Havana Cuba.- Tetris is a Hollywood historical drama that takes place during the Cold War, in the mid-1980s, the period of greatest political tension and ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The plot focuses on the creation and popularization of the famous video game Tetris, and how it became a worldwide phenomenon.
The film, based on real events, narrates the odyssey that Henk Rogers had to go through to get the copyright for the Nintendo firm, and to be able to market Tetris worldwide. The game designer and CEO of Bulletproof was impressed by how addictive the game was; hence he traveled to Russia with the aim of obtaining permits for the Game Boy, Nintendo’s successful handheld device that was soon to be released.
Rogers had to manage to negotiate with corrupt communists on his home turf, compete with American companies, and also struggle to untangle the confusion surrounding the Tetris license.
In the middle of the discussion, there was a moment in which Rogers met with Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris. He told him that it was impossible to negotiate with him directly and that his life would be in danger if he stayed in Russia for long. In one scene they had the following dialogue:
“‘I’ll make you a millionaire,'” Henk said.
“Mr. Rogers, I am not entitled to receive any winnings from my gambling,” Pajitnov replied.
“‘That’s criminal,'” Henk said.
“No, it’s communism,” replied the Russian.
The Soviet Union’s copyright law had created a state monopoly on the import and export of copyrighted works, and Soviet researchers were not allowed to sell their creations. Although Tetris had been sold in the millions, the Russian programmer had not received a penny.
Several companies remained embroiled in the turbulent dispute with Elorg, the Soviet entity that owned the rights at the time. Mirrorsoft’s owner, Robert Maxwell, went so far as to pressure the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to cancel the contract between Elorg and Nintendo, but to no avail.
In January 1990, the Spectrum HoloByte company invited Pajitnov to the Consumer Electronics Show, where he got his first experience of life in America. He was in various cities and met with hosts, including the heads of Nintendo of America.
Pajitnov was struck by the freedom and advantages of Western society, realizing that there was no market in Russia for his programs. At the same time, sales of the Game Boy, along with a portable version of Tetris, skyrocketed, exceeding sales forecasts by three times.
After the fall of the socialist camp, Pajitnov moved to the United States. There he was able to recover the copyright on Tetris together with Henk Rogers, in 1996. During that time Cuba remained under the political and economic influence of the socialist bloc led by the Soviet Union; however, the Cubans could not play Tetris en masse. Video game consoles were only obtained through relatives abroad, so only a privileged few had access to Pajitnov’s game.
Thirty years later, video game consoles are still not sold in Cuba; Cubans have to go to the black market to get them. Regarding the protection of Cuban creations, the authors do not have the proper guarantee of their works, nor can they create freely if they want to depend on state entities to supervise their work.
