The Story of Tetris
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2024
- In 1984, during the Cold War, a Russian programmer named Alexey Pajitnov created something special: A puzzle game called Tetris. It soon gained a cult following within the Soviet Union. A battle for the rights to publish Tetris erupted when the game crossed the Iron Curtain. Tetris not only took the video game industry by storm, but it also helped break the boundaries between the United States and the Soviet Union.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:49 - Part 1: Pajitnov
10:03 - Part 2: Into the West
17:19 - Part 3: The Red Box
23:50 - Part 4: Enter Nintendo
33:38 - Part 5: Capitalism
44:12 - Part 6: Endgame
55:38 - End Credits
Corrections:
In 1995, AcademySoft and Elorg's license to Tetris expired but Elorg had filed copyright and trademark registrations for Tetris around the world and claimed it controlled the rights to Tetris. Henk Rogers founded Blue Planet Software and partnered with Alexey Pajitnov. In 1996, Blue Planet Software and Elorg (through an affiliate) formed The Tetris Company, LLC to serve as the exclusive licensor of Tetris so that the Tetris brand could continue to be commercialized. Over 425 million copies of Tetris have been sold on the mobile platform alone.
Henk and Alexey founded Tetris Holding and in 2005 acquired Elorg and all of its assets for $15 million.
End Credits Music by Andrew Lippens - store.cdbaby.com/cd/andrewlip...
Telex machine footage - • 80's TELEX machine
Original Tetris footage provided by Sergei Frolov - • Original Tetris game
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#Tetris #Nintendo #GamingHistorian 
Игры
"Why is Tetris fun?" - Yamauchi
"Because your secretaries and accountants are playing it." - Miyamoto
Best response ever.
Umm... no.
In other words: "People who would otherwise never touch a game are enjoying it. What do YOU think?"
Streaming from the Suburbs yeah Miyamoto is a cool guy
the 117 doctor miyamoto is still alive
the 117 doctor hes alive
This is like something PBS would air on television. It's that good.
The BBC document: Tetris - From Russia with Love (available on YT) is much better than this and available since 2004
Seriously
Well it should be... when it says in its post credits "Funding for Gaming Historian is provided in part by supporters on Patreon." "Thank You." Which almost sounds similar to what PBS, WGBH, and VOA announces in their programs that aired on TV at end of each one... "Major funding of this program was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)." A private corporation funded by the American people. "And the annual financial support from Viewers Like You."
I totally agree with this statement!
Slavomir G The BBC is an actual broadcasting company. For a RUclips channel, this surely an impressive job
As soon as I saw the new Tetris movie trailer, I had to back to make sure I remember everything.
Take 30 minutes from an hour documentary and make it a movie. I love it!
Eyyy I click back to this video because I know someone will comment this out
I came From the Tetris trailer too. Had to see if the story was just as crazy as it seemed
same reason for visiting this vid. so far this documentary makes the situation a LOT more tame than what the trailer presented.
@@brettdibble2763 Given that Pajitnov grew up on James Bond movies imported by his mother, I think the tension and espionage theming is exactly what he wants. It'll probably be the greatest love letter to his hard work and life story ever made.
Yes indeed xD. Also, that Belikov guy is an unsong hero. MVP of the negotiation behind Tetris, along with Rogers.
I had the pleasure of meeting Alexei Pajitnov in 2019 at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. He beamed with pride at the joy he brought so many people, including myself.
1 year later, Tetris battle Royale
I knew I wasn’t the only one that came back
And it’s still just as addictive 😂😉
COINCIDENCE? *I DON'T THINK SO*
Tetris will never die. People will always find new ways to enjoy it
It's addictive as heck, this game is never dying
I'd just like to tip my hat off to Henk Rogers for not only being one of the more stand up guys involved in this entire story, but more so for making sure his friend and Tetris creator Alexei got his due.
I mean nintendo also seemed interested in paying Pajitnov. It was elorg who declined.
What a guy, went to Soviet Russia without knowing the language, or knowing where to go. Wholesome af when he made friends with Alexei. The story where he played go with locals made me laugh
@@sacripudding4586 yah, did you notice the guy who ran "elorg" walked away with a cool 15 million when it was all said and done? Workers Paradise eh? Lol
Its always the government hacks that walk away with all the wealth (regardless the system). Socialism and they are the ones with the power and luxury. Socialism dies and capitalism takes its place? And boom, all the government guys feed like roaches on everything of value in the system (like tetris in this case) and leave the creators and workers to starve. Notice how the guy walks away with 15m and didn't bother to find the creator and give him at least a little? Nope, it was "inappropriate" to discuss paying the creator but when its his turn to fill his pockets? Its all good.
Yeah, it was a great coincidence that they were both kind to each other, someone wouldn't have cared to show a foreigner around a new country nor a guy on business about helping the guy who created a game out, this is just wholesome
@@TheEtherny my life hasn't been a bed of roses but I feel like most of the time its just easier to be nice to people. That doesn't mean you have to give up that promotion to the other employee or donate that winning lotto ticket, but maybe you could take his family out to dinner, or set up a scholarship for the employees at the store where you got your mega lotto winner.
