barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (02/02/90)
In article <SDL.90Jan31170429@lyra.lyra.mitre.org> sdl@lyra.mitre.org (Steven D. Litvinchouk) writes: >[From "The Rubik's Cube of the Soviet bloc," Boston Globe, January 30, >1990] > Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet mathematician and computer > programmer....is known to US computer fans as the author of > Tetris.... >... >[Actually, I remember reading that Tetris was originally based on a >game developed in Eastern Europe somewhere--Bulgaria?] If so, then you heard it directly or indirectly from me. A friend of mine claims (and I believe him) to be the true author of Tetris. Why do I believe him? Because: (1) We were playing his own version of the game fully 1 YEAR before anybody else in the USA even saw an advertisement for it (and he had had it a LONG before I met him); and, (2) Because he explained where he got the idea. It was from a SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN article which discussed the interlocking property of these 4-square shapes. His idea simply was to make it into a game, with pieces falling from the sky. His friend coded it up, and history was made. His game runs on the IBM PC. It allows you to rotate the piece in both directions (PD Amiga Tetrix does not). In addition, he invented another game called "Pentis" which is Tetris for 5-square shapes. It was MUCH harder (yes, we played that one too) but somehow not as much fun as Tetris. He also described how the Soviets had "ripped off" his idea and were going to market it in the USA. Sure enough, it was introduced a year later. He almost released the game into the Public Domain (because he was pissed) but didn't. I suppose that it's possible that two people in Eastern Europe could have created the same game (with the same name??), but I doubt it. I believe my friend. [His name has been omitted. He's back in his country now, and there's no sense stirring up hostility toward him.] Dan //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Baltimore, MD 21218 | | INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | | | COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////
cs03513@athena.csus.edu (Jerry Garcia) (02/06/90)
This is a test!!!!!!!!!!!