Tetris was invented by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian game designer who completed the first playable version on 6 June 1984, while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow. This page tells the short story: who made it, where the name comes from, and how the idea of fitting shapes together led to the block puzzles on phones today, such as Zertyzzle, our crystal-merge puzzle game and its cousins.
The inventor and the first version
Alexey Pajitnov was a researcher at a computing centre, and he designed and programmed the game himself. The first version ran on a computer called the Electronika 60. That machine had only a text-based display, so the falling pieces were built out of text characters rather than coloured blocks.
Where the name comes from
The name combines two words: the Greek prefix "tetra-", meaning four, because every piece in the game is made of four squares, and "tennis", Pajitnov's favourite sport.
The idea
The idea was simple: pieces made of four squares fall one at a time, and you move and rotate them so that they fill complete rows, which then disappear. It was easy to learn and endless to master. The pressure comes from the falling speed, and the satisfaction from clearing several rows at once.
How it travelled
From a Moscow computing centre, the game spread through copies on personal computers and eventually reached the rest of the world, becoming one of the best-known video games ever made. Over the decades it was released on nearly every platform that could show a game, from handheld consoles to phones.
What block puzzles became
Tetris established a family of games built on fitting shapes into a grid. Some, such as Block Blast, keep the shapes but remove the falling and the rotating: you place the pieces yourself and clear complete rows and columns. Our page on games like Block Blast explains that branch, and our Block Blast tips cover the planning habits.
A different branch is the merge puzzle, where the pieces combine instead of clearing. In Zertyzzle, you slide a row or column, and three identical crystals in a line merge into a stronger one, with 120 levels in 12 nebulae and a Zen mode. Our page on the merge puzzle game explains the genre, and the guide to free puzzle games for mobile compares the families.
Zertyzzle is free and funded by advertising, and no ad interrupts a level. It plays offline, and it is available on Android, on Google Play; the iPhone version is coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented Tetris?
Alexey Pajitnov, who completed the first playable version in 1984 at a computing centre of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Why is it called Tetris?
From the Greek prefix "tetra-", meaning four, because each piece has four squares, and "tennis", his favourite sport.
What did the first version look like?
It ran on an Electronika 60 computer with a text-only display, so the pieces were made of text characters.
Is Block Blast related to Tetris?
It belongs to the same family of grid puzzles built on fitting shapes, but you place the pieces yourself and nothing falls.
Is Zertyzzle available on Android?
Yes, on Google Play, from the Zertyzzle page. The iPhone version is coming soon.