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| {{Infobox_Software | | | {{Infobox_Company | |
| software_name = Tetris| | | company_name = My Arcade| |
| software_image = [[File:Tetris logo in Russian.png|300px]]<br />[[File:Tetris logo in English.png|300px]]| | | company_logo = [[File:My Arcade logo.jpg]]| |
| developer = [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union|AcademySoft]]| | | company_type = Label of [[DreamGEAR]]| |
| publisher = [[Elorg]], [[Microprose|Spectrum Holobyte]]| | | foundation = 2014| |
| systems = [[Elektronika 60]], [[DOS]]| | | location = Torrance, California, U.S.| |
| release = '''Elektronika 60'''<br />USSR: June 6, 1984<br />'''DOS'''<br />USSR: 1986<br />Canada, US (''[[Tetris Gold]]''): 1992| | | key_people = not disclosed| |
| added_to_museum = DOS: April 5, 2020| | | num_employees = not disclosed| |
| | industry = video games| |
| | products = video games| |
| | homepage = http://myarcadegaming.com/| |
| }} | | }} |
| '''''Tetris''''' is an influencial puzzle [[video game]]. | | '''My Arcade''' is a label of [[DreamGEAR]]. |
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| ==Development== | | ==Foundation== |
| [[File:Tetris Elektronika 60.jpg|258px|left]]
| | The label was established in 2014 for DreamGEAR's handheld [[video game console]]s. |
| ''Tetris'' was first developed by [[Alexey Pajitnov]] in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on June 6, 1984, while employed as a computer engineer at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]].
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| The original prototype of Tetris was created on an [[Elektronika 60]], a [[computer]] that lacked graphic capabilities and was only capable of displaying text.
| | ==Branding== |
| | Since 2016, all of DreamGEAR's products, including their website, have been branded with the My Arcade label. |
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| Later that year, it was converted to [[DOS]] by [[Vadim Gerasimov]], who was a high school student at the time. It was expanded by Gerasimov, Pajitnov, and [[Dmitry Pavlovsky]], a computer engineer, from 1984 to 1986.
| | ==Video game consoles by My Arcade owned by the WEC Museum== |
| | {| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%" |
| | !| Title |
| | !| Released |
| | !| Added to Museum |
| | !| Notes |
| | |- |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Bases Loaded Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2020 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | October 2, 2021 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Bases Loaded]]'', ''[[Bases Loaded II: Second Season]]'', ''[[Bases Loaded 3]]'', ''[[Bases Loaded 4]]'', ''[[Goal!]]'', ''[[Hoops]]'', and ''[[Racket Attack]]''. |
| | |- |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Bubble Bobble Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | October 6, 2021 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Bubble Bobble]]'', ''[[Bubble Bobble Part II]]'', and ''[[Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2]]''. |
| | |- |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Contra Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2020 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | October 22, 2021 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[arcade]] versions of ''[[Contra]]'' and ''[[Super Contra]]''. |
| | |- |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Dig Dug Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | August 2, 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Dig Dug]]'', ''[[Dig Dug II]]'', and ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]''. |
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| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Don Doko Don Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2020 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | October 3, 2021 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Chack'n Pop]]'', ''[[Don Doko Don]]'', and ''[[Don Doko Don 2]]''. |
| | |- |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Galaga Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | October 4, 2021 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Galaga]]'', ''[[Galaxian]]'', and ''[[Xevious]]''. |
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| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Ms. Pac-Man Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | August 2, 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] versions of ''[[Mappy]]'', ''[[Ms. Pac-Man]]'', and ''[[Sky Kid]]''. |
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| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | ''[[Pocket Player|Pac-Man Pocket Player]]'' |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | 2018 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | August 2, 2019 |
| | | style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; text-align:center" | Included [[Sega Genesis|Genesis]] versions of ''[[Pac-Man (video game)|Pac-Man]]'', ''[[Pac-Mania]]'', and ''[[Pac-Attack|Pac-Panic]]''. |
| | |} |
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| ==Spectrum Holobyte and Mirrorsoft releases==
| | [[Category:Brand names]] |
| As the game was made in the USSR, a communist country that was largely closed to outsiders, it was irregular for a product to have a worldwide commercial release.
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| However, a British man named [[Robert Stein]] sought the rights to ''Tetris''. He first made telephone calls with Pajitnov and was later told to deal with AcademySoft, the internal licensing and publishing division of the Soviet Academy. When he was told that they were interested, he took this as a verbal agreement. Stein made a deal with the British publisher [[Mirrorsoft]] to sell ''[[Tetris (Mirrorsoft)|Tetris]]'' for [[computer]]s in Europe and with the American publisher [[Microprose|Spectrum HoloByte]] to sell ''[[Tetris (Spectrum Holobyte)|Tetris]]'' for computers in North America.
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| Before ''Tetris'' was commercially released Stein was contacted by the Soviet organization known as [[Elorg|Elektronorgtechnica]], or Elorg, which informed him that he did not have a contract to publish ''Tetris'' and that all further negotiations would have to go through them.
