for himself,
he named the game Tetris for two reasons.
It's a combination of tetra, the Greek word meaning four,
and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport.
Because Tetris was created during work hours,
the Soviet Union claimed all rights
to both Tetris, and all royalties.
Fast forward to 1996,
the rights to Tetris were finally signed over to Pajitnov.
Tetris taps into our universal need
to create order out of chaos,
which is ultimately why it's one
of the most iconic games in history.
(Upbeat music)