Tetris: The Games People Play - Box Brown

It is, perhaps, the perfect video game. Simple yet addictive, Tetris delivers an irresistible, unending puzzle that has players hooked. Play it long enough and you’ll see those brightly colored geometric shapes everywhere. You’ll see them in your dreams.

Alexey Pajitnov had big ideas about games. In 1984, he created Tetris in his spare time while developing software for the Soviet government. Once Tetris emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, it was an instant hit. Nintendo, Atari, Sega―game developers big and small all wanted Tetris. A bidding war was sparked, followed by clandestine trips to Moscow, backroom deals, innumerable miscommunications, and outright theft.

In this graphic novel, Box Brown untangles the complex history and delves deep into the role games play in art, culture, and commerce. 

This is a very thorough and intriguing history of the game of Tetris, told in graphic novel format, and made accessible to audiences of varying ages and levels of interest. Though some may consider this to be a book that should focus entirely on Tetris (just look at the main title), the entirety of the book covers a lot of ground, from the origins of Nintendo, to card games, to, yes, Tetris. There is a lot of interesting background information that many might not know, which influenced the creation of Tetris as a world-renowned game of skill. There's actually a lot more intrigue, strategy, and espionage in relation to the development of the game than people might initially believe. Tetris is the story of a game that started a revolution, both in terms of gaming and psychology! I definitely Recommend this great graphic novel for those interested in gaming and history on subjects not normally covered in classrooms or lesson plans!


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