Tetris is a puzzle video game created by the Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in the mid-1980s in his spare time while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Falling pieces called tetrominoes, each made of four connected blocks, descend a rectangular playing field, and the player rotates and shifts them to complete and clear horizontal lines before the stack reaches the top. It is the best-selling video game of all time, having sold more than 520 million copies as of December 2024, and the most ported, appearing in some 220 official versions across at least 70 platforms; its Game Boy release alone sold about 35 million copies and became a defining reason players bought Nintendo's handheld console. It is frequently named among the greatest and most influential video games ever made and was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2015.
Facts
Disputed
Release YearWikipedia's own account of the creation states sources disagree on the exact timing: some sources indicate June 1984, while the BBC documentary Tetris: From Russia with Love (2004) suggests spring 1985. Recorded as 1984, the earlier and more commonly cited date, with Status debated rather than attested because the sources genuinely conflict. Classification
Original Language Original Language Original Language FAQs
When was Tetris created, 1984 or 1985?
The date is disputed: Pajitnov himself recalled 1985 in a 1993 interview, while Henk Rogers reported in 2024 that he recalled 1984.
Sources disagree. In a 1993 interview with the Japanese magazine The Super Famicom, Alexey Pajitnov recalled that the game was finished in 1985 and said it took about three weeks to develop because of its simplicity. Henk Rogers reported in 2024 that Pajitnov recalled first developing it on the Elektronika 60 in 1984. This atlas records 1984 as the release year while noting that the exact timing is contested.
Where does the name Tetris come from?
It combines "tetra", meaning four, with tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport.
The name Tetris was a combination of "tetra", meaning "four", and Pajitnov's favorite sport, tennis. The "tetra" part refers to the falling pieces, which are tetrominoes made of four connected blocks.
Connections
Created By
Source Tetris (Wikipedia)
In Medium
Source Tetris (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Original Language
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Wikidata: Tetris
Wikidata Q104044312, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris, Creation (1984-1985) section, dating-dispute sentence, full article extractQuote, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris, Creation (1984-1985) section, dating-dispute sentence, full article extract
Sources vary on the exact timing: certain sources indicate June 1984, while the BBC documentary Tetris: From Russia with Love (2004) suggests spring 1985.
Tetris (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer, in the mid-1980s.
In Medium: Video Games, Article lead sentence
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer, in the mid-1980s.
Created By: Alexey Pajitnov, Infobox: designer
Alexey Pajitnov
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