Tetris Anniversary

Lets all wish the evergreen game tetris, a very happy birthday! Today, June 6, 2009 is the 25th anniversary of the simple yet entertaining game Tetris. The word "Tetris" has its roots in the Greek numerical prefix "tetra" which means "four". Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov. It was created on June 6, 1984,while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow.The name Tetris was derived from the Greek numerical prefix "tetra" and that is why all of the game's pieces, known as Tetrominoes, contain four segments. It is also believed that Alexey Pajitnov's fondness for tennis, fetched the neame "Tetris" for the game designed by him.
Tetris is one of the simplest game that the world has ever seen. Eventhough the game is simple, it has the rare ability to keep players glued to it. It was a revolutionary game in its early days. But in the present day hi fi world where gaming has jumped to several high technology levels like motion controlled games, Tetris has still managed to have a mark. It is still a basic accesory game in mobile phones and is widely available as a built in game in most consoles.
Tetris is a simple puzzle video game where you move blocks around (called tetrominoes) to create horizontal lines of blocks to eliminate rows and gain points. The game gets tedious with the various levels. One has to eliminate blocks faster and faster so as to proceed to the next level. Finally if the player fails to eleiminate blocks for a long time and ends up with a pile of blocks filling the gaming window, then the player faces a "Game Over".

While versions of Tetris were sold for a range of 1980s home computer platforms, it was the hugely successful handheld version for the Game Boy launched in 1989 that established the reputation of the game as one of the most popular ever. Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue had Tetris in first place as "Greatest Game of All Time". In 2007, Tetris came in second place in Gaming Giant Site, IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time".It has sold more than 70m copies.

The long history of Tetris resulted in a Guinness World Record awarding the franchise nine world records in the Gamer's Edition. These records include, "Most Ported Video Game", "Game With the Most Official and Unofficial Variants", and "Longest Prison Sentence for Playing a Video Game", which is held by Faiz Chopdat, who was jailed for four months for playing Tetris on his cell phone while on a flight to Manchester, England. He refused to stop playing after being repeatedly warned by the cabin staff. This incident is a testimony to the addictiveness of this tiny game. So today lets all wish a very "hApPy BiRthDaY" to the lovely Tetris. :) Even Google celebrated Tennis anniversary by setting out the google logo in the form of a collection of tetris blocks!