Videogame Tetris Hits 100 Million Paid Mobile Downloads

Classic arcade videogame Tetris has taken on new life as the top selling title for play on mobile telephones.

Photo: Videogame Tetris Hits 100 Million Paid Mobile Downloads

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and Blue Planet Software which owns the rights to the game are holding a press conference on Thursday to announce that more than 100 million copies of the game have been downloaded.

"As mobile devices get into the hands of more people, so does Tetris," said Blue Planet chief executive Henk Rogers.

"It's a testament to the game's staying power that it remains popular on today's most modern technology," AFP reports.

Tetris is a game that is best described as timeless fun that most anyone can enjoy. It was created in 1984 by Russian-born mathematician Alexey Pajitnov, who got a big break in 1989 when Nintendo decided to put the game on the Game Boy.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since that time the game has sold 125 million units on 30 PC platforms alone.

EA secured the mobile phone rights to the game in 2006, but the game had already been on the market since 2001. This move to EA’s care brought forth a renaissance for the game, and has been a huge win for all involved, Crispy Gamer reports.

Said Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Software, which manages Tetris licensing rights, "Tetris on mobile will never go away." Frankly, we hope he's right. If mobile Tetris did go away, we might actually have to converse with people while standing in line at the DMV, Game Daily reports.