April 16: Alexey Pajitnov's birthday, the creator of Tetris
Alexey Pajitnov was born on April 16, 1955, in Moscow. He created one of the most famous games in history, Tetris, and didn't receive a single ruble in royalties until he emigrated to the United States and won the rights himself.
From the Academy of Sciences to puzzles
Pajitnov's father was a philosopher and literary scholar, his mother a film critic. From childhood, he was fascinated by mathematics and puzzles. After enrolling at the Moscow Aviation Institute, he transferred to the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University after his first year. He completed an internship at the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he remained after graduating as a patent examiner.
"At some important meeting, it was loudly stated that software is not subject to patent law. This was very convenient for me—I didn't have to do anything. Whenever anyone had a question about patents, I simply said: 'Software is not subject to patent law, so I can't help.'"
Pajitnov later transferred to a special computing center, where he worked on speech recognition programs. It was there that he became interested in creating puzzle games.
How Alexey Pajitnov Invented Tetris
In 1982, at the age of 27, Pajitnov developed his first game, "Tangled Casino." Two years later, he invented "Tetris," adapting the puzzles of the American mathematician Solomon Golomb for the Soviet computer, one of which involved forming shapes from figures.
The simplicity proved ingenious. The author himself couldn't stop playing it right at work.
"Tetris gives you the feeling of building, creating, rather than destroying. Although, of course, this is just an illusion."
The game quickly spread across the Soviet Union and made its way to the West. A color version for IBM was released, complete with scoreboard and sound effects.
Pajitnov and Tetris: Years Without Royalty
Since his employer, the Computing Center, was not interested in the gaming product, the Tetris trademark was registered by the monopoly company Elektronorgtekhnika (Elorg). As a government employee, Pajitnov received no royalties.
"The computer center didn't like Tetris at all. I think they were embarrassed. Of course—some kid had wiped their floor with him, accidentally earning enough money to buy the whole center."
"From the very beginning, I decided that Tetris would pave the way for me, give me a start in life, and I would earn money later on something else."
Emigration and return of rights
In 1991, Pajitnov emigrated to the United States with Vladimir Pokhilko and founded AnimaTek. Five years later, together with Dutch game designer Henk Rogers, he created The Tetris Company — and only then did he begin receiving royalties from Tetris. By 2005, they finally bought all rights from Elorg.
"We both own Tetris: Hank to a greater extent, I to a lesser extent. And all the money that comes from Tetris, we split between us."
From 1996 to 2003, Alexey Pajitnov worked at Microsoft, where he created the visual puzzle collection Pandora's Box and the online puzzle game Mind Aerobics. He later created Dwice, Money Machine, and other smartphone games. Remarkably, Tetris is even used in medicine today as a therapy to reduce the symptoms of PTSD.
Today, Tetris is even used in medicine as a therapy method to reduce the symptoms of PTSD.
In 2022, Pajitnov condemned Russia's military actions in Ukraine:
"I am confident that Putin and his hated regime will fall, and a normal, peaceful way of life will be restored in Ukraine and, hopefully, in Russia."
