Unsolved Tetris Mysteries With Creator Alexy Pajitnov & Designer Henk Rogers | Ars Technica

Today Ars Technica welcomes Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and Managing Director of The Tetris Company Henk Rogers to answer some burning questions about the origins of the iconic puzzle game and its deceptive complexity. What programming language was the first-ever version of the game written in? How did they create the iconic Tetris music? What’s the _real_ best strategy? Get answers to these questions and more directly from the minds behind the game.


Tetris is available to stream exclusively on Apple TV+.

Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Brad Wickham
Editor: Shandor Garrison
Talent: Alexy Pajitnov, Henk Rogers

Line Producer: Joe Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Associate Producer: Samantha Vélez
Production Manager: Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila

Camera Operator: Brittany Berger
Audio:Gabe Quiroga
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola

Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

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[ceryneianhinds]

I am so pleased Alexey is getting the recognition he so rightfully deserves

[Strb]

Gotta love Alexey Pajitnov. Such a sympathetic character.

[diasporadica]

I am happy to see their real-life friendship depicted so well in the recent movie.

[WhatAboutZoidberg]

So happy Alexy is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He made one of, if not the greatest game of all time. He basically made chess in the modern era.

[charlottearanea]

0:20 What at the first version of Tetris like?
1:20 What is the origin of the name "Tetris"?
1:50 What programming language was Tetris originally made in?
3:09 How did Tetris make the best song in gaming ever?
4:23 What do the dancer and space shuttle endings mean?
5:17 How does the game decide which piece to give you?
7:37 How many lines of code is used to make Tetris?
8:55 Do the pieces have official names?
9:57 Do the creators of Tetris get the Tetris Effect?
10:18 Is tucking a bug or a feature?
11:14 What is Pajitnov and Rogers' biggest disagreement?
12:48 What is the definitive version of Tetris?
13:59 What is your preferred strategy, cascade, Tetris, or T-spin?
15:18 Do you use the Hold piece?
15:48 What is the story of the creators of Tetris?
16:50 What role did Tetris have in ending the Cold War?

[canofnothing]

It's great to hear these two talk about things like the rotation system, randomization and a bit of the programming involved. Usually in interviews we just hear them talk about the history and legacy of the game. There's a different kind of enthusiasm that seems to come out when they discuss the smaller details.

[Projectz]

The movie on Apple+ was really good. Very cool to see the creators in the flesh and their thoughts about the game, thanks.

[fistsop]

That man right there made the greatest video game of all time.

[HandleToBeDetermined]

Tetris is a timeless masterpiece not only in gaming, but for humanity as a whole. Long live the Tetrimino!

[Tackleqb]

I love how Alexey calls the game his baby. It sure is and he should be proud. The game is addicting as addicting as f!

[maxheedrum]

This is the best example of synchronicity; the look of the blocks they chose for the second version of Tetris fit in with the 'Memphis aesthetic' of the 1980s perfectly. The game could not have come into being at any other time.

[deadfrg]

There’s an important idea in game design that complexity is like a resource or currency (debt the player is asked to take on) that the designer uses to generate or “buy” depth: in general, you need to add complexity to a game to create more depth in it. Within this framework, the elegance of a game’s design is often thought of as the abstract ratio of how much depth you’ve been able to squeeze out of how little complexity.

It is by this measure that Tetris is frequently cited as being perhaps the most elegant video game ever made.

[lonewolfs]

"People attribute intelligence to randomness" - @7:30
That was profound. Such an awesome self coop interview here. As a programmer I very much enjoyed this in all regards.

[ADreamingTraveler]

The ending is really great. At the end of the day we're all humans that love playing and experiencing the same things in life and shouldn't let things like politics dehumanize others.

[themilkmaiden]

This is one of the best game dev Q&As I have ever seen, informative, likeable relatable devs, no bs

[RyanVentura]

All respect to both men! Love to see they still love this game so much.

[pomettini]

Never thought that Henk Rogers was such a programming language nerd <3 What a fun interview!

[mickeymaus]

Very nice and likeable interview - thank you both for that. 😊 I personally never really liked Tetris very much but I absolutely see the impact and importance of Tetris had to the gaming industry at all. And it’s very nice to see that the creator itself now become the credits.

[tamertamertamer]

It’s really nice to see how far programming has come. Now a lot of programmers can easily code a basic version of Tetris really fast with all the tools we have today

[dosnostalgic]

13:18 When Alexey mentions the version "ported to PC", I have a feeling that he didn't mean the Spectrum Holobyte 1988 PC version, which is the one shown, but probably the 1986 Academysoft version he himself co-created with Vadim Gerasimov.