Game Mode: Tetris Turns 40

1A

NPR

News

4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Think back to the first time someone told you about the game Tetris. Was it a friend? An older sibling or a parent? Maybe you saw someone playing it at an arcade.

How long did it take you to get what Tetris is — what you had to accomplish in the game and how to play it?

2024 boasts the 40th anniversary of the classic game of falling blocks, known as tetrominoes.

More than 520 million copies of Tetris have been sold since its worldwide release in the 1980s.

For our series "Game Mode", we're setting up to stack — looking at the game's history and why it became and has stayed popular.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Indicator is a podcast where Daily Economic News is about what matters to you.
0:04.5	Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation.
0:06.5	So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices,
0:11.3	the S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever,
0:14.5	follow all the big changes and what they mean for you.
0:17.1	Make America affordable again.
0:20.4	Listen to The Indicator, the Daily Economics podcast from NPR.
0:27.8	Do you recognize this tune?
0:33.9	How does it make you feel?
0:44.0	Yeah. How does it make you feel? Maybe you're more familiar with this version.
0:58.6	But you might not have heard Tetris played like this.
1:11.3	Think back to the first time someone told you about the game, Tetris.
1:14.1	Was it a friend, an older sibling, or a parent?
1:16.5	Maybe you saw someone playing it at an arcade.
1:20.1	How long did it take you to get what Tetris is,
1:22.6	what you had to accomplish in the game, and how to play it? Well, 2024 is the 40th anniversary of the classic game of falling blocks known as tetrominoes.
1:29.8	More than 520 million copies of Tetris have been sold since its worldwide release in the 1980s,
1:35.9	has been available on more than 50 gaming platforms, and in the subject of multiple psychological studies,
1:41.6	on how it affects the human brain.
1:43.9	The studio Digital Eclipse is out with a new version celebrating this year's anniversary
1:48.1	called Tetris Forever.
1:50.1	It's a collection of different iterations of Tetris, but with a twist that looks back of the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.