1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff Loauren 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: Bobblebaum here. For almost four decades, through the Cold War 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: and its thawing, through the fall of the USSR and 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: the rise of globalism, through diplomatic strains and years of 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,159 Speaker 1: touch and go Russian American relations, people all over the 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: world have remained mesmerized by a Soviet invention, a computer 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: game of all things, that somehow has both persevered and prospered. 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: Tetris and its ever quickening trickle down of four block 9 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: shapes is immediately identifiable to just about anyone who's ever 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: used a digital device with the screen. When it was 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: conceived in nineteen eighty four by a puzzle happy programmer, 12 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: though Tetris was little more than an in house diversion 13 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: designed to break up serious minded twelve hour days at 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: the Russian Academy of Sciences. From that of Soviet controlled software, 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: Tetris has evolved into maybe the most famous computer game 16 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: the world has ever seen. It's a seemingly simple electronic 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: escape that's enjoyed in more than two hundred countries on 18 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: more than fifty separate platforms by millions of people playing 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: billions of games every year, and Tetris has been downloaded 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: on mobile devices alone more than four hundred and twenty 21 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: five million times, and keep in mind that download capable 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: mobile devices didn't really exist when creator Alexei Pajidov unveiled 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: the game to his coworkers in nineteen eighty four. Tetris 24 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: has also sold some seventy million physical copies for the 25 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: article this episode is based on how Stuffworks. Spoke with Pagidov, 26 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: he said, well, Tetris is a really good game, one 27 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: of the best. That's not very modest of me, but 28 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: that's the fact. Pasidov was born in Moscow in nineteen 29 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: fifty five. He was helping to develop early speech recognitions 30 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: at the Russian Academy of Sciences in nineteen eighty four 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: when he began building a computer game in his spare time. 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: The game featured tetronimos, that is, playing pieces made up 33 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: of four blocks like dominos, but Tetra is the prefix 34 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: for four. The tetronomos came in seven different shapes, from 35 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: straight lines to squares, and the object was to arrange 36 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: them as they fell into the playing field. He called 37 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: it Tetris after Tetra meaning four and his favorite sport, tennis. 38 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: The game was built on and initially played on, an 39 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: early Soviet computer, the Electronica sixty, which had no graphic capabilities. 40 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: Its monitor could only display text, still with letters serving 41 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: as the blocks of each Tetronimo. It was an instant 42 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 1: hit with Pachatov's colleagues. Pachatov said, the Computer Center was 43 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: a pretty serious kind of institute, very solid and very serious. 44 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: Nobody ever thought about creating a computer game. Basically, all 45 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 1: this was just an excuse for having fun among the programmers. 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: The game lingered for months inside the cavernous rooms at 47 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: the Center until Pajidov, pushed by his coworkers to make 48 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: it more accessible, assigned someone to port the game to 49 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: the much more popular IBMPC. Pajidov said, on the PC, 50 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: it starts its own life. It was like a forest fire. 51 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: It went everywhere. Eventually the game was saved onto floppy 52 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: disks and leaked into other countries. What followed were years 53 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: of legal and sometimes extra legal maneuvering outside of the 54 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. People were eager to get their hands on 55 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: the game and to start selling it. The Soviet government, 56 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: which held all rights to Pachtov's work resisted. For example, 57 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: at one point a Hungarian software company thought that it 58 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: had secured the rights from Pajetov to sell the game 59 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: in the West, but that turned out to be a miscommunication. 