If we were all nice to each other the world would just about become an alien place overnight.
It's crazy just how involved in video game history Miyamoto is. Dude is a Legend.
The Stan Lee of gaming!
Basically everything great in video gaming history post-atari was touched by either Miyamoto, Iwata, or both of them.
Miyamoto is like Werthers caramel candies: he's been around since before anyone can remember, and no matter where you go, you see him.
I swear, I see a Miyamoto every time I look under my dang couch cushions.
He basically raised this generation. He's our virtual father.
It feels like there's a non-zero chance that this documentary is directly responsible for the Tetris movie.
this is a rip of many videos before it
I hope so.
@@iainreid6292source?
@@iainreid6292 really? Can you say which ones you think this video ripped off?
@willpulford8893 He did not answer because the only rip is the air from his behind.
Blown away with how this turned out. Norm - you out did yourself. So proud of you!
The Completionist ,I've noticed you there jirard buddy
Nice voice over work
Look is the guy who couldn't complete Metroid Prime 3 v:
I'm kidding, I'm huge fan of your show.
Please don't kill me :"v
Jared Ahumada too soon...lol
This was fantastic
Suprised to see you commenting on something like this rob.
Rob Scallon yeah surprisingly interesting, btw tell dave to learn to cool rather then eating microwave meals.
Seeing a channel I'm subbed to commenting on a video from another channel I'm subbed to (especially with such disparity between their content) is sweet. Makes RUclips seem a little bit more like a community instead of just a giant video search engine or something.
holy fRIck it's Rob Scallon.
Rob liked videogames? Hell yeah.
It's like a movie where you'd think Belikov is the main villain of the story, but Rogers reveals it was Stein and Maxwell all along. Then Belikov outs them by pulling some 4D chess moves XD
It's funny cuz Tetris now has a movie.
@@AnthonyZ. it was great, I just watched it. Excellent film. I watched this documentary when it came out and after watching an entire movie about intellect theft I kind of feel like they stole the movie idea from the Gaming Historian. Irony. Lol.
Rogers: So, that's the reason why you're being screwed over. Anything else I need to explain?
Belikov: Oh no, you've explained enough, now let me show you how we Russians negotiate...
@mikedrop4421 well... I mean. If this is how history turned out, not really plagiarism when your just explaining the events of a real story.
Tbh. The movie did not explain the skill of Belikov too well.
@@mikedrop4421This story was well documented back in 1989 by the gaming press. It's not some new discovery.
I just showed this documentary to my mom (only 2 years younger that Pajitnov), whose major was actually in Soviet Studies. And was very impressed at how accurate the depiction of the tensions and governing decisions were at the time. Not to mention she's an avid Tetris player herself, and didn't realize just what all it took to get it distributed. She loved this!
Im sure she also loved the new Tetris movie
@@KaruYTPrem1 I wouldn't be so sure
This is beyond excellent, Norm.
Fantastic work untangling the whole ordeal!
Hey Clit! How's it goin'?
Reconized your voice and the completionists in it. It's crazy each episode of his could be a DVD itself
Clint your props give this vid credence.
And his voice work in said video gives it a sophisticated layer of suave savvy... Or something.. I was just trying to sound cool.
Hey Clint, did Norman give you royalties for using your voice?
59 minutes of Tetris history
I was born for this moment!
ConnerTheWaffle When are you going to do I hate marsbars?
ConnerTheWaffle Here's an idea. Tetris rip-offs
Dudley Hudgenson He already did it but he took it down here’s a reupload ruclips.net/video/YOolAJEztIU/видео.html
Litten14 Who is it?
It must be our birthday!
I hope the upcoming Tetris movie brings more people to this video, resulting in the views it deserves. This is a masterpiece.
A comment in the trailer of the movie led me here, and now subbed and excited to see all the other docs!
That’s why I’m here
The notion of the existence of the trailer itself brought me here. I wanted to have the story told with as much objectivity as possible, before watching it probably somewhat exaggerated in a commercial movie. And I must say this documentary is an awesome piece of work.
@Trinity Lively he makes excellent content absolutely super informative and always interesting
I hope this documentary gets recognized in the credits of the Tetris movie
Has anyone else ever noticed that Miyamoto-san is always smiling in every picture? It's like there is pure joy flowing in his blood.
bcuz there is
That man IS living the dream, he is also a LEGEND in the gaming industry I'd be smiling ear to ear too!
The History of Tetris could so be a movie. We need Henk Rogers to negotiate the film rights.
Its in the works with Taron Egerton to star
@@zwooop64 as Henk Rogers, mind you.
yup
Kind of like “the founder” but with Tetris. I would so watch that.
Russia might take too long to sign the rights off
This had to be the most complex fight for licensing rights in history.
ikr?!?! I could barely keep up XDD
Is it
I still don't get it why did they even need a license, did Soviet Union even recognize intellectual property?
@@NickShvelidze Well it's clear they did...
