Happy Birthday Tetris! This little game was first introduced 30 years ago this month. Tetris was brought to us from Russia; the creator Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov was 28 at the time he created the game back in 1984. He’s almost 60 now. In interviews he says he still plays the game from time to time. No one can blame him. One word that is consistently used when describing the game is “addictive,” and if you have ever had the pleasure of playing it, you know this to be true. The game landed on Rolling Stone’s top ten “most addictive games ever” list.
Tetris revolves around a simple idea. Bunches of blocks fall from the game’s ceiling and you are responsible for arranging them on the bottom of the screen. If you manage to get them all to fit together, you earn points and then the game speeds up and the blocks become harder to control.
A little known fact about Tetris is that the creator never received royalties due to the fact he worked for the Soviet Government. Talk about a bummer.
Tetris has been huge over multiple platforms, first Nintendo, then home computers, handheld game consoles and now it’s available as an app for smartphones and tablets.
Also another favorite, Pac-Man is turning 33 this year and is also experiencing a resurgence in popularity. At E3 this year the new game “Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures” made its debut. 3 years ago Google celebrated the game’s 30th birthday by making an interactive Google Doodle. This little piece of the full game was a reminder of how awesome this game was, and revisions of the game were released with all new graphics.
These games and their new-found popularity today might just be nostalgia, but I must say that today’s world of high-resolution everything, the original simple graphics and designs are refreshing. It’s amazing that in today’s hi-tech world that these classics are still profitable. Most of the original users of Tetris and Pac-Man are now in their 30s and 40s. These games can bring you back to a simpler time. And that is priceless.