The Crazy Story of Tetris: From USSR blocks to USA Stardom

[EPISODE 40] The Crazy Story of Tetris: From USSR blocks to USA Stardom

Adam Cox: So the corporation was owned by a guy called Robert Maxwell. 

Kyle Risi: Oh! 

Kyle Risi: Do you know who that is?

Adam Cox: I'm about to tell you. Oh! Scandalous! As you rightly guess, you might recognise that name because he is the father of Ghislaine Maxwell. Ghislaine? 

Kyle Risi: Ghislaine? Is it Ghislaine? I think it's 

Adam Cox: Ghislaine Yeah. I've been saying Ghislaine.

Adam Cox: LAUGHTER 

Kyle Risi: mmm, Ghislaine 

Adam Cox: It's alright, she's in prison. 

Adam Cox: Welcome to the compendium, an assembly 

Adam Cox: of twists and turns involving pixels, legal issues, and a geopolitical tug of war in the race to own the rights of one of the most popular computer games of all time. Ooh. What could this be about? What do you think? I don't know.

Adam Cox: Maybe Mario Brothers? Mario. Yeah, that's a good guess. Good guess. 

Kyle Risi: Video games. What other video games are we talking? Political issues. God, I have no idea. 

Adam Cox: Well, today we're covering Tetris. Oh, that's... Not what you thought this was about. Not what I expected. 

Kyle Risi: Tetris. Geopolitical battles and 

Adam Cox: issues. Wow. Well, the backdrop at least of what's going on.

Adam Cox: So, I mean, we all know about Tetris, what it is, but what a lot of people don't know is that it originated in Russia during the Soviet Union. Oh, I didn't know that.

Adam Cox: And it was a time during the Cold War. That was in full force and going up against the KGB didn't always end. Well What's 

Kyle Risi: the KGB the KGB getting involved in computer game stuff? 

Adam Cox: Yeah Uh the game caught a lot of attention and so many people throughout the world including nintendo and atari were all fighting for the rights of this game 

Kyle Risi: So hang on is atari also?

Kyle Risi: I guess we're all going to find out. 

Adam Cox: We're going to find out, but what started as a simple game basically made in someone's spare time, sparked this race across the world to get basically the rights and there were lawsuits, there was fraud involved the KGB and yeah, it was, um, quite a crazy one.

Adam Cox: Just, just on Tetris. 

Kyle Risi: Sounds both fascinating and 

Adam Cox: intriguing. I know. But before we go any further, should we do introductions? 

Kyle Risi: We should,

Adam Cox: you just tuning in for the first time, I'm your host today, Adam Cox. And I'm your co host, Kyle Risi.

Adam Cox: You're listening to The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We're a weekly variety podcast where ordinarily Kyle Risi tells me, Adam Cox, all about a topic that he thinks I will find both fascinating and intriguing , from groundbreaking events to unforgettable people.

Adam Cox: We do this all in a one hour ish episode, giving you just enough information to stand your ground at a social gathering. But before we get onto the main topic, I think we should do the latest. All the latest 

Kyle Risi: things. 

Adam Cox: You know, that always makes me want to do some kind of burlesque show. I guess so, yeah, it feels very... Kind of can can and French and... Yes, it 

Kyle Risi: does! It's really fitting for the compendium I think. It was good. So what have you got 

Adam Cox: for me, boy? Boy, South African in you then. So my fact or fun thing that I found out this week was that dolphins deliberately get high.

Adam Cox: Really? Yeah. What are they getting high on? they get high on pufferfish. 

Kyle Risi: Oh yeah, do you know what? I think I've heard of this before. It's incredible, 

Adam Cox: yeah. So I think scientists, it's been a while now, but they've discovered that they were, I think, passing around these pufferfish, and they were doing it...

Adam Cox: Passing around the dube. The dube. And they were kind of, I guess, aggravating it enough for it to release these toxins, right? And I think if, , they did it in a way that it was gradual or just enough, because I think it can be quite deadly, and it emits these toxins, which essentially is a bit of a narcotic.

Adam Cox: And so they'd start behaving quite weirdly, like in this trance state afterwards. Right. And they noticed that they were, yeah, that dolphins deliberately get high. See, 

Kyle Risi: like more and more evidence is just coming out that dolphins are. Filth. Yes, filth. But like, human like.

Kyle Risi: Like, they're super intelligent. They, I was watching this thing the other day where, um, this whale was giving birth. And because it was quite shark infested waters, a whole pod, and I'm talking a huge pod of dolphins, were just circling around the whale to protect it from the sharks so it could have its baby.

Kyle Risi: Really? Yeah, and you just see this whale like, you know. Breaching out of the water and you could see all these dolphins, I think must have been around the South African coast and they're just circling around this dolphin to protect it. It was crazy. That's nice. So that was what I mean is they're aware.

Kyle Risi: They're not just aware of their own species, but also they're aware of 

Adam Cox: the world around them. Yeah. Yeah. They, they very, um, wise. Wise. They're the wise of 

Kyle Risi: the sea. They're the wise of the sea. , yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I 

Adam Cox: guess so. So yeah, that's my thing. What about you? What have you got for 

Kyle Risi: us?

Kyle Risi: So, um, I was thinking the other day, what do you want to happen to you when you die? Do you want to be cremated or do you want to be buried? Or do you want to, or do you want a viking burial? Like, sent out to sea and then, oh, like, fire an arrow that's flaming. And then it'll land on your barge and then just set you alight.

Kyle Risi: But rather than an arrow, it'll be like a 

Adam Cox: Nerf gun. Just bounce off my forehead. Um, Um, I don't know. I think when I was younger, I always thought it'd be quite fun to have a fancy dress party where everyone comes dressed as me. 

Kyle Risi: Okay, I'm not talking about your party. I'm talking about what do you want to be done?

Kyle Risi: Like, do you, have you got a fear of being eaten 

Adam Cox: by worms? Ah, to be honest, I haven't really thought about it. I guess cremated. Yeah, pretty standard. Yeah, 

Kyle Risi: cremation is quite standard in the UK. But there's this company in America that is now composting human beings. And you can sign up to be essentially composted.

Kyle Risi: And the end result is that your loved ones then have like 200 kilograms of composting material that what a lot of people do is they then go and plant a garden and they use that soil to essentially grow those plants or they plant a tree in it and it's essentially it embodies you it's it's your life force but it just got me thinking it was just such an incredible idea because the process how long do you think it will take to Um, compost a human being.

Adam Cox: No idea. So In this process, when you go in and they start the process from day one to the day that you can come and pick up your, your 

Adam Cox: composting bags, roughly months, right? 60 days, 60 days. Isn't that crazy? That's, that's shorter than I thought it was going to be.