In videogames, that might indeed be the case. In other medias... *laughs in LOTR*
30:42
THAT LINE was said WORD by WORD in the movie! Such a POIGNANT AND STRONG LINE! I salute Mr Rogers himself and the actor who portrayed him for the movie, Mr Egerton, for that line alone to be honest!
Yes I watched the movie tonight, really good, had a little of drama that wasn't in the original story, but it's a film so I understand it, Taron is a good actor, liked him in Kingsman and Rocketman
@@cloud99vii27 I like to think all the people involved in this story laughing at the film for dramatizing a bunch of things.
no, inthe movie it was something like “if you wanna sell thousands of gameboys to little boys, package it with mario, but if you wanna sell millions of game boys to everyone, package it with tetris”
The Maxwells are more antagonistic in the movie - like ‘having proxies that enjoy beating the poop out of Henk Rogers and stealing his jeans’ kind of antagonistic.
Well deserved potrayal of the Maxwells, although
the movie lacked Vadim Gerasimov.
@@maximillianmarcosebastian880 I agree 100% on Vadim! He was CRUCIAL in Tetris's development!
Here from the newly announced Tetris movie. I had no idea there was a story behind this iconic game. I am eager to learn, 5 years later
Same, and now I'm excited to check out the other videos on this channel!
Same here
This is what the history channel should air, not aliens and storage wars...
The "what channel"?
Poopsticle_256 history doesn't air storage wars
The history channel is always been full of b******* way beyond the aliens
NITRO SHERBERT Even though some pieces of memorabilia have history behind them I'm also kinda sick of the thousand re-runs of pawn stars,basically it's "Fat man gets richer" show.
Agree
'when kevin maxwell told his father the news about tetris he reportedly "went apeshit"'. ...absolutely magical storytelling of the highest order
its a higher form than batshit
That was a Top 5 moment from this documentary. Having used that very term in our house growing up, and how much it always made my sister and I laugh, I had to rank it fairly high.
These are the same Maxwell's involved with Mossad and sex trafficking, al a Robert and Ghislaine Maxwell.
"This is the best piece of content Gaming Historian has ever produced."
I've had to say this like 4 or 5 times now, what the hell. You keep shattering the new ceilings of quality you yourself create. Wonderful channel.
I have lost count of how many times I've watched this because it's so good, I just keep coming back to relive the story.
The trailer for the Tetris movie showed what looked to be a car chase, and I was like, I don't recall that the Gaming Historians video. Also, the trailer seems to portray Rogers as being in considerable danger when in Moscow, but when watching this, it seems he had it rather easy, aside from that one confrontation with Belikov. Unlike most historical event movies, I'll be going into this one actually knowing the real story first, thanks to this video.
Yeah, there's a lot of sequences in the movie where the main characters are being menaced by the KGB but that doesn't sound very accurate. They did stick fairly closely to the broad strokes of the rest of the story, though.
Happened to me!! But I still enjoyed the move tough.
@@Spo8 Red scare propaganda, plain and simple
They gotta put in some hollywood in there, and for what its worth, Henk Roger's applauded it as 100% emotionally accurate.
@@orangeman3220 I'm sure the money he got from the movie helped with his emotions
The nicest thing of this whole true story is that the good guys actually win at the end. And Rodger's biggest weapon was virtue and respect.
Yeah sure, money had nothing to do with it.
i didnt know that this was a real story
@@fabian5002 No, it didnt, because it was Nintendo´s money. And if you paid ANY attention to what was said here, it said that Rogers sugegsted Nicolai with providing also creator royalties to Pajitnov, and the ass Nicloai rejected it.
So no, it was not about money.
This lesson is free, next one is not. ^_-
Well the Soviet Union would've died anyway and Patijov would get it back
@@fabian5002 It was partially about money, but more about trust.
He already got screwed over and he didn't want to get screwed over again, so it seemed he banked on the most trust worthy of the 3.
Which, in the end was the best decision.
I felt sorry for Pajitnov, I'm glad he got the money in the end. He was good and wholesome throughout the process :)
That Henk Rogers sure is a good fella.
Communism sucks, and still today lots of morons want this crap.
@@gabrielgoncalves2763 communism had nothing to do
@@gabrielgoncalves2763 uneducated savage
@@gabrielgoncalves2763 lol if you think an employee not getting the rights to something they made on company time using company resources is unique to communism then you must not be very well educated. That's how it works in every system. Also, the Soviet Union was socialist, a communist nation has never existed.
When Nikolai Belikov met Henk Rogers and found out what was really going on, he was all like, "Ok, I'll show you how we really play 'Russian Roulette.'" lol.
That was a really interesting story. I've not known the details of the game in that depth before. Mostly I just knew it was a debacle to get Tetris out of the U.S.S.R. at the time. Really, I love the way Belikov handled the situation, especially with his assessment and maneuvering of the three men who had come for the hand-held rights. He was the right guy in the right place for the right reason. Also, Gorbachev telling Maxwell (Sr.) to basically "Get over it! My country is in crisis and you're whining to me about some b.s. video game licensing issue." 😆
I strongly suspect it was this video that inspired Jon S. Baird, Noah Pink, Matthew Vaughn, Gillian Berrie, Claudia Schiffer, Len Blavatnik, and Gregor Cameron to make their Tetris movie.
