The story behind how Tetris became a global phenomenon is the basis of an upcoming Apple TV+ movie. The film will hit the streaming service on March 31st and Apple has just dropped the first trailer.
Taron Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, a Dutch entrepreneur who (spoiler) secured deals to distribute Tetris on the Game Boy and other consoles. Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov (played by Nikita Yefremov) created the game during the Cold War, but because he was a government employee, he didn’t receive any royalties at the outset. On the surface, that might not sound like the most compelling foundation for a thriller, but the rights to the classic puzzle game were embroiled in a clash between communism and capitalism.
The fast-paced trailer (appropriately soundtracked by “The Final Countdown”) highlights some of that inherent tension. Rogers encounters resistance from a British media mogul who wants the game, KGB agents and even Mikhail Gorbachev.
If you suddenly feel the urge to rotate falling shapes and create horizontal lines with them, there are dozens of ways to play Tetris. Still, it’s worth noting that the original version of the game just hit Nintendo Switch Online as part of the first wave of Game Boy titles on the service.