Adam Cox: Yeah. 

Kyle Risi: When I was watching the video, it was actually really. Peaceful. It feels like a very peaceful process that your family members can also be involved in as well. So what happens is , imagine like the Eden project, right? It's like this big giant conservatory, quite light everything's white and clear and just nice to kind of be in like a nice environment.

Kyle Risi: And what they have is they've got all these little pods, these very futuristic white pods, just dotted around this beautiful area, and then inside is the body. And I think what they do is they put bacteria and they put, I like some wood chips and things like that, the right conditions to speed up the process of you composting and your family can come and sit with you while you're composting across those 60 days, 

Kyle Risi: And it was really sad. I was watching this, footage of this woman.

Kyle Risi: She decided that she wants to be composted and her parents just didn't really get it. And they were like, well, no, they felt a bit weird about it. So they get the call to say, You can come pick up your daughter and they were like, uh, um, and they put it off and they were like, there's a bit creepy.

Kyle Risi: It's a bit weird. Like, what are you supposed to do with it? And they went to collector and the mother was obviously very apprehensive and they took her around and they showed her the facilities and stuff. And then they showed her these burlap sacks filled with her daughter, essentially. And. She then got it.

Kyle Risi: It was just really, it was a really beautiful moment because then her mother started putting her hands into the soil and, and touching and letting it run through her fingers and, but she got it. She then got it. She was now connecting through the soil with her daughter.

Kyle Risi: And it made me wonder, like, I think that's what I want to do. I want to get composted. 

Adam Cox: I feel like there's obviously some value coming out of your body at the end, right? That's, that feels nice, whereas like, cremated is just dust. Yeah, you spread the ashes, but it doesn't go to anything, right?

Adam Cox: Yeah, 

Kyle Risi: it doesn't go anywhere. And at least with this, you can plant a garden with it. Or plant a tree. I just think it's really romantic. 

Adam Cox: Yeah. So it's just in the U S at the 

Kyle Risi: moment. Yeah. I think there's a few more states that are now , allowing it. I think this is more San Francisco, but it'd be brilliant if that came to the UK. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Cool. 

Adam Cox: I would definitely want to do it. All right, I know what to do with your compost.

Adam Cox: Yes, compost me 

Kyle Risi: please. It's on the record now. And yeah, I guess that's all the latest things. 

Kyle Risi: So, Annam, Tetris, huh?

Adam Cox: Tetris. So let's get into the main story for this week. We begin the story in 1984. This was just before we were born, so the political and lifestyle between two major superpowers, the USA and the USSR, couldn't be more different. The Cold War had been running for almost four decades, and just a year earlier, in 1983, the world had another nuclear war scare with the Soviet Union.

Adam Cox: Hmm. What 

Kyle Risi: happened there? So like, did they, was it like fingers tweaking on the 

Adam Cox: buttons?

Adam Cox: Apparently Nato did something which made the USSR go what you're trying to attack. Uh, and they were on the , I guess, the defense. I think they sort of threatened nuclear war because of this potential attack, which created more tension but it obviously dissipated and it didn't go anywhere. In the USA, day to day life for a lot of the population was going well in the 80s. The economy was booming, there were technological advancements, including the introduction of personal computers and the Apple Macintosh.

Adam Cox: Uh, the 80s were a generation of pop icons such as Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, and then you had these huge American brands that were taking over like Nike, Coca Cola, McDonald's, right? AnD then you had these ongoing rights and social justice and progression for gender equality B Lgbtqiaa plus.

Kyle Risi: Oh. And that all kind of kicked off properly in the eighties, 

Adam Cox: did it? Well, it was progressing forward, I guess. Sure. And so, you know, in America it was quite a transforming time. Mm-Hmm. that decade. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. And that was completely different. to what was going on in the USSR. Really? So we know that it was a communist country.

Adam Cox: But for much of the 20th century, the Soviet Union actually rivaled the United States in political, military and economical strength. 

Kyle Risi: Because it was that time when people were like, Oh, communism or capitalism, which one's gonna win? And like, they were both respected. kind of political, what do you call it, like setups, 

Adam Cox: economical setups.

Adam Cox: And to be fair, it started off pretty well. And it was kind of considered this alternative to the Western capitalism. But then what happened was it pretty much started to slow down. They tried to fix their struggling economy. Um, but what they did to try and fix it just wasn't helping and the economy became really stagnant.

Adam Cox: They had declining oil prices, which we know is like a huge export of theirs. , and all , these existing technologies that they had, , in developing their own, I guess, , environment and these future technological innovations, basically they just didn't keep up. And so another thing that happened , I guess, a bit of a protest , The USSR boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in America. , and some, well, some say it was in retaliation as America had boycotted the Moscow Olympics four years earlier.

Adam Cox: Right. Because Russia had, well, the Soviet Union had started a war with Afghanistan. Uh huh. So you've got this very weird power dynamic and struggle between the two. It's just tit for tat. Tit for tat a little bit. And then this war in Afghanistan , I think it lasted about five years.

Adam Cox: And that actually became a really, big sticking point for a lot of the citizens in the Soviet Union. Because a lot of the finance was funding this and people were getting poorer, right? And so it was a, really tough time. And so people weren't afforded the same opportunities in the USSR compared to the USA.

Adam Cox: So you can just start a business in the USA and then if it is successful you reap the rewards but in the USSR, anything that you did belong to the country. Amid all this doom and gloom, however, was a Soviet computer programmer called Alexey Pajitov.

Adam Cox: He created the groundbreaking puzzle game that would go on to become one of the best selling video games ever, which strangely helped to break down the boundaries between the two superpowers of USA and USSR. Really? Wow. So, let's learn a little bit about Alexei. he was the genius, behind the game.

Adam Cox: He was born in 1956. Alexei really enjoyed math puzzles and board games, but to be honest, if you were a kid in the Soviet Union, there wasn't a lot to kind of entertain you. So one of his favorite games was a game called Pentominoes, and the aim was there were these 12 unique puzzle pieces, uh, consisting of five blocks in different shapes, and you'd have to place them together a bit like a puzzle or a jigsaw and fit them within a rectangle, if that makes sense?

Adam Cox: Yeah. And so whilst being a kid in the 1960s, he saw the space race between the United States and Soviet Union. USSR wanted kids to be really interested in technology. So he got to see a computer at the age of 17. He studied math and eventually got a job at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Adam Cox: Whilst this was considered quite a high tech job, the computers they would work on were always like five or ten years behind. He followed the same routine every day. He woke up between 7. a. m. He would eat breakfast which consisted of sausages, eggs, and cottage cheese. Yeah, that's a good breakfast. Really? I've never heard of cottage cheese for breakfast. You eat cottage cheese all the time. Not all the time, not for breakfast.