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| Stein flew to the Soviet Union to meet with Elorg directly, however, before any contract was signed, the computer versions of ''Tetris'' were released, in January 1988, and became huge successes. Stein eventually signed a deal with Elorg on May 10, 1988, which granted a ten-year license to release ''Tetris'' on home computers as well as the vaguely worded "different types of computers".
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| ==Atari Games, Bullet-Proof Software, Sega, and Tandy releases==
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| In 1988, Spectrum Holobyte sold its ''Tetris'' rights for release in Japan to a Dutchman named [[Henk Rogers]] through his company, [[Blue Planet Software|Bullet-Proof Software]]. Mirrorsoft sold its ''Tetris'' rights for release in North America to [[NetherRealm Studios|Atari Games]]. Atari Games then sold its [[arcade]] rights to [[Sega]] and its [[video game console]] rights to Henk Rogers.
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| Robert Stein retained the rights to the home computer versions, and further licensed [[RadioShack|Tandy]] to release a version of ''Tetris'' in North America.
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| The [[Tetris (Bullet-Proof Software)|computer]] and [[Tetris (Family Computer)|console]] versions by Bullet-Proof Software were released in 1988. In the same year, the [[Tetris (Sega)|Sega version]] was released in arcades.
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| The Atari Games version of ''[[Tetris (Atari Games)|Tetris]]'' was released in arcades in 1988 and on the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] through its Tengen subsidiary in May 1989.
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| Also in 1989, the Tandy version of ''[[Tetris (ZCT Systems)|Tetris]]'', developed by [[ZCT Systems]], was released for the [[TRS-80 Color Computer]].
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| ==Nintendo release==
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| [[Nintendo]] was preparing the launch of the [[Game Boy]]. Nintendo president [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]] was an acquaintance of Henk Rogers, so the latter sought to acquire the handheld rights to ''Tetris''. He tried to negotiate with Atari Games and Robert Stein. However, after being told by Stein that he'd have to consult Elorg first, and trying and failing to negotiate with Stein several times, Henk Rogers traveled to the Soviet Union to negotiate directly with Elorg.
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| At the meeting, Elorg director [[Nikolai Belikov]] was surprised upon seeing a Bullet-Proof Software [[ROM cartridge|cartridge]] of Tetris for the Famicom, as he had thought that only the rights to home computer versions had been signed. Belikov originally claimed Bullet-Proof Software had released the game without a contract, but Henk Rogers explained that he had acquired the rights from Atari Games, who had acquired the rights from Robert Stein.
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| After learning of the complex licensing agreements, Belikov sought to regain the rights and obtain more financially lucrative contracts. During this period, Rogers befriended Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, and Pajitnov supported Rogers during the contract negotiations. Belikov proposed that Stein's console and handheld licenses would be canceled and Nintendo would be granted the rights to ''Tetris'' for both consoles and handheld systems. Rogers flew to the United States so that he could get [[Nintendo of America]] to sign the contracts. Nintendo of America president [[Minoru Arakawa]] and its lawyer [[Howard Lincoln]] signed the contracts, as did Belikov, Rogers, and Stein. The latter hadn't read the contract fully and hadn't noticed the section that defined a computer as a machine with a monitor and a keyboard.
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| Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System [[Tetris (Nintendo)|version]] was released in November 1989.
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| ==Console rights dispute==
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| [[Tengen]], the console division of Atari Games, published a console port of the arcade version of ''Tetris'' for the Nintendo Entertainment System in May 1989. The Tengen version of Tetris was released for the system on a [[ROM cartridge|cartridge]] that was not licensed by Nintendo
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| As the Nintendo and Tengen versions were released on the same system, this led to a complicated rights dispute. Approximately six companies had a claim on the rights of ''Tetris''. Elorg, the division under the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR that held the ''Tetris'' rights, assigned the rights to publish the arcade version to Atari Games. The rights to publish the console version outside of Japan were assigned to Nintendo.
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| Atari Games argued that the Nintendo Entertainment System was a computer rather than a console due to the fact that it was called the Family Computer in Japan. Eventually, ELORG concluded that the Family Computer was a console and assigned the exclusive rights to publish console versions of ''Tetris'' to Nintendo.
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| As a result, publication of the Tengen version of ''Tetris'' had to cease and existing copies of the game had to be recalled.
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| Nintendo's victory also allowed for the uncontested publication of the [[Game Boy]] version. This version was packed-in with the North American and European releases of the console, which helped sell the system. In turn, the Game Boy helped increase the popularity of ''Tetris'' worldwide.
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| [[Category: Puzzle games]]
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| [[Category: Soviet Union]]
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| [[Category: Tetris variants]]
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| [[Category: Video games]]
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| [[Category: Video games developed by Alexey Pajitnov]]
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| [[Category: Video games developed by Dmitry Pavlovsky]]
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| [[Category: Video games developed by Vadim Gerasimov]]
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| [[Category: Video games developed in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]]
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| [[Category: Video games licensed by AcademySoft]]
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| [[Category: Video games licensed by Elorg]]
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| [[Category: Video games published by Spectrum Holobyte]]
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| [[Category: video games released on DOS]]
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| [[Category: video games released on Elektronika 60]]
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| [[Category: video games released in 1984]]
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| [[Category: video games released in 1986]] | |
