Before Tetris became a global gaming hit, it was at the centre of business battles between Western corporations and Soviet bureauracies. These are the men who fought at the frontline...
Alexey Pajitnov
Invents Tetris in 1985 while working at the Moscow Academy of Science's Computer Centre. Alexey moved to the USA to work for Microsoft after the success of Tetris.
Evgeni Nikolaevich Belikov
Head of Elorg, the Russian ministry for import and export of software and hardware. Belikov is the man with whom all negotiations about Tetris had to be done.
Robert Stein
President of British software house Andromeda. Sells Tetris rights to Robert Maxwell’s Mirrorsoft UK and US affiliate Spectrum Holobyte before he’s negotiated anything concrete with the Russians.
Kevin Maxwell
Son of Robert Maxwell and head of Mirrorsoft UK. Buys all Tetris rights (except arcade and hand-held) from Stein not knowing that Stein has no formal contract with the Russians.
Henk Rogers
American entrepreneur and video games enthusiast. Nintendo employs Rogers to get the hand-held Tetris rights to support the launch of Game Boy.
TETRIS
Director Interview
"They were all being complete sharks"
HARD DRIVE HEAVEN
Monday 9 February
Time Shift looks at the history of the PC
External Links
Tetris.com
Official site includes downloads and strategy tips