Kyle Risi: I don't know, maybe a little bit of cottage cheese on a... Do you know what? No, I've eaten cottage cheese for breakfast before. Yeah, my mum would have these Revita biscuits when we were kids and she would smother them with cottage cheese and put some salt and pepper on top of it and that would sometimes be the breakfast as we were leaving through the door.

Kyle Risi: Or a slice of toast, 

Adam Cox: and mum might... Smashed cottage cheese on toast. Ooh, 

Kyle Risi: do you know what? Smashed cottage cheese on toast with some avocado. 

Adam Cox: Maybe, that might be quite nice actually. Yeah, 

Kyle Risi: see, there's a place for 

Adam Cox: everything. Okay, I take that back. So yeah, he would have his breakfast, he would run a few errands in the morning, he would get to work about 10.

Adam Cox: He would work into the night, most nights, on these really archaic machines. Eventually he gets a bit of an upgrade on a computer, the Electronica 60, I don't know what that is, but apparently it was a good computer at the time, but it's still like nine years old.

Adam Cox: It doesn't really display any graphics, only these alphanumeric numbers, so... Just like a calculator. Well, do you remember those old computers that just black screen and green text? Yes. It was one of them, essentially. 

Kyle Risi: Like, it's so difficult to think if that's the kind of computer that you're dealing with on a day to day basis , how do you see the potential? Like, how could you see what it would become 40 years later? Do you know what I mean? Like what we know of computers now, because people saw the potential, but did they know that you would be Like, doing some of the AI shit that we 

Adam Cox: can do today.

Adam Cox: I guess not, although saying that, what was quite interesting is he was actually working on artificial intelligence programming at that time. Really? To what degree? What does that mean? Well, he was working on this speech recognition software which would go on to catch the attention of the KGB, actually.

Adam Cox: They got quite interested in what he was doing. And they're, just to be clear, they're Russia's head security agency. And they hoped that they could record these phone conversations with it. So, not the AI that we think of now, but I guess some kind of programming that would be able to kind of detect who was speaking and stuff like that.

Adam Cox: Sure, sure. Um, but in the evenings, Alexei, and a few other researchers, being the slightly geeky people that they were, they had these computers to themselves and they'd do their own side projects. Recalling back to one of his favourite games as a kid, Pentominoes, Alexei went about making a computerised version of this game.

Adam Cox: This time he took those five block shapes and he changed them to four, just like we know of in Tetris. And the goal was still to fit them in this kind of digital rectangle box. He called the game Genetic Engineering, which sounds pretty dull. No, I don't think so. Well, it was the concept. It was the kind of the starting points but so he wanted to spice things up essentially.

Adam Cox: So he narrowed the playing screen and he made the shapes fall from the top of the screen to the bottom, which is Tetris, which is like Tetris. And so there was this pressure to fit the pieces together as they fell. And then this addictive part of the game that he came up with by using the shapes you had to complete a row, didn't you?

Adam Cox: And then that would make the row disappear. Yeah. Okay. And that was the addictive element to it. That was the addictive element. And so that was when he was like, well, this game can just go on forever, essentially. Yeah. As long as you keep making lines.

Adam Cox: Yeah, exactly. This was the early version of the game. No high scores, no sound, nothing. Alexei Couldn't stop playing this game that he created. He would even play it during work hours. Probably shouldn't have done, but he managed to get away with that. So he's addicted to his own game? He's addicted to his own game.

Adam Cox: And this is when he calls it Tetris. And that's a blend of Tetra, meaning four in Greek. And Tennis, which was his favourite sport. Okay, 

Kyle Risi: so how does that then work? So it's just his favourite sport? There's no connection to tennis? 

Adam Cox: No. So that's where the name comes from.

Adam Cox: And as I said, there was no scoring, no sound, no extra levels. So when he finishes this game, or the first version in 1985, it gets a bit of a cult following in his office. All of Alexei's close colleagues are playing it, and within a few weeks it actually reaches every Moscow institute with a computer.

Adam Cox: so it was kind of like pirated on these floppy disks that were like passed around, and it just went across the country. How 

Kyle Risi: big were these files? Like, how many meg was it? Well, probably not even meg, it was probably... 

Adam Cox: A few kilobytes. Kilobytes, yeah. You could only fit 3. 4 meg on a floppy disk or something.

Kyle Risi: Yeah, the thing is though, there's no graphics or anything, so there's nothing taking up space. It's just letters, right? Yeah. Letters 

Adam Cox: and numbers. Letters and numbers and a bit of programming. so Alexei with a couple of colleagues, they, do give it a bit of an upgrade. They add color, better graphics, and the ability to save high scores.

Adam Cox: And this helped it catch on even more. So by 1986, Tetris had actually spread throughout the Soviet Union with almost anyone owning an PC, which was, I guess, more state of the art at the time, having some version of this on their computer at home or at work. In fact, the game was even used in studies for physiologists wanting to understand addiction based on that satisfaction of completing rows and achieving high scores.

Adam Cox: Right, 

Kyle Risi: so they're seeing, like, probably many endorphins are being... Like injected into your brain when you when you get a high score or 

Adam Cox: something Yeah, 

Kyle Risi: Okay 

Kyle Risi: Now with thousands of copies out there in the USSR the game was a huge success But of course Alexei made that game under a government company In a country under a communist regime, which meant the game belonged to the USSR, and so Alexei could never really make any money off the back of this. What do you mean?

Kyle Risi: Like he wasn't allowed to sell it? He wasn't allowed to sell it. He didn't have the rights to because it was on a, business computer. Right, I see. And it's not for him to sell the rights. Sure, 

Kyle Risi: so I guess it's the same as like at work there's like a grey area if you make anything at work, especially within software development.

Kyle Risi: Technically they can lay claim to it. If they wanted to because it was made using their resources. 

Adam Cox: Exactly that, crazy. But to be fair to him, he said it didn't really bother him too much. He was just happy that his game was out there and it was being enjoyed. It then started to spread as far as Hungary and Poland, people were falling in love with this game, sort of, all over. But what was going to happen next is a string of events that Alexi could never have predicted. Go on. So outside the Soviet Union, a businessman named Robert Stein stumbles upon Tetris during a visit to Hungary.

Adam Cox: In June 1986, he works as an international software salesman for the London based firm Andromeda Software. His job was to visit Eastern European countries to scout out games that he could cheaply license. And sell to the West to collect royalties off that license.

Adam Cox: That's 

Kyle Risi: so weird. So was like, Eastern Europe a hotbed for games and 

Adam Cox: stuff? Yeah, well these cheap games essentially. 

Kyle Risi: Did they have like people all over the world and he's, his patch was just Central Europe or was that just where a lot of these games were?

