Tetris turns 25 years young, still puzzles the best of us
If you would've told someone back in 1984 that Alexey Pajitnov would become world renowned, they would've likely laughed you right out of Russia. But on June 6th of that very year, said individual created what's easily the planet's most recognizable puzzle game: Tetris. We mean, who didn't have a childhood obsession with playing this very title on a TI-83 calculator while professors figured you were toiling away on classwork? Ah, good times. Feel free to share your best memories in comments below, and remember, there's no shame in tearing up. Or longing for a "T" to come along and fill that one last gap there on the right.



















Z and S pieces on the first turn suck.
SOOO true
http://fph.altervista.org/prog/bastet.html
@oGMo
That's pure evil!!
Back then years ago, I was playing Tetris on a Gameboy and I was literally dreaming about falling bricks. One thing that bothered me is that I dreamt I was watching the news and I watched that a meteorite had been recovered from a meteor shower last night. The meteor is a metallic "T" tetromino and one "S" and a "Z."
I must be playing too much. >_<
Now I dream of falling notes from too much DJMAX Portable.
http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF206-Game_Boy.gif
lol he has a zune gameboy.
I remember playing Tetris on my gameboy whilst going to work and staying on three stops past where I was meant to get off cos I was on a roll, baby!
Anyone else just feel like Tetris should have always just been around?
Jesus.
Once i start playing this game on my phone, I can never stop lol. I especially love the tetris theme song.
One of my favorite Tetris theme songs was the one made for the Amiga version... very hypnotic!
Pathetic how Google glorifies the invention of Tetris rather than paying tribute to those who really deserve it.
I think he was referring to the participates of D-day.
Yeah, iPhone is just an idiot
*participants
So you can't honor those who actually did the fighting, they didn't make the decisions to go to war, they were just the pawns.
Shut the fuck up iPhone, it's because of the people who fought that war you are allowed you fucking idiotic opinion
iPhone...... mind giving us your adress? i want to see if your afraid to die........
What your an idiot we're talking about previous wars and the heros fought them, not about trying start another one. I think you need to setup an appointment with the Dept of Homeland Sec and get your problems taken care of at the Cuban resort. Just shut up.
Engadget is a tech blog. I'm not saying that this isn't an important day or that those that dies don't deserve to be honored, but I personally wouldn't go to a Memorial Day event and talk about gadgets.
Topics to be discussed are venue-dependent.
It's not like Tetris is recognized every year. This is its 25th anniversary and last I checked, there is no computer game observance day. There is, however, a Memorial day in vritually all countries to remember your fallen heroes. If this had been maybe the 50th anniversary of D-Day, perhaps it would have been in contention.
Oh, I love these kind of people.
@deanb: The question about Hitler's religious beliefs may be a little more complicated than that...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_religious_beliefs
Sorry, after playing through the last level, on the hardest setting, of Tetris for the original GB, I officially had enough of that game for the rest of my life. Now Joust, *there's* a game!
Arguably the best portable game ever. If not for this, portable gaming might have never taken off.
I don't know anyone who longed for a "T" to come... Its all about the Straight Line!!!! FTW!
I came here to say this. Come on Engadget, if you were true Tetris fans then you'd know that the I is the piece that you wait for, not the T.
yeah and especially for "that one last gap on the right". no one wants a T for that... not even rotated.... everyone just wants a I .
Yup. I was reading and I was like - who the hell wants a T? We all longed for a | , did we not? It always came down to that too. I am only 28 so I know the people writing this blog are not much younger, if not older. Hello... have you EVER played tetris?
I remember using a Game Gear to cheat so that EVERY piece was an "I" piece... ah, good times.
You just gotta build up that huge wall of pieces with only one column empty, pray for a straight piece to come, then listen to that awesome sound it makes when you get 4 lines at once.
everyday i play during math class on my Ti-84!
best game ever.
Yes, in our math class almost everyone played it instead of paying attention. Well, that or Bubble Bobble.
Tan-ta-ta-tan-ta-ta-tan-ta-ta-tan-ta-ta-tan ta-tan tan tan tan tan
Thanks Engadget. Now it's stuck for another 2 years.
got caught playing it on my original game boy back in 6th grade during a national geographic video that i was supposed to be taking notes on... teacher put it in her desk, said she'd give it back at the end of the day. it got stolen at lunch. bitch refused to replace it.
i spent practically all or my year 10 playing a mixture of this and call of duty 1 on the school computers, almost every lesson of every day, not even joking. very very good times. perhaps one of my favourtie games of all time
Happy Birthday Tetris
Whats this TI BS. HP 48G FTW!
TI-86 actually.
Brings back memories of boarding school 1989 and the 2 Japanese kids returning from Japan with their brand new Nintendo Game Boy! How jealous were the rest of us... gosh the stuff we sold and sacrificed just so we could borrow and play Tetris! Those two kids were treated like kings!
.... Lets be honest - the straight line is the best .. we all built up for that!