Watched every minute of it. The time and effort that went into this is amazing. 10/10 would watch again.
watched it again, now i must show it to others.
Eyyyy! It's Austin John!
I only realized now that this was 1 hour !!!!!!!!!!
My third time already. Better than a movie. Granted, I'm an Indie dev so Norm's videos are often rather inspiring.
The Gospel:
JESUS died for our sins on the cross, HE shed HIS holy, innocent , precious blood for us (HIS blood washes away ALL sins) HE was buried but on the third day GOD raised HIM from the dead. All you have to do to be saved is: Believe in JESUS, trust in HIS blood. JESUS did everything for you, no works are required for salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9) . (Don’t forget to repent of sin. )
Really respect Hank Rogers in this. An unfortunately rare example of a smart businessman who's also a genuinely good human being. We could use more people like him in this world.
Yeah. I'd drink vodka with him.
@@MegaManNetworkOfCourse hell yeah
Agreed.
In ironic way, Hank Rogers is the true communist as written by Karl Marx in his books. Fair and good of the community.
And again, showing the irony of economic method being twisted of become a political cult.
I was a competitive Tetris player. I found this documentary during the Covid shutdown and I've enjoyed watching it ever since. I wonder if the new AppleTV movie will give credit to Gaming Historian for inspiring the movie. This entire documentary reads like a rough draft of a screenplay. Well done man...Well done.
Norman said that he got many screenwriters reached him for working on a Tetris story movie, but they all come back and said that the rights to the story is already sold. So, Norman didn't get the chance to be credited since the AppleTV movie is probably already planned before Gaming Historian Tetris doc.
@@FLXEP Good on him to get that cheddar for all of the blood sweat and tears for making this doc.
I never imagined the story of Tetris could be so riveting lol. Bravo! literally fist bumped when Pajitnov finally got what he was owed.
Thank you all for your patience with this video. I hope you enjoy The Story of Tetris!
If you learned something new, please consider sharing the video. Have a great weekend!
FINALLY!
THANK YOU!!!
I'll enjoy this tonight. Thanks, Norm.
Thank you
Gaming Historian my mum long time ago listened on Radio 24 a documentary of Tetris! But she can’t finished because she was in a car and she was arrived before the ending!
Gaming Historian awesome work my friend.
Number one best selling game in the world: Tetris
Second best selling game in the world: Minecraft
People love block games.
And neather of them are from USA
There's something to be said for simplicity in an over detailed world.
Both were made for fun, (initially) by only one person, and are still popular to this day.
Both are inmortal.
Fortnite: hold my beer
Henk Rogers is a man of honor and integrity.
Henk Rogers is an absolute boss and having Taron Egerton play him is just perfect hahah
Im happy that Alexey was finally able to benefit from his creation. Though not as much as he could have, but considering the situation it was probably the best case scenario.
But man this would make an interesting movie.
I was thinking that, I want to make this movie. It's a really interesting story of ideological systems headbutting, but also many individual players headbutting over the creation of something ultimately created by one man. And that man is within the system that doesn't allow him any ownership of his own product. There is a fantastic array of characters, interesting pacing to the story, arcs, people who turn out to be rather awesome, others who turn out rather slimey... hell there's even a Maxwell trying to pull strings with the Soviet government at one point. In the middle of all this is an iconic game and at the happy end of it all, there is a beautiful friendship. And Somehow Shigeru Miyamoto even shows up man this story is so fucking golden.
The themes of the story are powerful and the potential to explore them is amazing. Even from the small beginnings it is quite an interesting story. Its great how the story just grows and grows, getting more complex and more of a mess in the second arc, then at the beginning of the third arc you got these three separate guys to go to Moscow in the same damn month! The story itself comments on marketing tactics (the exotic/mysterious Russian vibe which also plays into what things were like at the time with the Iron Curtain). The business practises of competing companies like Atari and Nintendo who took this under the wing of an already existing squabble... man I could go on as Im really just writing in a bit of a flow of consciousness. I had other things that were popping into my mind to say but they popped out too! Feeling inspired... I just really want to make this movie!
You can't write this stuff... but you sure can dramatise it :)
And to all this I must give Kudos to the makers of this video. One of the best things I've watched in a while, I really didn't expect to watch this whole thing, let alone be transfixed by it and want to recommend it to everyone.
im preety sure that anyone who using his game must pay alexey for borrowing his invention, Nintendo, sega and many others publishers devs..
@@cragnog You're absolutely right, this story is ripe for a movie adaption. It'll happen, I'm sure.
@@OLink9 There is a Tetris movie in the work. not abot this story though. It's a (planned) sci-fi Trilogy.
me: oh ok, a history on tetris , this should be a little trivia video
Gaming Historian: The Cold War...
Me: Oh my
Because they need to fight USSR even then it doesn't exist anymore and spread more lies about how it was bad to live in it.
@@hwn2831 I know right, they downplayed everything, such as the gulags, human experimentation, cannibalism during the famines in China...
