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Happy 32nd Birthday, Tetris!
In 1984, Soviet computer programmer Alexey Pajitnov came up with a deceptively simple puzzle game, one that’s just as popular in the age of smartphones as it was when it came free with every Nintendo Game Boy. Tetris—a game comprised of just seven different pieces made of four squares arranged in different shapes—was released 32 years ago today, although it didn’t make it beyond the Iron Curtain until a few years later. After trickling out of the Soviet Union, it appeared at the 1988 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
These days, you can play Tetris on buildings, bookshelves, and wallets, if a standard desktop or phone isn’t enough. Just last month, a film studio announced plans to turn the game into a live-action movie, creatively named Tetris: The Movie.
In celebration of Tetris’s birthday, please enjoy this musical tribute by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with a song he released with producer Nigel Wright under the pseudonym Doctor Spin in 1992. It managed to chart at number six in the UK that year, a true testament to the power of a good puzzle game.
[h/t Sputnik]