Adam Cox: I don't know. I think that's where he spent his time because I guess that's where he could probably be profit the most. Um. When he's American is he? He is, I think he's Hungarian. Okay. Um, could be wrong. He was in Hungary. Let's go with that. So he was at this event and there are a lot of games being showcased but Tetris was kind of tucked away in a corner amongst a host of other games. Something kept drawing him back to it. He was walking around and then eventually was like, I just need to play this game. And he could see straight away that there was some commercial potential in this game. And that's when he was like, right, I want to sell this.

Adam Cox: He approaches this Institute's director wanting to get the license for Tetris. However, the director confesses that the game doesn't belong to them. And if Stein wanted to license Tetris, , he needs to negotiate with the Soviet union, which for a Western company. It's way easier said than done.

Adam Cox: Yeah, 

Kyle Risi: how do you even go about that? Like, Get out of our country, you Hungarian scum. 

Adam Cox: Da. 

Kyle Risi: Da. Vodka. Slam a vodka. You're, do not interrupt us. You 

Adam Cox: are, you are eating into our vodka 

Kyle Risi: drinking time. That was, that was, 

Adam Cox: awful. That was surreal. Surreal. Good thing we don't have any Russian listeners yet. Won't have any now. So this guy at the Institute, he said , as you rightly guessed, yeah, you can't just go knocking up on the Russian's , door.

Adam Cox: He said the only way to contact them Hi, is Vlad in? 

Kyle Risi: Can Vlad come out and play? 

Adam Cox: Well, the only way you could do it is through this, uh, old fax machine called a Telex. What?! 

Kyle Risi: The only way to communicate with the Russian government is through a fax machine? 

Adam Cox: Yeah, basically in this instance. Why?

Adam Cox: Well, that was the way to do it. And so, Stein decided that, yeah, he was going to send a fax to these people. Not quite sure who, saying he was really interested in getting the rights to Tetris. Okay. The message is relayed to the game's creator, Alexi. He gets it and... I bet he's over the moon. Yeah, exactly.

Adam Cox: He'd given up on the idea of selling the software. He didn't think he could. And then for someone to come and offer those rights to him, he was like, oh, great. But he had to proceed with caution because he's fully aware that he lacks the authority negotiate the game's rights personally.

Adam Cox: Alexi admits later in interviews that , he knew that he couldn't do anything for personal gain. But having that game published would be a huge achievement, right? And so after several weeks of translations and securing the necessary approvals, Alexei finally responds and goes, yes, we are interested.

Adam Cox: We would like to explore this deal further. And it was a way of saying, , let's talk about it, but without committing to anything, um, because he was, I guess he was in fear of any potential repercussions from his government. He wanted to keep the door open. But to Robert Stein, he thought this was great.

Adam Cox: I've got the go ahead. , and so he was like, I'm going to go start selling these rights to other people. And that's what he does. First thing he does is he calls up people he knows within the industry. And one of those people owns a company called Mirrorsoft. Now, Mirrorsoft was the software division of the Mirror Group.

Adam Cox: Which owns the Daily Mirror, as well as other sister brands, companies, I think it owns magazines and a football club at the time. Sure, wow, they've 

Kyle Risi: got their fingers in a lot of 

Adam Cox: pies there. A lot of pies. So the corporation was owned by a guy called Robert Maxwell. 

Kyle Risi: Oh! 

Kyle Risi: Do you know who, do you know who that is?

Adam Cox: I'm about to tell you. Oh! Scandalous! So he was a World War II veteran, and a former member of Parliament. And as you rightly guess, you might recognise that name because he is the father of Ghislaine Maxwell. Ghislaine? 

Kyle Risi: Ghislaine? Is it Ghislaine? I think it's 

Adam Cox: Ghislaine Yeah. I've been saying Ghislaine.

Adam Cox: LAUGHTER Shit. 

Kyle Risi: Mmm, Ghislaine

Adam Cox: Oh God. It's alright, she's in prison. 

Kyle Risi: So yeah, so, ah, interesting. So we have like a, uh, what's the other guy's name? 

Adam Cox: Robert Stein? No. Or Robert Maxwell? Jeffrey Epstein. 

Kyle Risi: Gislaine. Oh, Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah, we have a Jeffrey Epstein connection 

Adam Cox: here. Yeah, so. Interesting. Yeah, that's, she's the one that's associated with Jeffrey Epstein and she's the one that actually got convicted out of him because he committed suicide.

Adam Cox: Um, but that kind of gives you perhaps a hint into this family. They're very powerful, very influential, very problematic. Very problematic. Anyway, Stein thought these guys had the money to acquire and bring the game to the West. So the Maxwell Corporation, who owns Mirrorsoft, also owns another software company in the United States called Spectrum Holobyte.

Adam Cox: Okay. These two entities frequently exchange titles between each other publishing games in their respective regions. And so what Stein did was he struck a deal which meant that Mirrorsoft secured the Tetris rights for home computers in the UK and Europe, while Spectrum Holobyte owned the rights for US and Japan.

Adam Cox: I see. Okay. However, Stein had signed these contracts without formally agreeing anything with Elexy. So the US company Spectrum Holobyte went to work in making some tweaks to the game. They took advantage of the Soviet origins and added like Russian artwork, symbols, and the St. Basil's Cathedral from Moscow.

Adam Cox: It's Red Square. Oh yeah. Tetris was then released and sold over 100, 000 units in its first year in America. Which might not seem a lot, but for people owning a computer, that was pretty big. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So good start. Um, but for Stein, he was getting a little bit of a squeaky bum. What 

Kyle Risi: does that mean?

Adam Cox: Well, he'd sold... What does that mean? He'd sold the rights, hadn't he? But without real concrete proof that he had them, he kind of took it as like a, well, sure, I've got them, but nothing's really written down. Hang on, that's what squeaky bum means? Yeah, like you're like, uh oh. What?! A squeaky bum. No, I've never heard of that before.

Adam Cox: Yeah, he's got a squeaky bum. Is that something you're making up? No. If you think something's gonna go wrong, you've got a squeaky bum. 

Kyle Risi: I've never heard of that and I'm so delighted that I now have that life. 

Adam Cox: So like, think about, you're at work, you're like, I haven't got that bit of work done yet.

Adam Cox: Yeah. You might have a squeaky bum. Because you're anxious? Yeah.

Adam Cox: I have to 

Kyle Risi: salute you. 

Adam Cox: That's just outstanding. Okay, anyway, so yeah, so poor Stein and his squeaky bum. all he's got is this fax that he received from Alexi. So not really binding. , and so Stein had licensed , these games to people and its , not all above board essentially. No. So he had to try and sort out this model.

