Alexey Pajitnov facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alexey Pajitnov
Алексе́й Па́житнов
Pajitnov in 2024
Born	Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (1955-04-16) April 16, 1955 (age 70) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Soviet Union (until 1991) Russia United States
Alma mater	Moscow Aviation Institute
Occupation	Computer engineer video game designer
Employer	Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre The Tetris Company Microsoft
Known for	Creator of Tetris
Awards	First Penguin Award – Game Developers Choice Awards (2006) LARA – Der Deutsche Games Award [de] (2009)

Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian-American computer engineer and game designer. He is best known for creating the famous game Tetris in 1985. He developed Tetris while working at a science center in the Soviet Union. After Tetris became popular around the world in 1987, he released a new game called Welltris in 1989.

In 1991, Alexey Pajitnov moved to the United States. He later became a U.S. citizen. In 1996, Pajitnov started The Tetris Company with another game designer, Henk Rogers. Even though Tetris was very popular, Pajitnov did not earn money from it for many years. This changed after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991.

Early Life and Education

Alexey Pajitnov was born in Moscow, Russia. His parents were both writers. His father was an art critic, and his mother wrote for newspapers and a film magazine. Through his parents, Pajitnov learned to love the arts, especially movies. He often went to film screenings with his mother, including the Moscow Film Festival.

Pajitnov was also very good at math. He enjoyed solving puzzles and problems. When he was 11, his parents divorced. He later studied applied mathematics at the Moscow Aviation Institute.

Creating Games

Starting His Career

In 1977, Pajitnov worked as an intern at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. After graduating in 1979, he got a job there. He worked on speech recognition at the academy's Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre. When the center received new computers, researchers would write small programs to test them. Pajitnov said this became his "excuse for making games."

He found computer games fascinating. They combined logic and emotion, which he loved. Pajitnov was interested in math, puzzles, and how people think when using computers.

The Birth of Tetris

Pajitnov looked for ideas for a new game. He remembered playing with pentominoes as a child. This game involved creating pictures with different shapes. He also remembered how hard it was to fit the pieces back into their box. This memory inspired him to create a game based on that idea.

He started working on Tetris using an Electronika 60 computer. He built the first basic version in two weeks. He spent more time playing and adding to the game, finishing it on June 6, 1985. This early version did not have levels or a scoring system. But Pajitnov knew it was a great game because he couldn't stop playing it.

Expanding Tetris

The game caught the attention of his coworkers, like programmer Dmitri Pevlovsky. Pevlovsky helped Pajitnov connect with Vadim Gerasimov. Vadim was a 16-year-old intern at the Soviet Academy. Pajitnov wanted to make a color version of Tetris for the IBM Personal Computer. Vadim helped him with this.

Gerasimov created the PC version in less than three weeks. With help from Pevlovsky, they spent another month adding new features. These included keeping score and sound effects. The game was first available in the Soviet Union. It was later released worldwide in 1988.

Life After Tetris

Tetris was managed by a Soviet company called ELORG. This company controlled computer software in the Soviet Union. Because Pajitnov worked for the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he did not receive money from Tetris sales for many years.

In 1991, after the Soviet Union ended, Pajitnov moved to the United States. In 1996, he started The Tetris Company with Henk Rogers. This allowed him to finally earn money from his game. He also helped design puzzles for other games, like Yoshi's Cookie for the Super NES. He also designed Pandora's Box, which has jigsaw-style puzzles.

Pajitnov worked for Microsoft from 1996 to 2005. There, he worked on puzzle games like Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection and Hexic. A special version of Hexic, called Hexic HD, was included with every new Xbox 360 Premium package. In 2005, he also started working with WildSnake Software to create new puzzle games.

Personal Life

Alexey Pajitnov moved to the United States in 1991. He became a U.S. citizen and now lives in Clyde Hill, Washington. He is married to Nina and has two sons.

Views on World Events

After the conflict in Ukraine began in 2022, Pajitnov shared his thoughts. He said he was against the war. He also expressed hope that peace would return to Ukraine and Russia.

Games Created

Awards and Recognition

In 1996, GameSpot called Alexey Pajitnov one of the most important computer game developers ever. In March 2007, he received the Game Developers Choice Awards First Penguin Award. This award recognized his role in starting the casual games market.

In June 2009, he received an honorary award at the LARA - Der Deutsche Games Award in Cologne, Germany. In 2015, Pajitnov won the Bizkaia Award at the Fun & Serious Game Festival.

Alexey Pajitnov was played by actor Nikita Yefremov in the 2023 movie Tetris. The movie tells the story of how Tetris was licensed around the world in the late 1980s.

See also

In Spanish: Alekséi Pázhitnov para niños

• BreakThru!, a video game Pajitnov supported
• ClockWerx, another video game Pajitnov supported