The classic video game Tetris might have been one of the most mind numbing video games ever created but nonetheless, it was always an old favourite.
The creator of Tetris, Russian born Alexey Pajitnov, developed the game back in 1984 when he was 29 years old and since then it has found its way onto just about every single gaming platform there is.
There’s hardly anyone, geek or not, who hasn’t had a go at trying to manipulate Tetris blocks into the right spaces without leaving any gaps. It became quite addictive.
Now not surprisingly, as it lends itself well to mobile phones, it has come out as the best selling mobile phone game across the world. So how did the idea of Tetris come about?
“I was very fascinated with all kinds of puzzles, brain teasers. Mainly, it was just a diversion from the main work” said Pajitnov who was working on research into artificial intelligence and computer speech recognition at the time.
Now, over 25 years later, Tetris is still around and more popular than ever.
Blue Planet Software, the company that manages the licensing rights to Tetris, along with EA Mobile which since 2006 have been the exclusive publisher for Tetris, have just held a press conference to announce that there have been over 100 million paid downloads of Tetris onto mobile phones making it the most successful mobile phone game in the world.
“As mobile devices get into the hands of more people, so does Tetris” said Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Software.
“People are always looking for ways to fill their time – be it in waiting rooms or on the bus” Rogers said.
“It’s a testament to the game’s staying power that it remains popular on today’s most modern technology” he adds. It’s true. Everyone loves Tetris, but why?
“Tetris is so popular because it transcends culture” said Rogers. “There is no violence, no ideology; the player creates order out of chaos.”
According to Adam Sussman, vice president of worldwide publishing at EA Mobile, Tetris is available in 60 different countries on around 64,000 different types of handsets. Now that’s colossal.
Apart from the fact that Tetris can help relieve boredom, there’s also some evidence that Tetris can actually be good for your mental health too.
Only a few weeks ago scientists from Oxford University revealed the results of a research experiment which showed that playing Tetris could help reduce the effects of post traumatic stress.
Good old Tetris eh?
