Tetris' creator reveals the three "aha!" moments that changed gaming

Just yesterday we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit down with the creators of the two biggest puzzles in history: Tetris and Rubik's Cube.

Turns out that Alexey Pajitnov is going to be awarded with the very first OXO Legends recognition later today, and we wanted to know what was the "eureka" moment when the Russian programmer realised he had created something groundbreaking and functional for the very first time in the 1980s.

During the video, the creator recollects three specific aspects that made the project move forward. Ultimately, it was the two basic game mechanics, and not just the graphics, what defined the development milestones of the program. As per Alexey himself:

"Aha!" Moment #1: Coming up with the premise and computer graphics

"Tetris was inspired by a game called Pentomino", he explains in the exclusive Gamereactor interview above. "I tried to make a two-player game out of that set of pieces. I coded it myself and I had no graphics on my computer, so just putting some images on the screen was quite a challenge".

"Aha!" Moment #2: Real-time rotation

"Once I had the program shifting the pieces, placing them on the screen, shifting and rotating them, that was a different procedure. When I did the rotational stuff it was amazing to watch; you push the keys and the piece immediately turns! It sounds ridiculous now, but at that time it was an exciting moment. That was my first 'aha'. I saw it and decided that a real-time game would be very good with this".

"Aha!" Moment #3 and main key feature in Tetris: Clearing lines

"When the game started working with all the placement and everything, it would fill up the field in no time, like 20 seconds and the game was over. I was thinking how to extend the game in time... Then I looked at it more attentively and saw that the filled line is kind of dead on the screen; it has no purpose anymore. So if I take it away, I can continue to play the game. That was the main 'aha' for the game. At that moment, the game was done".

Later in the interview, we talk about the competitive side of Tetris, which has spawned a wider community of pro players that is still active 40 years after the original release. Coincidentally, just next week the very best players from 60 countries will face off in Dubai to decide the first-ever Red Bull Tetris global champion.

"Every game has a competitive component, whatever it is", Pajitnov believes. "Every time you have a challenge, it means some kind of competition: against yourself, against the author, or against other people. I immediately saw the obvious potential of my game in the world of games, because besides all its specific traits it's just a regular game, and people play games to compete".

Did you know how Tetris was created? And do you play casually or competitively?