Tetris

Tetris is as ubiquitous as blue jeans and as addictive as jelly beans. But did you ever wonder where it came from? Probably not: Most computer programs have fairly undramatic origin stories. Not Tetris.
Tetris is as ubiquitous as blue jeans and as addictive as jelly beans. But did you ever wonder where it came from? Probably not: Most computer programs have fairly undramatic origin stories. Not Tetris. In 1984, Alexey Pajitnov, a computer scientist working for the USSR government, created a fun little game that became a smash hit among the computer literate population of Moscow. Before long, it was discovered by a British software firm. The rest, as they say, is history.But it's a history full of high stakes business shenanigans and some fundamental questions about the nature of play. Box Brown, author of Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, blows open the secret history of the game that saved Nintendo and delves into what makes puzzles and games so irresistible to human beings.