Adam Cox: Stein reached out to Alexi requesting a formal contract for the game's rights. But it's during this time that somehow, not quite sure how, but spies, probably, a company called Elektronikorgitechnika, Elektronikorgitechnika. It's a very 80s word, isn't it? Well, they go by the acronym ELOG, which is what we'll call them.

Adam Cox: Um, they get involved. And ELOG was a Soviet organization responsible for software exports. And they summoned Stein to Moscow. and the meeting felt more like a KGB interrogation than a typical business negotiation.

Adam Cox: So what do you mean? 

Kyle Risi: Was he like in a dark room with a light shining in his 

Adam Cox: face? I think it was like this really long table. They were at one end, he was at the other end. Oh, yeah, classic Russian kind of stuff. Yeah, and there's like several people there, KGB agents in the room 

Adam Cox: and he's being interrogated and he's like having to himself for selling Tetris in the Western world without E log's permission. And he's like, uh, I didn't even know you existed. How did I know that I needed to go through you to do this. 

Adam Cox: And remember the KGB engaged in various covert and often controversial activities during the Cold War. Their spies would infiltrate the West to obtain classified information. They would spread false information and sabotage things for their own political gain. There are also allegations they were involved in assassinations to people that were deemed a threat to the USSR.

Adam Cox: There's even a page on Wikipedia where there are confirmed people that have been killed by Russian and Soviet government. Yeah, none of that surprises 

Kyle Risi: me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Americans are doing exactly the same, 

Adam Cox: for sure. Yeah. Um, so some of deaths on Wikipedia are people that have been shot to the head. Mm-Hmm. one journalist was killed by A Bulgarian umbrella. Oh yeah, 

Kyle Risi: so got stabbed with a little bit of poison on the end of it, 

Adam Cox: right? Exactly, which just feels very, like, espionage, James Bond type thing, doesn't it?

Adam Cox: So there's all this on, on the internet. A lot of them fall out of windows, don't 

Kyle Risi: they? Like, oh, 

Adam Cox: just fell out of a window. They just disappear. Yeah. So this would have been pretty daunting to Stein because, you know, everyone knew what could happen. Yeah. And he's there defending himself. This is 

Kyle Risi: all over a video game.

Kyle Risi: It's just weird. 

Adam Cox: I know. 

Adam Cox: but somehow through a stroke of luck, he manages to convince them to sign a contract officially. Oh, sorry. You 

Kyle Risi: want to say that again? Did you call it a contract? What is wrong with you today? 

Adam Cox: I don't know. Hang on.

Kyle Risi: Jizz Lane. What's happening? Are

Adam Cox: you keeping that in though? 

Kyle Risi: I will mark this episode explicit. 

Adam Cox: Somehow, through a stroke of luck, he manages to convince them to sign a contract, officially granting him the licensing rights for 10 years Home Computer Systems. that clears Mirasoft and Spectrum Holobyte from any complications they can carry on doing what they're doing.

Adam Cox: Few. 

Adam Cox: Also, in 1988, Spectrum Holobyte showcased their latest product, Tetris, at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And among the attendees in the line to see the game was a guy called Hank Rogers. Not Hank, Henk. 

Kyle Risi: Henk. Henk. That's definitely a spelling typo. Well he's Hey Henk, it reminds me of like that episode of The Simpsons when they're trying to find a personalised little number plate.

Kyle Risi: Yes, Paul Bart. And he goes, um, ah, there's, there's, there's Burt and oh, there's no Bart though. He's like, oh, but there's a Bort . He's like, who names a kid? Bort. And then in the distance you hear this woman saying, 

Adam Cox: come on. Btt Twist son.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And the BTT comes running 

Kyle Risi: away. Sorry. Little Bolt comes running along. So, this is Henk. 

Adam Cox: Henk. Well, he's born in the Netherlands.. Oh, I see. 

Kyle Risi: Well, Henk now makes sense because growing up in the wild African plains. 

Adam Cox: South Africa. Oh God, here we go. Tales from South Africa. The 

Kyle Risi: Chronicles of South Africa. Um, I had a neighbor called Hendrick.

Kyle Risi: Uh huh. So Hen k drick. 

Adam Cox: Great. Okay, anyway, so yeah, so

Adam Cox: Henk was born in the Netherlands, hence why he's Henk and perhaps not Hank. he was raised in the United States, he's the owner of this Japanese game publisher called Bulletproof Software.

Adam Cox: Rogers, a bit like Stein, really, like, falls for this game. A few years earlier, in 1985, Rogers was drawn to the Nintendo Famicom, which was a games console, so this was before the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Adam Cox: And he wanted to create a game for that system, and he manages to convince Nintendo to become an official Nintendo licensee. sO when he sees Tetris at this trade show, Looking for, I guess, the next big game.

Adam Cox: Tetris, to him, is the thing because he's like, Well, actually, I can sell this in Japan because it doesn't need translation. It's really quick to kind of pour over. And he thinks this is going to be a huge hit. Interesting.

Adam Cox: Rogers gives a letter of intent to publish Tetris in Japan on all platforms to Spectrum Holobyte. However, there was a slight issue in that plan, as Rogers learnt that Mirrorsoft and Spectrum Holobyte had already sold the Japanese PC rights and console rights to Atari Games. 

Adam Cox: So Rogers is determined to get the PC and games console rights, and he flies to California and negotiates a deal. He finally gets the console rights to Japan for 300, 000, 

Adam Cox: as Atari was more focused on the North American market.

Adam Cox: So for Rogers, he pays quite a considerable amount for those rights, but he's confident in the success. So if you're a bit confused, like I was when I was first researching this, here's a bit of a recap of who owns what. Okay. E Log, the Soviet Union's software export company. They have licensed the rights of Tetris to Robert Stein, who has then sold the rights to Robert Maxwell's corporation, Mirasoft and Spectrum Holobyte.

Adam Cox: Spectrum Holobyte then sells the Japanese rights and the American rights to Atari Games, who initially holds the PC and home console rights, but they eventually agreed to sell those rights to Henk Rogers in the Japanese market only whilst they retain the US rights themselves. I'm with you. Cool, good, that's what I wanted.

Adam Cox: But out of all these people and companies in this chain, poor Alexei is not receiving a single ruble. Hank Rogers leaning into his contacts at Nintendo, he strikes a deal with them to sell the license for the game to be published on the Nintendo Famicom.

Adam Cox: And as a result, it does really well. It sells 2 million copies in Japan. Wow. It's also around this time that Nintendo are gearing up for the launch of the Game Boy. And so they are currently deciding what game they should include as part of the launch. Mario was initially considered, but it's thought that Rogers argued that Tetris would have more mass appeal. If you want to sell to boys and teenagers, include Mario. If you want to sell the Game Boy to adults, then you probably should include that, because he knew it had already been hugely popular in the USSR, with people playing it in their Well, 

Kyle Risi: who's the bigger market, though? Like, you wanna, first sell to kids because that gets the console in your house and then you want to then sell to adults. Right. . I don't an adult's gonna go out their way to buy a game console for themselves.