Communist is great isn't it?
lol
@@diatomsaus communist comes from the word community. it's an idea that would work if people worked together.
@@diatomsaus yeah, because capitalism hasn't produced any atrocities...
I watched the Tetris movie and as soon as the credits rolled I was looking all over for the real history that the drama of the movie hinted at. It was a great movie! Turns out the genesis of Tetris is an incredible, unbelievable story. Thanks for the rundown of what happened (without the frills of moviemaking)! 😁
now there's a Tetris show on apple
Watching this again in the wake of the trailer for the Taron Egerton movie being dropped. This is probably my favourite of your docos, Norm - so much of Tetris' history has genuinely cinematic moments.
Damn Rogers seriously killed it. So much of this seemed like he was flying by the seat of his pants but it all worked out for him. He knocked it out of the park, and then went off and helped Pajitnov too. What a guy.
Henk understood one key thing -- in order to make a deal, you have to be both trusted and trustworthy. He knew how to charm people and make a sales pitch but unlike Stein, he also knew how important it was to hold up your end of the bargain and make sure both sides win out of the deal. Deals where you "win" and the other guy is disadvantaged are deals that will be broken at the first opportunity, as Stein found out the hard way. In the best deals, everyone wins, and that's Henk Rogers' genius..
and that's how the greatest battle royale was created
it is the best br. im already addicted
@minenice55The fight for the rights was a battle royale, and now the game is a battle royale.
minenice game*
um it imspired many other puzzle games...
After watching the Apple TV trailer, I just had to come back to this video to watch it again. Thanks Norm as always, for making this.
It's so crazy to think that if it wasn't for all of these exact events we would have never probably had Tetris in our game boy
That 'Where Are They Now' segment at the end went to some dark fucking places.
I was not expecting that. Also Karma. :)
The psychologist studying the effects of Tetris and addiction ended up snapping and killing his wife, kid and himself. Kinda ironic.
+ Xilverknight155
Xilverknight155
Exactly, that bit struck me too kind of hard. but raised some questions too; I've played my load, and recently started again on my old nes with my son who recently turned four....
what the bleep will happen to us now?!?!
herby rietveld prolly be fine if you don't get too addicted
Xilverknight155 I fully expect the KGB killed him and his family. As for the one who had a heart attack drowning, no idea who on that one.
So I'm pretty sure the makers of the tetris movie used this as their guide to the story.
been a while... since I've watched this, but honestly this was the best recounting of the events. The movie twists it a bit, adds a little bit of urgency and drama, but I had to come back and rewatch this awesome story from the perfect perspective. Ty Norman :)
Videos like this is why you will always be respected in the community 🎮💪
Brilliant
Can we all take a moment to reflect how freaking awesome Henk Rogers is? He goes in not having any connections with anyone in russia, becomes best friends with the tetris creator and helps explain the video game industry to the Russians, and later in life starts a company with the creator of Tetris and helps the guy get rights to his own game. Capitalism can be cutthroat, but it's good to see a success story like that where businessmen decide to act morally and use the system to get recognition where it belongs. And the smarmy gits got screwed
Capitalism can indeed be cut throat. But Communism wouldn't even let the man stand over his own invention. That's a crime against humanity to me. End of the day I'm glad it was a happy ending. Even though the creator got lucky.
That's my favorite thing about this whole story.
Communists and socialists only broadcast the failures, they forget about the successes.
Right? I got a little choked up at the end. He looked out for the goose, not just the egg. It took a good person to do that, even though he didn't have to.
in soviet russia capitalism is new upstart business man.
experement will fail. communist laugh last then eat turnip.
Huh...from how Apple advertised the new movie about the legal battle for Tetris, I'm going to guess they might have exaggerated on some aspects of it.
My first job out of college was at Spectrum HoloByte, from 92-97. Had the honor of working for Gilman Louie and Alexey Pajitnov who we brought on board as a consultant on Tetris spinoffs Super Tetris and Wordtris. Fun times!
I cried at the end. Alekséi Pázhitnov deserved a happy ending, and he indeed get it.
Prince Lorian Jesus Christ can people not have emotions? Or are you going to make it into one of those “never mind I just cried” memes
EDIT: Ok, he deleted his comment lol. if i remember correctly, he was saying something about how if you cried you were a "snowflake" in case anyone was wondering.
i cried too!! you're not alone
@@absursi0n122 I grew up slaughtering my own cows and chickens, and I teared up a little at the end of this.
the whole video was awesome and the ending with the tetris song was spectacular!
Copyright laws are so messed up. They actively have harmed more content creators than they have helped them.
In Soviet Russia, Tetris made video about Gaming Historian
lol
I had no idea the story behind Tetris was this intense. Thanks for this video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's better than the 2023 movie, but still they managed to get details wrong. Oh these Americans. When you guys make something it's always tainted by lies and excluding all the facts...
@@jmp01a24 Usually people who promote the lies don't like being American.
@@jmp01a24like we're the only ones. It's human nature
I got emotional when it finally worked out for Pajitnov! What a tale!
