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Tetris

A puzzle game written by Soviet engineer Alexey Pajitnov in the mid-1980s, now the best-selling video game of all time.

Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in his spare time at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences. Floppy disk copies spread freely around Moscow, then to Eastern Europe.

Nintendo licensed it through the Soviet organization that handled software rights, for the Game Boy and the NES. The Game Boy version sold 35 million copies. Tetris has sold 520 million copies as of 2022.

Why it matters

Tetris is the best-selling video game of all time, and it helped make the Game Boy a success.

Key facts

  • Created in the mid-1980s by Alexey Pajitnov.
  • Written at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center in Moscow.
  • Spread first on floppy disks around Moscow.
  • Game Boy version sold 35 million copies.
  • 520 million copies sold as of 2022.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, "Tetris", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris, accessed October 14, 2026.
  2. Wikipedia, "Alexey Pajitnov", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Pajitnov, background reading, accessed October 14, 2026.