Adam Cox: But this is what he thought would make the, Game Boy sales go crazy, and yeah.

Adam Cox: It doesn't work, I guess. Well, what they needed to do was actually get the rights to the handheld game. Ooh. So that's different to the PC, to the video game console, they needed separate rights for that. So, Hank Rogers now needs to try and secure this. So he knows that Robert Stein was the man that helped bring Tetris to the West in the first place.

Adam Cox: And so he's his first port of call to contact. And he offers an upfront payment 000. But. Stein doesn't have the handheld rights. And so he's trying to , I guess, fob him off a little bit. Maybe not admit that he doesn't have them, but says , Oh, I need to negotiate or talk about this with the Russians.

Adam Cox: And is waiting and waiting for a response. And it's like, I'm getting nowhere. I feel like I'm being fobbed off. Complicating matters further, there was also these issues with E Log not receiving payment for anything that they've licensed so far. So to resolve this issue, they assigned a guy called Nikolai Belikov as the new director of E Log and he's known for being really cutthroat.

Adam Cox: And so Belikov is tasked with sorting out this contractual mess with Robert Stein and basically to get that money, which was now overdue. So how much we're talking, do we know? I don't know, but I don't think it was a great deal initially. Oh really? Not a good deal. Stein gets on a flight to Russia to sort these things out, and it's an opportunity for him to then get the handheld rights.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Meanwhile, there's a rumour that Nintendo was going to be getting the handheld rights, and that was not through Henk Rogers, and so he's panicking because he's like, No, I need to get this. And so he takes the matter into his own hands, and he decides to fly to Russia. But back in the UK, Mirrorsoft also get wind of Nintendo's interest in Tetris, and so Robert Maxwell secretly sends his son Kevin Maxwell to Moscow.

Adam Cox: So the races are to secure the handheld rights, but what Stein, Rogers and Kevin Maxwell don't know is that all three of them are heading to E Log's offices to meet with E Log on virtually the same day. What are the chances? I know, right? Rogers doesn't have an advantage of having a pre booked meeting, and he takes a bit of a risk and flies to Moscow on a tourist visa, as he just can't wait to get a business visa sorted. , and that causes some issues in theory, as you're not allowed to have a business meeting without one in Russia.

Adam Cox: Wow. Also, Rogers has no idea where these officers are. He asks around and, not unsurprisingly, the Russians are not that forthcoming with helping an American. No. Rogers is surrounded by KGB spies. they're often waiting in his lobby of his hotel. And he says that he would say things in like a private conversation that would later come up in another conversation.

Adam Cox: And he's like, how did you know about that? Yeah. So he thinks he is being bugged, his room or whatever. There's also, , stories of the KGB sending two agents to his offices in Japan, and it's not revealed why, but they're doing a bit of a background on him and his company. So there's a lot of shady stuff going on in the shadows.

Adam Cox: Anyway, Henk manages to convince one of the KGB agents hanging out in his hotel, named Ola, him be his interpreter. Henk describes her as beautiful and very perky compared to everyone else. She is able to take Henk to the ELOG's offices, and whilst driving around, Henk notices that the city is drab, it's void of any advertising.

Adam Cox: It's just these grey buildings against this grey sky. So what we picture of a communist kind of society is exactly what he said. It was there. Yeah. , ola takes Hank to ELOG, but she refuses to go in with him. Even a KGB agent.

Adam Cox: doesn't want to go in there with him, because he hasn't been officially invited. And he was breaking a cardinal rule, trying to do business on a tourist visa. And so she was like, I don't want to be involved with this, this could not go well. And so that doesn't deter him. He's willing to take this risk because he's got it all.

Adam Cox: on the line, he has to get these rights, right? Gotta go in man. He walks in uninvited and tells the receptionist who he is and Belikov learns that there's a foreigner in reception talking about the rights to Tetris. Now it is totally against protocol for Belikov to meet this foreigner without a proper clearance from the KGB and he would get in serious trouble, but given the current challenges he was having in getting payment from Stein, it was kind of good timing and because it's for the good of the country, I guess, he thought he would take this risk and meet 

Kyle Risi: Well let's just hope the KGB sees it that way as 

Adam Cox: well, right?

Adam Cox: Well, yeah, exactly. And there is a risk here, Belikov is like, I, I know I'm probably shouldn't be doing this. Um, but it was at a time in Russia where things weren't going well for the economy anyway. , Belikov, tells Rogers to come back the next day for a meeting, and that would be the same day he was meeting Stein and Kevin Maxwell.

Adam Cox: And so there was an opportunity for Belikov to play the capitalists at their own game, Divide and Rule. And so Roger just returns, and there's 10 people in this room, including so he meets the actual creator of the game for the first time. And Roger picks up a conversation to ask for the handheld rights after the success of the video game on the Famicom with Nintendo in Japan.

Adam Cox: He says that he's the biggest publisher in the world of Tetris right now. He can make them money and he hands over a copy of the game. Belikov takes a look at the game and goes to Hank. E logue's never given the video game console rights to anyone. Hank's confused and goes, no, you did look at the back of the box.

Adam Cox: I've got all the rights listed here. And it lists them in order of ELOG, Andromeda software, which is Stein's company, Mirasoft, Spectrum Holobyte, and then Bulletproof, which is Hank Rogers company, right? Yeah. Belikov insists, no, the only rights given to Andromeda software, Robert Stein, was those to use on personal computers, and tells Hank, you are illegally selling something that is not allowed to be sold.

Adam Cox: Shiiiiit. Hank is like, uh, what? evErything is going through his brain, he's like, have I committed fraud? Hang on, no, I've definitely got the rights, I'm working with Nintendo, I've got 200, 000 game cartridges being manufactured in Japan as I speak. So what's happening?

Adam Cox: Exactly. He doesn't know. He's,, put all this money from his in laws on the line. So he used that as collateral with Nintendo to get this deal. So he could lose his entire business if this goes wrong. Henk continues to be grilled for two hours with lawyers and KGB businessmen in the room.

Adam Cox: And simultaneously, Belikov and his team are meeting with Kevin Maxwell in a separate room. And they're using both of them to get information out of each other about what's going on. Shit! 

Kyle Risi: So they do have the rights, they're just saying 

Adam Cox: that they don't have the rights. Well this is where, like, Henk's defending himself.

Adam Cox: He's like, , let me try and help you out with what's going on. There's clearly, a mistake or some confusion. Because he's hanging his hat on the fact that he's working with Nintendo and ELOG alike. We have no idea who Nintendo are. That means nothing to us. Uh, and so he's like, Oh God, I need to fix this.