One of my strongest childhood memories is my mom kicking me off of my Nintendo or if we wasn't home taking my gameboy so she could play Tetris! I Still love that game though.
If anyone is interested in how to create Tetris, I wrote an article for the codeproject with a detailed explanation of how to code it using Visual Basic .NET : http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb/FallingBlocks2008.aspx
GAH!!! VB!!! NOOOO, MY EYES!!!!!
Must... go... look... at... a... real... programming... langauge...
*curls into fetal position*
Here, have a perl script.
*gives script*
Or playing it for so long that your eyes dried out and you couldn't close them without it hurting...
Open Utorrent - Help - About Utorrnet hit the 'T' on your keyboard n celebrate the last 25 years.
haha wow that really worked
i had no idea what it was gonna do
but sweet!
damn... doesn't work in the os x version
so let's all have a flamewar!!
Holy crap! I never knew! LOVE U!
Triple T-Spin for victory! Once you master this, you can crush lesser foes in 10 seconds.
I made some cakes for Tetris's birthday. http://www.flickr.com/photos/74422239@N00/
I share a birthday with Tetris (well the second of June) and I haven't seen a specific date. But those cakes would have been ideal. Also, The New Tetris on N64 was the penultimate version!
Best casual game ever made along with other classics like pac-man. end of story.
Happy birthday!!
I used to have nightmares about imposible block combinations falling down on an evergrowing stack. My obsession over Tetris was followed by an equal obsession over Snood which was followed by Equilibria and then Bejeweled. Its something with these games that makes it imposible to stop and that makes u go "just one more time..." over and over again...
To commemorate the last 25 years on a Mac:
Open Terminal
Type emacs
Press Esc
Press x
Type tetris
Enjoy
P.S. Happy Birthday Tetris!!!
awesome work dude
So it WASN'T pure coincidence that I picked up Tetris DS today for the first time in about 2 years.
"We mean, who didn't have a childhood obsession with playing this very title on a TI-83 calculator while professors figured you were toiling away on classwork?"
thats a confusing sentence. is it just me or does it sound like children are being taught by professors which just seems odd because I thought professors were only in universities....
anyway, +1 for the article. If i had a dime for everytime I played tetris during calculus in high school...
I'll never forget Tetranet on the PC network at highschool. Here's to Tetris in all it's wonderful forms!
I actually starred in a short film with Tetris as the main story line. I was the best player until my title was threatened by another. We played it on the Nintendo DS. I'd post the film but it's on Facebook and you'd have to have an account and all that garbage...
oh what the heck, i'll post it anyway and if it works, it works;
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=615429756834&subj=16312838
Let me know if you can actually view it and if you can, what do you think?
In Soviet Russia you don't play Tetris, Tetris Plays YOU!
Due to a nasty accident with a can of hairspray that destroyed my peripheral vision, I can only play Tetris1D. It's not quite as good, but you get used to it. http://www.tetris1d.org/tetris.php
Tetris was nice but when was the last time anybody played it? Hmm.. 10+ years ago at school maybe?
Nope, a few seconds ago on my phone.
Oh, wait, somebody's playing it now.
Missed this yesterday but in homage to the mighty Tetris, we recorded a dirty rock version of the theme tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcohS74DdOM
Happy Birthday Tetris
My dad used to be so addicted to Tetris and he played while driving. He's still alive though...
I miss the original version in black and white with russian music playing in the background
I played my best game ever while house-sitting for a friend in Escondido, California in 2000. I made it about 8 levels past the point where the levels no longer increase in speed--achieved the the space shuttle launch and all that jazz. Exhausted, I took a nap on the couch only to be awakened by a mid-sized earthquake. That's how I know I beat the game: the earth shook!
Bless it.
25-line mode ftw.
Best game ever. Period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_(Game_Boy)
Best version created by man, IMO.
My Dad's favorite and only game. He played it for his entire lifetime, and even for briefly after his final surgery (he died Oct 08), all off of an original Game Boy bought probably right at release. He started at level 9 and went to lord knows what level.
One of the best games ever made, and always will be. sure we will all still love th orange box in 20 years, but we will have moved on. Tetris will always be Tetris, we will love it then like we love it now.
It came with my 1st Gameboy, even got my Mom playing....
Dr Kochman's Dentist office, early 90's, Tetris on regular Gameboy. Classic.
omgpop.com >> blockles w/ items + friends = crack.
BEST
GAME
EVARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
My favorite Tetris versions are the original Gameboy version and The Grand Master series.
I remember passing the time in calculus playing this game and competing with fellow classmates for a high score...
good times =)
Best tetris version is the original Arcade Version by Atari/Tengen.
You knew it was something special when my 40 year old sisters were sitting on the sofa at christmas, having taken their children's new gameboy and were playing tetris with the link cable on Christmas afternoon.
ahh I remember getting the gameboy (with tetris) for christmas when it first came out. I didn't get to play it till the next day because my dad brought it with him to the bathroom.
I was sad :(
Tetris watch FTW. My favorite distraction as a kid, played just like the original game boy game.
gotta love the game