Tetris began as a simple puzzle game on a Soviet computer and eventually became one of the most popular games worldwide. However, its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, did not profit from his creation for many years. The story of Tetris reflects not only the game's global success but also a complex legal struggle over its rights. In June 1984, Alexey Pajitnov, a computer scientist working at the Computing Center of the Moscow Academy of Sciences, developed Tetris on an Electronika 60, a rudimentary Soviet mini-computer. The game involved arranging falling blocks, known as tetrominoes, to form complete lines. The name Tetris was inspired by the Greek word "tetra," meaning four, and Pajitnov's love for tennis. Because the Electronika 60 lacked a graphical screen, he used simple hooks to represent the blocks. The concept of tetrominoes was not new; the American mathematician Solomon Golomb had described them as early as 1953. However, Pajitnov transformed these shapes into an addictive, endless game. In the Soviet Union, where software ownership was not recognized, Tetris spread through a network of shared floppy disks in a system called samizdat, used for distributing banned materials. It eventually reached the West, where British entrepreneur Robert Stein saw its potential and tried to acquire the rights. The game's rights passed through various intermediaries, including British publishers and companies like Atari and Sega. A major turning point came with Nintendo, which included Tetris in the Game Boy console in 1989. This partnership was highly successful, selling 35 million units and helping the Game Boy become one of the best-selling consoles of all time. Meanwhile, Pajitnov received no royalties, as the rights were controlled by the Soviet state through its export agency, ELORG. After the collapse of the USSR, legal disputes over Tetris rights became complicated. Some reports suggest a Soviet official embezzled 15 million dollars during these negotiations. It wasn't until 1996 that Pajitnov, now living in the United States, founded the Tetris Company with Dutch developer Henk Rogers, allowing him to finally profit from his creation. In 2005, the Tetris Company acquired ELORG, consolidating global rights to the game. Since then, Tetris has continued to evolve, appearing on hundreds of devices and platforms around the world.