Adam Cox: Otherwise I'm going to end up in a gulag. And he gives them a bit of a crash course on the industry, these games consoles, who Nintendo was. And he says, let me look at this contract. And it doesn't take long before Rogers spots an issue with the contract that E Log has with Robert Stein. What's the issue?

Adam Cox: The contract says that Stein had the rights for personal computers and to port Tetris to different types of computers. So to Stein, that meant video game consoles, but to E Log, their intention was to license the game to desktop PCs, essentially. Oh, I 

Kyle Risi: see. 

Adam Cox: Hmm. And he also spots that they've got a really crap deal with Robert Stein.

Adam Cox: So they're making like minimal returns and so Rogers proposes, Hey, I can give you a better arrangement, work with me, I'll give you fixed payment for each sold cartridge, which would be much better. You'd be way better off. Belikov could see Henk was being honest and willing to make a fair deal and asked him to write everything down.

Adam Cox: And he needs Rogers In Russian! In Russian. Well, yeah, they've got to be doing this through translators as well, which must have been very weird. Yeah. Uh, and he says like, I need you out of the building quick, because I've got a meeting with Robert Stein. Doesn't reveal that, but that's what he's, he needs to do.

Adam Cox: Belikov also gets rid of Kevin Maxwell, who's also being interrogated. Uh, he actually hands him, , the copy of the game, I think, from Hank Rogers, and goes, what's this? And Kevin Maxwell, being a bit of, I don't know, a rich idiot, is kind of like, oh, that must be a pirated copy, it's got nothing to do with me.

Adam Cox: Not realising that , actually, his rights are all connected. Shiiiiiiiit! So what did they say about that? They were like, just get out, basically. And so, Belikov is kind of thinking, well I need to work out the best deal here. , Stein arrives, uh, ready to get the hands on the handheld rights. so that's all he's thinking about.

Adam Cox: And he is I guess a bit blindsided, because Belikov's like, my deal is crap, I'm not getting paid, , I want all these late penalties put in to make sure that you agree to what you do. And, and make sure we get renumerated. I guess for Stein, he's like, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. But can we talk about the handheld rights?

Adam Cox: Can, can we just do that? And he's like, no, not until we've renegotiated the contract on the financial terms. And so Stein's like, okay, fine, we'll, we'll do that. And so Belokov is like, we'll draw up a contract. You come back next day and we'll get it sorted. You said contract again.

Adam Cox: Damn it.

Adam Cox: Hank Rogers, meanwhile, persuades Alexei to meet with him. And they bond really quickly because they've got this love for computers. And they start talking about potential sequels to Tetris. And Rogers finally feels like he's got a friendly face in Moscow. And for Alexei, if anyone was going to have the rights to his game, he could now see actually this guy's the one to have it.

Adam Cox: He's the honest guy. sO back with Belikov, he's now in a prime position having three individual parties offered to pay for these handheld rights. But first things first, he invites Stein back to review this new contract, highlighting the financial penalties, and he makes a big deal about getting him to look at those.

Adam Cox: He secretly redefines what personal computers are in the contract. Oh, does he? Sneaky bitch. And he says that it should have a keyboard. Sure. Which a games console doesn't have. No. ,

Adam Cox: and Stein's in a rush to get the contract done so he can then get the handheld rights, and he just signs it without checking it. So. Those rights for the games console. Yeah. And now back with the e log. Because it's backdated as well. Yeah. So Given how sneaky Stein had been, Sneaky Stein, Sneaky Stein. Sneaky 

Adam Cox: belikov now had a decision to make. Does he give the rights to Hank Rogers, who's this honest businessman, or Kevin Maxwell, this kind of slippery, slimy man hasn't got a clue There's no way Rogers could offer the same amount of money Maxwell could, being from the Mirror Group, this huge corporation, but what Rogers could do was an honest business partnership and a fair deal that would reward ELOG in the long term.

Adam Cox: Seeing Alexei's trust in Rogers, Belikov makes the deal to go, yep, Henk Rogers is the guy, and he gives him the handheld rights. Uh, and that's kind of a big deal, a Russian dealing directly with a guy with an American accent. Yes, he wasn't born there, but in all, appearances and the way he speaks, he's American, right? And when Stein finds out, he is furious. There's not a lot. He can do. Um, he's just lost a huge portion of his rights, but he has to live with that fact.

Adam Cox: But then something Rogers wasn't expecting was a proposition from Belikov. , and so this huge opportunity now presents itself. And also it covers his butt because 

Adam Cox: He's already making video games for Nintendo right now. But, Atari Games, at the same time was busy manufacturing Tetris under Mirrorsoft in the US. And they were, like, selling half a million units, of this game in America. And they created this huge marketing campaign, taking out this full page spread in USA Today to highlight how Tetris was theirs, it's one of their future game strategies, and all this sort of stuff.

Adam Cox: And so, they didn't have a clue that they didn't own the rights while they were doing all this. Shit. Robert Maxwell learns that his son has lost the handheld rights and he is furious. And now Robert was a powerful man and very well connected. He knew the USSR general secretary, which is like the president, I believe, uh, Mikhail Gorbachev, 

Adam Cox: maxwell threatened Belikov and said that you're making a mistake. And he was going to get his dad to bring it to the attention of the USSR president. 

Kyle Risi: I'm gonna get my dad 

Adam Cox: involved. Do you 

Kyle Risi: know my dad is? My dad will beat 

Adam Cox: up your dad. And Belikov got a call from someone, some anonymous person threatening , you better fly to London.

Adam Cox: And you better get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness from Robert Maxwell. Otherwise, He's going to tell. It's probably not going to end up well for him. Well, the thing is, though, was actually scared. Like he's a powerful figure in this corporation, but he knew like what could go on behind closed doors.

Adam Cox: And he . could be seen as betraying Russia to the West, but to him, he could use this reasoning that, okay, he was trying to get the best deal for the country. And he also says it was a better time to do this because what was going on in 1988, USSR was on its last legs anyway. Had it been any earlier, doing a less transformative time, then it probably would have been a different story and Belikov could have been killed.

Adam Cox: That's what he thinks. But actually, Gorbachev was too busy dealing with a crumbling economy that he's like, I haven't got time for computer games. Shut up. Meanwhile, Rogers knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to get the game consoles rights. And so he said to Belikov, right, would it help if I bring the two head honchos from Nintendo over to seal the deal?

Adam Cox: Belikov was like, yep, do it, get it done. And so there's this really covert operation where two of these people from Nintendo have to try and leave the country without anyone else knowing. So only one other person in Nintendo knew that they were going to Moscow to get the rights because they couldn't let on to Atari or Mirrorsoft or anyone else world what was going on.

