Tetris still challenges gamers 25 years on

Tetris, the infuriating video game, is 25-years old this year. It is now a quarter of a century since a 29-year old Russian started writing programs for fun on a huge Soviet super-computer.

"I started to put together all kinds of mathematical puzzles that I had loved all my life," said Alexey Pajitnov, now 54.

After a few experiments there was one game that stood out from the others and Tetris was born. "The program wasn't complicated," he said. "There was no scoring, no levels. But I started playing and I couldn't stop."

The idea is simple: from the top of a screen a series of "blocks" fall slowly towards the bottom. The player can turn each block as it falls - making a line into a column, for example - but once it hits the lowest point it stays. If the blocks fill a line without gaps, they disappear. Otherwise they pile up, giving the player less and less time before they hit the "bottom".

Simple, but very addictive. So far the game has sold more than 70m copies; it has influenced art and music; it is regularly voted one of the top games of all time.

In 1985 a PC version spread around eastern Europe. But it was in 1988 that things started to accelerate.

"I first saw it at the Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1988," said Henk Rogers, a Dutch games publisher. He understood the game's appeal and he beat strong competition to agree on a deal to include Tetris with every Nintendo Game Boy,

But Pajitnov made little from the game's early success because the rights were owned by the Soviet state. He had to wait until 1996 - when the rights reverted to him - to begin making money.

The secret of the game's success? "I think that most of the classic games of the 1980s or 1990s are dead because their authors or owners didn't care about them," said Pajitnov.

Lesson Plan

Tell the class that the lesson is about a classic game that has been a huge success. Establish the words in italics. Divide the class into three teams. Write up and explain the following words one by one: 25 years old, blocks, fall, infuriating, screen, line, column. After each word, the teams take it in turns to guess the name of the game. Only confirm the correct answer at the end - do this by showing a photo of Tetris from the article. Elicit a brief description of how the game works.- 12 mins

Dictate the following questions: Do you like video games? Have you ever played Tetris? What was the first video game you ever played? Student in pairs ask and answer the questions. Class feedback. Ask some students to report back their partner's answers. - 7 mins

Write up the following questions and go through any unknown words. Hand out the article. Students read and write yes or no next to the statements. - 10 mins

Tetris ...

1. was invented by a young Russian man.
2. was written on a small home computer.
3. had scoring at the beginning.
4. has sold over 70 million copies.
5. became very popular in 1984.
6. as included with all Game Boys.
7. made a lot of money for Pajitnov in the 1980s.

Write up the following questions. Students read again and find the answers. - 6 mins

1. Why did Pajitnov write Tetris?
2. What has Tetris influenced?
3. Who brought Tetris to the world market?
4. Why didn't Pajitnov make a lot of money at first?

Tell students to turn over the article. What can they remember about the story? Elicit key information as a class. Use this opportunity to revise the past simple. - 7 mins

Now tell students they are going to wait for seven hours at an airport between connecting flights. They can take one of the following things to amuse themselves: a Game Boy with Tetris, a crossword book, a pack of cards, a novel, an MP3 player, a newspaper, a pen and paper. Students work with a partner and explain their choice. What does their choice of object indicate about their interests/character? - 8 mins