Anybody else shed a tear when the creator finally got his payday and now owns 100% rights ? What a wild story
Someone is mad
@Voya Who the hell reads comments before finishing the material themselves? I wouldn't read a Rotten Tomato review on the end of Manifest if I was about to start season 1, but maybe that's just me.
@Voya The last page in a book is at the end of the book you're holding, Google News shoves any "topic" in your face, whether you just started it or not (my biggest source of spoilers), etc. I get what you're saying, but the world has been this way awhile, and it's not about to change - it's up to use to evolve and avoid these things, not request the world to change for us.
@Voya I wasn't trying to attack you, despite it being an obvious quip that I didn't hold back at all. My point stands, comments go below the video, we all know this - why are you reading any? On mobile they're literally hidden, on desktop they're below, especially out of sight if you full screen.
Without trying to be an asshole, honest question - what were you looking for when you read the comments before watching the content? I can't get through my Google News without spoilers even if I "thumbs down" things I'm actively watching but Googled who an actor was, etc, I can't imagine reading RUclips comments and thinking I'd walk away unscathed.
@Voya Nah, you're good. I'd rather we drop it than name call and get pissed off for literally, and I mean literally, no reason. Like most stupid comments on the internet, I wrote it for -mild- (if that) humor, not to be a jackass, but it certainly doesn't translate well. Life is hard, attention span IS hard to work with (seemingly more so during a pandemic), etc etc - you know the story. I appreciate our civil ending of conversation, definitely the better outcome.
Best of luck not spoiling in the future, maybe billions in big tech money can make it impossible without conscious consent some day.
Tetris teaches you a valuable life lesson: success vanishes but mistakes accumulate.
It also provides sexual education
Underrated comment
Tf why it is so true 😂
The Gospel:
JESUS died for our sins on the cross, HE shed HIS holy, innocent , precious blood for us (HIS blood washes away ALL sins) HE was buried but on the third day GOD raised HIM from the dead. All you have to do to be saved is: Believe in JESUS, trust in HIS blood. JESUS did everything for you, no works are required for salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9) . (Don’t forget to repent of sin. )!.
@@believeonjesus7215 this is the gaming historian. why would you even post that here? i'm not mad or anything, but aren't there like satan worshiping channels and such you can go post this stuff on? it kinda sounds like yur puting the square peg in the round hole.
So, here is a real life story. I was about...8 or something in 1995, Belarus (former USSR). My parents went somewhere and left me for a week at my grandparents house. My uncle, his wife and their little daughter were living with them as well. I had a Nintendo Famicom knock off and many games with me. I asked my uncle if I can use their TV to play on it. So, one evening my uncle saw me playing it and asked to show him some games. I showed him, tanks, Mario...and Tetris which to this day I hate 🤣. I went to sleep in the next room and then woke up at around 4am to go pee. To my surprise uncle is playing Tetris right on the edge of his bed while his wife and daughter are asleep. He played it every evening until I stayed there. So, I guess Tetris is addictive to some people...
Thanks for sharing your memories. I knew about Tetris by reading Nintendo Power back then. Puzzle games weren't my favorites, so I passed on the Tetris phenomenon. I bought it years later when it was bundled with Dr. Mario and both were enhanced for the SNES.🎮📺
Thanks for sharing your story. Brought back my childhood memories too. India, around 1996, while me and my brother would play Mario bros at any free time we got, my dad would stay awake later in the night and play tetris.
What a shitty story. Not everything needs to be shared on social media.
Rewatched this today after the Tetris movie announcement. Such an amazingly made documentary on the subject, and excited to see this story play out in movie form
I’m so glad Pajitnov finally got paid for Tetris. I want to write the guy a letter or something.
I know! I was going to say the same thing.
He deserved money because it was HIS game.
That is the problem, people should not get money for that because money is not good moral motivator. You should do products to make people happier and not to make money.
@jozo Nothing in life is free, you'll learn this later on
Leon Reaper oh really? You don't say. When is something normal and real it does not matter it is right. But you will learn this in your life when you will be older.
And Pokhilko finally ended his pain by slashing his wife and child and blowing his brains out. Yay, Gold Star!
Love how the legendary Miyamoto was introduced just as "one of Nintendo's designers"
So many Japanese people possess a trait that once existed in the West, and was considered a prime virtue: Humility.
LMAO yeah got me completely by surprise. Made me think I'm watching a crossover episode
@@Trollificusv2 Did you know that Japan is the least generous people on earth? And do so n purpose? Westerners do this thing with Japan called: idolizing
let's just take a moment to acknowledge that its thanks to Miyamoto and Nintendo that the entire video game industry was saved in the 80's and is now the behemoth it is today.
I guess they were just tryna keep you in the moment. Miyamoto wasn't this world famous superstar yet. Nobody cared who made Mario back then.
Here after watching the Tetris movie. I'm impressed with how much they got right. Either way, amazing work.
After 34 years since its release on the NES. It has been beaten.
Great to see this finally hit the RUclipss. Great job, Norman. :)
He always does great work!
Avgn is better
Has norm ever done anything with avgn?
