A geopolitical and legal history of the bestselling videogame Tetris—the stunningly successful game that began in a Soviet research lab monitored by the KGB.
Tetris—the game that would take the world by storm—was formally introduced to the West in 1987, at a time when Soviet technology exports were minimal and the Berlin Wall was still standing strong. Far from being a capitalist cultural product, the game had actually been designed in a Soviet computer lab tightly monitored by the KGB, at a time when Ronald Reagan referred to the USSR as the “evil empire.”
So, how did Tetris jump the wall to become such a blockbuster? And why does a US company, The Tetris Company (TTC), now own the game, when it was the property of Mother Russia? Why has TTC been able to monopolize both the shape of the pieces which predated Tetris and the very concept of an electronic puzzle game with falling pieces, which flies in the face of traditional copyright law? Why and how have Soviet socialists morphed into hardcore capitalists? In Soviet Blocks, Julien Mailland answers these questions and more, explaining the fascinating history of Tetris’ commercial success as a story of two systems radically opposed in histories, cultures, economics, and politics.
ENDORSEMENTS
“A compelling read, and a remarkable story. I started reading it and it hooked me immediately. You may think you know the history of Tetris, but the real story is crazier than anything you—or Hollywood—could have imagined.” —Mark Lemley, William H. Neukom Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
“Hiding behind Tetris’s elegant simplicity lies a tangled production history. In Soviet Blocks, Julien Mailland arranges evidence like so many falling tetrominoes to tell the story of how a Cold War plaything attracted competing origin stories and claims of authorship as it became a lucrative property in the capitalist West. This is a must-read for game studies and legal studies scholars alike.” —Matthew Thomas Payne, author of Eugene Jarvis: King of the Arcade and Playing War
A geopolitical and legal history of the bestselling videogame Tetris—the stunningly successful game that began in a Soviet research lab monitored by the KGB.
Tetris—the game that would take the world by storm—was formally introduced to the West in 1987, at a time when Soviet technology exports were minimal and the Berlin Wall was still standing strong. Far from being a capitalist cultural product, the game had actually been designed in a Soviet computer lab tightly monitored by the KGB, at a time when Ronald Reagan referred to the USSR as the “evil empire.”
So, how did Tetris jump the wall to become such a blockbuster? And why does a US company, The Tetris Company (TTC), now own the game, when it was the property of Mother Russia? Why has TTC been able to monopolize both the shape of the pieces which predated Tetris and the very concept of an electronic puzzle game with falling pieces, which flies in the face of traditional copyright law? Why and how have Soviet socialists morphed into hardcore capitalists? In Soviet Blocks, Julien Mailland answers these questions and more, explaining the fascinating history of Tetris’ commercial success as a story of two systems radically opposed in histories, cultures, economics, and politics.
Praise
ENDORSEMENTS
“A compelling read, and a remarkable story. I started reading it and it hooked me immediately. You may think you know the history of Tetris, but the real story is crazier than anything you—or Hollywood—could have imagined.” —Mark Lemley, William H. Neukom Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
“Hiding behind Tetris’s elegant simplicity lies a tangled production history. In Soviet Blocks, Julien Mailland arranges evidence like so many falling tetrominoes to tell the story of how a Cold War plaything attracted competing origin stories and claims of authorship as it became a lucrative property in the capitalist West. This is a must-read for game studies and legal studies scholars alike.” —Matthew Thomas Payne, author of Eugene Jarvis: King of the Arcade and Playing War
