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Tetris: The Games People Play


Summary: If you are like me, you probably thought that most video games were created by people who get paid to create them.  Brilliant computer-minded employees of computer-minded businesses gather together and hash together the next hit video game.  But history shows that wasn't always the case, especially in the initial stages of video games.  The graphic novel, Tetris: The Games People Play, which is the story of the game, Tetris, is a perfect example of that.  The creator of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov, constructed it because he wanted his own computer version of a pentomino puzzle.  On his own time, Alexey created the programming for his electronic version and even shortened the number of blocks from five to four.  Alexey was proud of his creation and enjoyed playing it. He enjoyed it so much that he readily shared copies of his game with his coworkers . . . for free.  It was such a success that Alexey soon convinced others to help create a better, more graphic version of his game, which again was shared to others for free.  Because of the addictive quality of the game, it quickly caught on.  Soon after its creation and growing popularity, some major companies were looking to buy the game, despite its lack of violence and destruction.  These companies saw an addictive game that had the potential to net huge profits. This is where the games truly began. The fight for the rights to Tetris becomes heated, convoluted, and quite messy. So, how did all this confusion start?  Who ended up with the rights?  Did Alexey ever get paid for his creation? Tetris: The Games People Play will explain it all.

Reference: Brown, Box (2016). Tetris: The Games People Play. First Second. New York.

Why I Picked It Up: Tetris is the reason why I bought my own Game Boy. Being a fan of the game, I was intrigued by it's origin, especially since it seemed to require an entire book to tell its tale.

Why I Finished It: The idea that Tetris was originally given away for free boggled my mind. Someone invented a video game and wasn't thinking about making a profit; unheard of! Then to top that, there were so many companies who claimed to own the rights to Tetris or at least they thought they owned the rights.  Turns out there were a number of people who thought the owned the rights, so much so that they starting selling off their rights to others, which was naturally illegal.  There were home console rights, hand held rights, coin-op rights, etc.  It truly was a complex and intense situation, which is why it makes for some great reading.  I had to know how it all worked out, especially for Alexey.

Recommendations: Anyone who was a fan of the game or of video games in general, would enjoy reading this novel. It's also a good study in business and how complicated business deals can get. There were so many people involved with the story that  it was difficult to keep all the names and companies straight.  But, the myriad of people didn't prevent me from understanding what was happening or make me lose interest.  On the contrary, I was so fascinated with the tale that I actually took the time to create a cheat sheet to help me comprehend it all.  Brown's use of black, white, and yellow colors in his illustrations works well with the story.  I saw it as a sort of homage to the simplistic coding used to develop programs; nothing brightly colored or elaborate.  This is definitely one graphic novel to be read on the living room sofa.

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