Back to the Future: Tetris

June 6th is the launch day of the famous game Tetris and that is why we have decided to dedicate one of our posts to this legendary game.

What is the origin of Tetris?

The creator of this famous game is the mathematician Alexei Pazhitnov, he works at the Dorodnitsyn computing center of the Moscow Academy of Sciences.

His main idea was to recreate a game similar to Pentomino on a computer. This traditional game consists of placing and fitting geometric pieces in a wooden box. Pentomino can be played either solo or competitively. It consists of filling a rectangle with 12 pieces without leaving any gaps. Depending on the dimensions there may be different solutions.

His idea came from thinking how pieces fell into a glass and how players could rotate and move them sideways. But the game was too complicated so he simplified the pieces to four squares compared to the five of Pentomino, calling it Tentrominos.

Why Tetris?

Arriving at the name of Tentronimos influenced by the Greek word "tetra" which means four mixed with the favorite sport of its creator, tennis.

Another of the problems he encountered was the technical limitations of the time, since the computer he had did not have graphic capabilities.

After a long time of work, Pazhitnov did not think that he would receive so much recognition.

Play TETRIS!