Tetris: From Russia With Love

This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West.

Alexei Pajitnov createt this simple, yet addictive game in 1984 as a student at the famous Soviet Union’s Academy of Science. It initially worked only on the Soviet Elektronika 60 Computer and got very popular among staff members and students at the Academy of Science in Moscow. It’s worldwide popularity became Tetris, after Nintendo published it on their video-game console and the gameboy.

This resulted in millions of dollars of royalties – but not for the developer himself, but the Russian government. Poor Alexei.