The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World

The definitive story of a game so great, even the Cold War couldn t stop it
Tetris is perhaps the most instantly recognizable, popular video game ever made. But how did an obscure Soviet programmer, working on frail, antiquated computers, create a product which has now earned nearly $1 billion i [...]
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The definitive story of a game so great, even the Cold War couldn t stop it
Tetris is perhaps the most instantly recognizable, popular video game ever made. But how did an obscure Soviet programmer, working on frail, antiquated computers, create a product which has now earned nearly $1 billion in sales? How did a makeshift game turn into a worldwide sensation, which has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, inspired a big-budget sci-fi movie, and been played in outer space?
A quiet but brilliant young man, Alexey Pajitnov had long nurtured a love for the obscure puzzle game pentominoes, and became obsessed with turning it into a computer game. Little did he know that the project that he labored on alone, hour after hour, would soon become the most addictive game ever made.
In this fast-paced business story, reporter Dan Ackerman reveals how Tetris became one of the world s first viral hits, passed from player to player, eventually breaking through the Iron Curtain into the West. British, American, and Japanese moguls waged a bitter fight over the rights, sending their fixers racing around the globe to secure backroom deals, while a secretive Soviet organization named ELORG chased down the game s growing global profits.
The Tetris Effect is an homage to both creator and creation, and a must-read for anyone who s ever played the game which is to say everyone.
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