logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
10m 1s

Tetris

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In 1984 Tetris, one of the most popular computer games ever, was invented in Moscow. Chloe Hadjimatheou speaks to its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, and to Henk Rogers, an American businessman who helped bring Tetris to the world. This programme was first broadcast in 2011.

PHOTO: Tetris being played on a mobile phone (Getty Images)

Up next
Yesterday
The man who said ‘no’ to Disney
In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature film.Cristiani was an Italian immigrant raised in Argentina who built a career creating animated political satires in the early d ... Show More
9m 55s
Jul 10
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Jul 9
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
The Tetris Company: Henk Rogers
Tetris is one of the most popular video games of all time, and Henk Rogers helped make it happen. He first discovered the game at a convention in 1988, and immediately saw how elegant and addictive it was. As a software developer based in Japan, Henk set out to obtain selected pu ... Show More
1h 7m
Jan 2024
Maximum Glitch: How to break Tetris
Willis Gibson, 13, closed out 2023 by becoming the first person to officially beat the original Nintendo version of Tetris. Here’s how he did it.Want to understand the code that caused the ultimate killscreen? Watch this great explainer from HydrantDude.The 2023 film Tetris is ba ... Show More
18m 17s
Dec 2015
Tetris Syndrome: A Mind Made of Blocks
To play a game of "Tetris" is to invite a geometric invasion into your mind. After hours of intense block manipulation, you finally set aside your gaming device. You take a deep breath, close your eyes -- and there the frenzied, multicolored tetrominoes continue to cascade across ... Show More
1h 8m
Nov 2017
64 – Russians invented Tetris
Hello everyone! Here is the text with translation: Мало кто знает о том, что знаменитая игра Тетрис была изобретена русским программистом Алексеем Пажитновым. Она вышла в свет 6 июня 1984 года в Москве. С тех пор Тетрис завоевал популярность во всем мире! Игра доступна практическ ... Show More
12m 37s
May 2020
Business Battles | Tetris: Soviet Blocks | 4
It’s 1988, and Tetris is making waves. It’s billed as the first Soviet video game, and it’s selling fast.But the man who introduced it to the West harbors a secret: he doesn’t own the rights. And when his subterfuge fails, a multi-million-dollar battle to win over the communist r ... Show More
26m 47s
Feb 2012
Deep Blue versus Kasparov
It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning world champion chess player.The Deep Blue computer had been designed by a team at IBM.Hear from two people who were at the match.(Photo: IBM scientist Murray Campbell (R) makes a move for the IBM Deep Blue computer in a game ... Show More
9m 2s
Dec 2013
Grand Theft Auto
A new computer game - designed in Scotland - became a surprise global hit in 1997. But Grand Theft Auto also courted controversy and sparked debate over violence and drugs in video games. Listen to Brian Baglow - one of the original team behind the launch. 
8m 55s