60 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: A mere programmer in these bureaucracy didn't have the power 61 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: to authorize his creations licensing, and the Soviets declined to 62 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: give up control. By nineteen eighty eight, though, the Soviet 63 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: Ministry responsible for the export of computer hardware and software 64 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: gave its blessing and Tetris made its way onto PCs 65 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: in the United Kingdom and the US. But the real 66 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: Tetris explosion came a year later when the new handheld 67 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: gaming computer made by the Japanese firm Nintendo, the game Boy, 68 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: promised to include a Tetris cartridge with every Game Boy 69 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: sold in America if the Soviets agreed. One Hank Rogers, 70 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: a Dutch video game producer living in Japan, wound up 71 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: brokering the deal. He'd run across the game on PC 72 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: at the Consumer Electronics Show and saw its potential. Today 73 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: he's the president of the Tetris Company, which controls the 74 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: Tetris license. Rogers told CNN in twenty nineteen, I made 75 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: a handshake deal with Minoru Arakawa, founder of Nintendo of America, 76 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,799 Speaker 1: to have Nintendo include Tetris in every game Boy. He said, 77 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,679 Speaker 1: why should I include Tetris? I have Mario, And I said, 78 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: if you want little boys to buy your game Boy, 79 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: then include Mario. But if you want everyone to buy 80 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: your game Boy, then you should include Tetris. But the 81 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: Soviets were not yet convinced. Again, this was still in 82 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: the middle of the Cold War, and they were suspicious 83 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: of anything to do with the US. The KGB supposedly 84 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: got involved. Soviet leader Mikhel Gorbachev might have had to 85 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: say Rogers, with the lucrative deal hanging by thread, flew 86 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: to Moscow to try to convince the Soviets to sign 87 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: in on the agreement. He reportedly spent hours being questioned 88 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: by Soviet officials. The whole thing was so dramatic that 89 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: Apple Studios produced a feature length thriller about Rogers and 90 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: pachetobs or Deal. It debuted in twenty twenty three and 91 00:05:55,279 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: is called Tetris But Yes, the game that worked. The 92 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: Soviets agreed to a deal, perhaps as an exercise of 93 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: soft power. The original Tetris packaging included the slogan from 94 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: Russia with fun. It became part of the North American 95 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: game boy launch in nineteen eighty nine. Nintendo sold thirty 96 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: five million game boys that year, and Tetris boomed into 97 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: a worldwide phenomenon. The goal of conventional Tetris is to 98 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: control where and how the tetronomos fall so that they 99 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: fill up entire horizontal lines in the playing field. The 100 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: completed lines are eliminated from the field, clearing more space 101 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: to play. The more lines a player can completely fill 102 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: and eliminate before the blocks pile up to the top 103 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: of the playing field, the higher the score. It sounds simple, 104 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 1: and on the most basic level it is, but that's 105 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: part of the beauty of Tetris. Pajanov thinks of it 106 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: more like Chess than say Minecraft or Grand Theft Auto, 107 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: which are also in the top three be selling video 108 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: games of all time. Patchidov said Tetris is very deceptive. 109 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: It creates lots of illusions in the player's minds. You 110 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: have an extremely long learning curve. The normal video game, 111 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: you have thirty to forty hours learning curve. Tetris, to 112 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: my kind of thinking is one hundred and twenty hours. 113 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: In many ways, the game is so simple that it's 114 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: nearly mystical. It's so easy that it's seldom mastered. Tetris 115 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: is now one of the most awarded games in history, 116 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: and has had numerous spin offs over the years, all 117 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: of them now licensed by the Tetris Company. The game, 118 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: in its various forms, is played on smartphones, tablets, computers, 119 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: and basically every video game system, including virtual reality headsets. 120 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: An annual tournament featuring the nineteen eighty nine version of 121 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: Tetris on the original Nintendo Entertainment System began in twenty ten. 122 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: The Classic Tetris World Championship now hosts over twenty live 123 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: events around the world, ending in the champion every summer. 124 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: Through all these years Pastadov has missed out on potentially 125 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: millions of dollars in royalties, but he said that he's 126 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: content with what is created because of its lasting worth. Quote. 127 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: At some moment, I had a choice either start to 128 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: fight for my rights and spend the rest of my 129 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: life fighting. I decide that if God gave me such 130 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: a gift to create such a game, I will create 131 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: another game and go about it another way. The most 132 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: important thing is to give this game to the people. 133 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article how Tetris went 134 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: from Soviet mindgame to smash Hit on HowStuffWorks dot Com, 135 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: written by John Donovan. Brain stuff It's production of iHeartRadio 136 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 1: in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com, misproduced by Tyler Klang. 137 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 138 00:08:54,120 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.