Both AVGN and Pat are better
yo chill out lmao
Shigeru was like the Marvel cameo of this story
Samuel Voltz wtf no he isnt
Samuel Voltz no he isn’t
It's all connected.
I saw this after watching the Tetris movie. This documentary is even better!
Well developed and researched 🙌🏽
57:12 He purchased a majority ownership of the Seattle Mariners. He never attended a single game.
😂😂😂
Funny story, my father took my Game Boy and Tetris to Zambia when he met president Frederick Chiluba. He showed the game to the presidents body guards and let them borrow the Game Boy. In the morning the guards came to my dad and said the Game Boy was broken when actually they had worn the batteries out playing Tetris all night. Now thats international diplomacy lol.
@Jean Philippe "The original Game Boyboasted anywhere from 10 to 30 hours of battery life on four AA batteries, according to different sources (the more generous estimates came from Nintendo itself at launch)."
r/thathappened
Yeah, the Zambians didn’t see a lot of video game consoles or hand heads in the 90s so it was a treat for the guards.
And then everyone clapped
Greatings from Zambia
I just realized that some of the best inventions in entertainment might never have left an office building, basement, group of friends or living room just because the timing wasn't right or the right person didn't notice it. The best novel, piece of music, videogame or movie idea of all time might be collecting dust somewhere right now or is even already lost forever.
Facts.
Gets you thinking.
I've seen many fall through the cracks. I am sure it happens all the time.
that's why capitalism sucks
@@methaChiba but socialism is the better answer right? The sales pitch that exterminated over 100 million people and counting and turned some of the nicest countries into 3rd world cesspools.
Came back to this after hearing of the Tetris movie. This documentary is one of my favorites you made.
I just rewatched this and it’s even better the second time. Norm, you are a brilliant film maker and the world can’t thank you enough
"Tetris taught me that when you try to fit in, you disappear."
-RUclips commenter 2019
yo, thats deep /s
who made this comment I must know
Broz Gilson Me
DeEp
More accurately on RUclips, if you try to fit in, a flame war begins.
"I'll just have to deal with the Russians myself"
Okay Henk Rogers is kind of a badass.
The type of badass that goes looking for a fight yet nobody has to die for him to win.
Yep
Went to the capital of the communist superpower, without knowing anything about it nor bringing anyone with him. Total badass.
Perhaps it's true that fortune favors the bold.
Paul Aldo not even knowing the language. I don’t know whether that’s badass or insane.
I guess the difference between badass and insane is nothing more than the difference between success and failure.
And not only did he manage to succeed in his goal, but also got a probably lifelong friendship out of this.
Just had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Pajitnov recently and he is one of the most genuine, charming and likable people I've ever met.
Watched the movie a few days ago.... this was far more in-depth. Bravo. 👏
This is better than 90 percent of the content on Netflix.
That's a very low bar.
Awesome video though.
Thats because its content focuses on telling the truth and not pushing an agenda or exaggerating it just the development of the highest selling game of all time.
*99999999999
But the Amy Schumer special.....
@@EmeraldEyesEsoteric reported to the police.
I love how our first reaction to tetris was "This is good, really good.... Really really good.....too good, COULD THIS BE A Soviet PLOT!!!???
Anarchy Empire I would like to see a documentary type movie based on this.
@@robbiewalker2831 i mean you just did lol
Alejandro Rivas let me rephrase that: I would like it if this was the idea of a movie made for theaters; like that it tells a story about Tetris like it was some sort of “government conspiracy”, and just use cool graphics as montages; rather than straight up turning the game into an unfaithful movie about science fiction.
@@robbiewalker2831 so you want to give it the looking for Hitler treatment then?
yeah
came back to rewatch this after the trailer is drop. looking forward to this film w/ action elements
4m views only a 1m subs. Amazing yet disgraceful. This guy's channel is amazing
So the fight for Tetris went all the way to Gorbachev. Damn that's historically insane. Incredibly well made documentary!
It's all because some guy thought tetrominoes needed to be spiced up.
And today, the full rights are owned by Pajitnov's "Tetris Company", coming full circle... A very relieving ending!
I don't know about the ending being so relieving... For Pajitnov, surely, but for us, the general public? I mean, the transfer of the game's rights to the Tetris company _has_, ultimately, involved Nintendo having to _cease and desist_ selling Tetris themselves, meaning that we will likely never again see an official new iteration of the game... Unless you own a version that has already been released, you will most likely never be able to play the true Tetris ever again. Not now that EA has gone and made a mess out of it, anyways...
Yes lol
slashtiger1, never see a new edition? So the Tetris Company paid $15-30 million to the rights just so they can what, not sell it again?
@@slashtiger1 Calling Nintendo's version the "true Tetris" is laughably absurd hyperbole considering this is a video on the history of the game.
@@davezanko9051 Did I say Nintendo's version was the _only_ true version? No, I did not. But certainly, at least as far as the Game Boy version was concerned, it stayed true to the original gameplay. With one exception, being that it supported 'soft drop' instead of 'hard drop' which was how the very first releases of Tetris worked.
