Tetris: New high score records in the world's best-selling game even at 40

On 6 June 1984, 29-year-old Russian programmer Alexei Pashitnov completed a game. Pashitnov had used his free time and an outdated Soviet computer to programme the puzzle game Tetris. It had neither colours nor sound, but the concept captivated him and his colleagues. Nevertheless, he certainly had no idea that 40 years later the media would be reporting on the birth of Tetris.

The game went on to become one of the most popular games ever and has become an integral part of video game history. Tetris has sold hundreds of millions of copies and is still setting tireless new records. You can switch on the appropriate background music for this article - the Tetris music on the Gameboy - here (sorry for the earworm):

The origin of Tetris was a children's puzzle

Pashitnov worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, where he was able to use an Elektronika 60 computer for his leisure projects. This also included the realisation of a game idea. Paschitnow was thinking of a children's puzzle called Pentonimo. The task is to fill a rectangular frame with twelve shapes, each consisting of five squares, known as pentonimos. We even have a Pentonimo game in the shop:

Board games

Cayro FSC pentominos in metal box

Board games

Cayro FSC pentominos in metal box

Paschitnow changed this concept: five-part Petonimos became four-part Tetronimos and time pressure was to make the game more interesting. He imagined the tetronimos falling into a jar from above and piling up on the floor. Only a short time later, he had realised his idea. But the glass was quickly full and the game was over.

Then Pashitnov had the idea that turned his game into a global success: rows that had been fully assembled dissolve and make room for new tiles. The appeal of Tetris lies in completing rows and staying in the game for as long as possible. The name of the game is a combination of Tetronimo and tennis, Paschitnow's favourite sport.

The sixteen-year-old programmer Wadim Gerassimow realised the game for the IBM PC under MS-DOS at Paschitnow's request. It was given colours, several levels and a high-score memory. You can read more about this on Gerassimov's website. Tetris, which was already very popular in the Soviet Union, finally made its way to the West via Hungary. After a battle for the licence rights, in which Atari was also interested, Tetris was released on the Nintendo Gameboy and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1989.

Sales, the iconic music and current high score records

The magazine Gamespot sees Tetris as the best-selling game of all time. It quotes a figure of 520 million sales across all platforms. This includes 35 million sales on the Gameboy, which came with the game for free. On mobile phones and smartphones, Tetris is said to have sold 425 million copies in its various versions. The website The Pop Insider even claims 615 million downloads for the mobile versions of Tetris alone since 2008.

It is probably impossible to say exactly how many people have played Tetris. But a few million or not doesn't change the fact that the game is hugely popular. It is therefore no surprise that Tetris was one of 14 games to be included in the US Museum of Modern Art.

The iconic Tetris music, which every gamer aged between 30 and 50 can probably hum along to, is actually a Russian folk song from 1861. It's called Korobeiniki and the lyrics are about a nocturnal rendezvous in a rye field. You can listen to it here:

Even today, Tetris is not over. There are still persistent players who set new records in the NES version. Most recently, in March, a 15-year-old was the first to reach the brand of ten million points and surpassed it by miles with 16 million points. An earlier record was achieved in January by another gamer who played so far that Tetris crashed for the first time:

If you now feel like sorting blocks yourself again, you can do so for free on the Tetris page. And if you want to watch Tetris on TV: From 2023, there is a film that focuses on the battle for the licences from Russia. You can stream the film "Tetris" on Apple TV Plus.

Pashitnov only received money for the game he developed in 1996. It was only then that he received the copyrights back from the Russian state. <p