Adam Cox: Rogers, with Nintendo, seals the deal and it's worth a half a million dollars in royalties and 50 cents on every cartridge. And this was like 30 times better than what Stein had offered them. And then, yeah, Nintendo issues a cease and desist letter to Atari, which is a huge surprise to them.

Adam Cox: They're like, no, we have the rights. Here, here's all the documentation. It's with Mirrorsoft and everything like that. And they're like, no, you can't make Tetris anymore. . So they're like, right, we're going to sue you, Nintendo. And they tried to take them to court.

Adam Cox: Nintendo gets Belikov involved, and he was going to be their star witness to reveal everything that happened. But somehow I don't think it progressed in the same way and the judge granted favour of Nintendo quite quickly because it was all written in black and white. Who is the judge 

Kyle Risi: in this situation when you're dealing with different countries?

Kyle Risi: I don't know. It's like, is there like a big global judge? Who 

Adam Cox: is he? I imagine he's wearing a wig. Is he 

Kyle Risi: cute? 

Adam Cox: I don't know. So the judge, sides with Nintendo, and Atari has to destroy everything they have on Tetris, losing them a lot of money.

Adam Cox: And so Atari are naturally pissed, and they turn to Robert Maxwell and Mirosoft to blame them, but Robert Maxwell disappears from the side of his yacht in 1991. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? 

Kyle Risi: Ooh. , 

Adam Cox: it wasn't an accident. This is what people wonder. So his body is found naked and floating offshore.

Adam Cox: The official ruling at the inquest is that he died by heart attack combined with accidental drowning. And I think people say like, oh yeah, he used to sleep naked. He probably just went to take a wee off the side of the boat and then, I don't know, fell off. Yeah, yeah. But, others suspect that maybe he was pushed or perhaps jumped himself, because only a few days later news broke that he had stolen 460 million from the Mirror Group's pension funds to prop up his empire.

Adam Cox: So, that was on the brink of collapse and he was, I guess, banking on Tetris saving it. We don't know that for sure. Allegedly. 

Kyle Risi: So who do they think that 

Adam Cox: maybe murdered him? Well, there's not enough, evidence out there, but people speculate that, I think... Ghislaine. Suspects that there's some, , people involved, but there's nothing proven, essentially.

Adam Cox: And the fallout of, Robert Maxwell's death leads his family's... Reputation in tatters. Kevin Maxwell is accused of fraud and faced an eight month trial before being acquitted. And, obviously, Ghislaine Maxwell, um, she has a troubled story. Okay, I know we're 

Kyle Risi: at the end of the podcast, but it is Ghislaine.

Kyle Risi: Ghislaine. Stop saying Ghislaine! I can't say 

Adam Cox: it! Ghislaine. So, yeah, I think her judge, during her trial suggested that, oh, all these things that happened with her family have led her to Jeffrey Epstein. And so that's why she's, oh, really fallen on this dark path. But yeah, there's some connection there.

Adam Cox: You always, you always have a choice though. You ,have a choice. You do. Over at Nintendo, the Game Boy sells almost 120 million units worldwide. And a big part of that success was Tetris. It's thought that the game was sold with 35 million Game Boys. So a big chunk of that. Wow. Alexei, however, still doesn't make any money from this whatsoever.

Kyle Risi: Not a single penny. That's 

Adam Cox: so bad. I know. The guy that created all this. But 

Kyle Risi: surely the Soviet Union is now over, right? And he still not made any 

Adam Cox: money? Well, the thing is, USSR collapses in 1991. aNd then it's at that point Hank Rogers is able to then help him a bit better.

Adam Cox: Okay. And he helps Alexy to come to the USA and gives him a job at his company. , 'cause I guess he feels a bit of guilt for Alexy not getting anything. And so he wants to help him and he, and he generally likes 'em, they become really good friends. And so once the rights, I think, end in around about 1996, I think it is.

Adam Cox: What they do is they, Alexei and Hank Rogers starts the Tetris company together. And they get the rights back, and Alexei finally after 11 years since making the game. Is able to earn money from it. Wow. How much does he earn? I don't know, but he's got the rights worldwide for Tetris.

Adam Cox: He gets them all back over time. So it's all owned by 

Kyle Risi: him now. It's back in his domain. 

Adam Cox: Good for him. Him and, uh, Hank Rogers. Yeah. Okay. And so there's been a song about Tetris. If you remember from the nineties. No. Do you remember the Tetris song? No. I would look it up. Well now.

Adam Cox: Well, no, not now, but look it up. There's a Tetris song. Uh, there's been documentaries. Well, what kind of 

Kyle Risi: song? Like, like a theme song or like a 

Adam Cox: pop song? Well, they take the song from the games console from the game and they turn it into like a dance track. Oh, okay. Interesting. 

Kyle Risi: You've probably heard of it.

Kyle Risi: I think it might ring a bell 

Adam Cox: if I hear it. Yeah. Uh, so there's a song, there's documentaries been made about it. There's even a film about this saga, which was released on Apple TV. And there's been about 80 versions of this game released officially on various computers, phones, game consoles, and it's thought to have sold 520 million copies worldwide, making it one of the biggest and most popular games ever, possibly only ever surpassed by Mario.

Adam Cox: Wow. So thanks to Hank Rogers being a fair and honest businessman, Alexei against all odds, given the political backdrop and drama that was going on in the world, brings this game to market and finally gets the recognition that he deserves.

Adam Cox: And yeah, that is the story of Tetris. 

Kyle Risi: Wow. Who knew? So much drama. A lot of drama. Over, over a bloody game. I know. Between Russia and America, it almost feels like, uh, Little Tricks for Little Kids, do you know what I mean? Like, these two big superpowers getting involved 

Adam Cox: know, the fact that there's , spies and all this , I mean, it's not really like, espionage, but it's just, it felt, like you say, a lot of drama, and People like double crossing each other,

Kyle Risi: well, it was really good. Thank you very much. 

Adam Cox: Great. And so shall we do the outro? Let's go for it.

Adam Cox: And so we come to the end of another episode of The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. If you found today's episode both fascinating and intriguing, then please subscribe and leave us a review. And don't just stop there, schedule your episodes to download automatically. Doing this not only ensures you're always in the loop, but also boosts our visibility, helping us to serve you even more captivating tales straight to your ears.

Adam Cox: You can also follow us on Instagram at The Compendium Podcast. Or visit our home on the web at thecompendiumpodcast. com. We release new episodes every Tuesday. And so until then, remember sometimes even in the face of legal battles and corporate greed, integrity can prevail, paving the way for true innovation to shine.

Adam Cox: See ya. See you later.