Also, my original comment was made three years ago and since then, the situation has, fortunately, changed for the better. There is now once again a very respectable version for the mobile space, and I do believe that Tetris Effect also respects all of the original gameplay mechanics.
I've watched this video when it just came out 5 years ago and it made such an impression that I have kept thinking back at it ever since. They're making a movie of it now and I'm 99% sure it's because if this video.
Came here after watching the trailer for the Tetris movie, if I hadn't watched this documentary years ago I would have zero excitement. BUT since I did I know how exciting this movie might end up being and I can't wait to see it!
The trailer in of itself look VERY exciting and awesome for EVERYONe to get excitement from what it has to tell in it's story.
56:04
56:27
Holy shit!! That turned dark pretty quickly!
Right?
Came to learn about Tetris. Ended up learning about politics.
I haven't seen the Tetris movie but honestly have no desire to, I honestly feel I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much as this video which with this last viewing makes somewhere in the 20s in terms of views. It's just gripping stuff honestly, the information is presented in an easy to follow manner, the illustrations help paint the situations, and the music just adds to it. Henk Rogers is goated for everything he pulled off, like imagine flying to Moscow in the late 80s with full confidence in what he wanted to do.
Don't know why the ending makes me feel sad, as a 35 year old, the Tetris music is just synonymous with my childhood so it brings back memories of better times but also because the fate of some of these people really went in unexpected as well as tragic ways.
Bravo sir, this was masterfully done.
22:10 Im doing work mainly having this as background sounds and then hearing Jirard "The Completionist" threw me for a loop and I got happy
A game about falling blocks becomes something akin to another cold war. Who would have ever thought something so simple could be so complex? Licensing battles, secret meetings, international espionage... All because we wanted to clear lines of blocks. Good god, what a ride.
Atlink alotta ppl knew they stood a chance of becoming filthy rich off that game. which leads to all kinds of cutthroat shenanigans.
And now there is a feature film based on this story.
Came here after seeing the Tetris trailer. Outstanding video!!! I love the happy ending. Made me feel good. I don't see the violence portrayed in the trailer, I'm assuming Hollywood exaggeration. But I also heard the movie is good. Great work!
Weird how there's now a movie based on this story coming soon as of this comment. Not 'this' story specifically, but the story of Tetris becoming cinema is definitely unexpected.
56:06 Hold on, the guy studying the psychological effects murdered his own family?? Didn’t see that coming. We need a full story on THAT TOO!
Same here
Well me thinks the murder part was to cover the fact that the suicide part was assisted, but that's me...
Hey this is the kind of shit that happens when you play too much tetris
Maxwell triple agent, murdered, family of spies - Ghislaine continued in the family business with her honey pot scheme to compromise high ranking officials .. small world ;)
@@miserychannel666 In-Q-Tel was also involved in 911. 56:50
Seeing Alexey Pajitnov at the end with his warm smile makes me so happy everything turned out alright for him. So many times throughout that story things could have gone very ugly for him.
So very true. The only regretable thing for him in the end wasn't that he didn't get those royalties sooner.
Yes I was getting depressed that the only guy I cared about was going to end up with nothing, I'm glad fate smiled on him though he probably lost millions to those other vultures all squabbling over his product.
Came here to rewatch after the Tetris apple trailer. Good job as always you really knock it out of the park.
I thought I'd come back to an old favorite video to see if the views have spiked since the Tetris movie trailer. Here's hoping it does.
Not gonna lie, this is some netflix worthy documentary material. You really outdid yourself. I never quite understood this tangled mess before and this video straightened it out perfectly. Well done.
Netflix only has mediocre bullshit, Lies and bullshit
@ladawg81 For some really nice context and interviews to compliment this great documentary, I highly recommend checking out BBC's Tetris - From Russia with Love. It actually includes old VHS footage of Henk and Alexey touring Moscow and being best buds.
56:21 Gaming Historian: In November of 1991, Robert Maxwells naked body was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
Creepy Tetris theme music plays
Jeffrey Johnson AKA ShadoWolf *jazz music stops*
55:57 Also Gaming Historian: Vladimir Pokhilko, who studied the psychological effect of Tetris, murders his wife and 12 year old son, before punching his own ticket
Creepy Tetris vibe intensifies
I came here to find people talking about this. Scary stuff
His death was ruled a "heart attack" plus "accidental drowning"? Yeah sure. He was billions of dollars in debt and stole employee pension funds to pay some of the debt; if disgruntled employee didn't pay a cleaner to dump him naked into the middle of the ocean, somebody got tired of his excuses.
@@theologynerd1689 the ocean water is heart stoppingly cold, afterall
Obviously the movie will be an over-dramatized version of this, but I'm still extremely excited
Wow, hands down one of the best youtube productions ever, What a great story and a thoroughly engaging telling of it. Thank you!
That was extremely well done Bravo
It's a well deserved take on a well deserving story. I knew the history of Tetris was a mess, but I had no idea it was this convoluted.
*Well worth the wait!*
Overlord Alfredo indeed
I want to talk to the 66 people who voted this down.
Garage Loot likely the former employees of Mirrorsoft and Tengen
Naughty Bottom lol Great point.