Five facts that you may not know about Tetris

Tetris is a giant that transformed the history of games. It’s a household name known by billions worldwide, thanks to its iconic theme, shaped blocks and compelling gameplay.

As the classic approaches its 40th anniversary, here are some fun facts that you probably didn’t know about Tetris that will send your head into a T-spin.

Alexey Pajitov’s original version of Tetris started as a game that he made in his spare time. Back then he didn’t worry about music or slick graphics, meaning the iconic Tetris theme never appeared in his original game.

It wasn’t until 'A-Type' on the Nintendo Game Boy release of Tetris that it got its iconic song. Inspired by the Russian folk song 'Korobeiniki' written in 1861, it was a fast-paced, toe-tapper that many would dance along to, making it the perfect song for its fast-paced, finger-tapping puzzle game debut on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1988.

Tetris became so popular that it managed to spawn its own medical condition, the 'Tetris effect'. If you’ve ever played a game so much you start to see it everywhere, or every little thing on the ground looks like a key item to pick up, then you’ve experienced the Tetris effect.

It’s described as an occurrence where people spend so much time on any activity that it starts to pattern their thoughts. It was popularised in 1994 when, after long days of Tetris, children and adults alike would lie awake and still see the shapes fall in the darkness…

It’s something that still happens to this day. So don’t worry, you’re not the only one thinking that those buildings fit perfectly together or why the furniture in your room must be perfectly aligned.

Pajitov’s lifelong love of puzzles and games inspired him to create Tetris in his spare time as a computer programmer. However, his creation needed a name and part of it came from the unlikeliest of places – tennis.

'Tetris' takes one part of its name from the puzzle game Pentaminos, in which five cube-sized shapes are arranged on a grid.

As Tetris used four cube-sized shapes, Pajitov turned 'penta' (five) into 'tetra' (four.) He then combined this with his love for tennis, adding the '-is' to 'tetra' to create 'Tetris', representing a true labour of love.

Tetris literally took mobile gaming to new heights by leaving the planet in 1993 to become the first video game played in space.

This accolade is thanks to Russian astronaut, Aleksandr A. Serebrov who, on his last mission, became the first person to play a video game in space. He chose Tetris on his Game Boy to keep him company on the journey. We just hope that he packed enough batteries for the trip.

You may not think of Tetris as an esport, but it now welcomes a highly competitive space thanks to Harry Hong. Back in 2009, Hong became the first player to 'max out' the game, reaching a high score of 999,999 on the NES.

This achievement created a snowball effect for competitive Tetris leading to multiple tournaments among Tetris masters.
The rise of the Tetris esports scene was fuelled by documentaries and the emergence of fierce multiplayer communities, culminating in massive games like Tetris 99.