Top 10 Things Tetris Got Factually Right and Wrong

Right

At the beginning of the movie, as Henk tries to pitch “Tetris” to a bank manager, he talks about how he only played it for a few minutes, but has been seeing the blocks when he tries to sleep. This is a well-known phenomenon, the “Tetris Effect”, so prominent that a modern version of “Tetris” from 2018 was even named after it. And if you’ve ever played “Tetris” – which you almost certainly have, as it’s one of the most popular games of all time – you’ve probably experienced this yourself. Once you start arranging those tetrominoes into neat rows, you just can’t shake the game’s addictive nature.

Right

Henk stumbling across “Tetris” while at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas really IS how he discovered the game. In the movie, we see his sales assistant is more interested in playing “Tetris” than trying to hawk his computer version of the popular Asian board game, “Go”. Henk intervenes, but sees “Tetris’s” potential for himself, launching the battle for the rights in the West, because it was just that compelling. It’s strange to imagine now that there was a time before “Tetris”, the iconic and deceptively complex puzzle game. Would YOU have seen its potential if you’d been there that fateful day?

Wrong

The battle for “Tetris” heats up so much that back in Tokyo, Henk’s wife Akemi finds herself threatened by Russian government agents, sent by the Soviet embassy in Japan. It doesn’t look like anything like this ever happened, however. Nobody ever tried to scare Akemi Rogers into making her husband drop his pursuit of “Tetris”. It’s also not clear how much strain Henk’s pursuit of “Tetris” put on his family, as in the movie it becomes a major issue. But “Tetris” actually remains a family business today, somewhat, as Henk’s daughter Maya Rogers – who is seen in the movie as well – is now the CEO of The Tetris Company.

Right

If anyone can be said to be the true villains in “Tetris”, it may not be the shady, Soviet operatives, but the Maxwells, Robert and his son Kevin. The Maxwells are rude, belligerent, and think money will get them anything they want – not so when it comes to dealing with the Soviets. And in real life, not only were they likely just as unpleasant, getting caught up in a high-profile pension embezzlement scandal in the late 90s, but they also tried and failed to secure “Tetris’s” distribution rights. Their dealings with the equally slimy Robert Stein are also likely true to life, as it was Stein who erroneously thought he’d secured the rights for computers and home consoles.

Wrong

In the movie, everybody wanted to get the rights to “Tetris” before the looming collapse of the Soviet Union ensured it would be even harder to wrangle the correct documents from Elorg, the government organization that technically owned it. But this was all heavily dramatized for the movie. Yes, the USSR did eventually collapse in 1991, and the “Tetris” licensing battle did happen just before this, but there wasn’t the last-minute panic. Of course, it makes for a more interesting movie to have absolutely everything and everyone working against Henk, Alexey, and even Nintendo, and it adds to the satisfaction when Alexey finally gets a Game Boy from America.

Right

Throughout the movie, Robert Maxwell repeatedly asserts that he’s good friends with Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union. He even travels to Russia personally to talk to Gorbachev, in an attempt to warn him that the USSR is about to collapse while strongarming him into granting Mirrorsoft “Tetris’s” worldwide rights. Gorbachev, however, wasn’t one to kowtow to the demands of a rude, British billionaire, and refuses to use his influence to force Elorg to give the Maxwells the “Tetris” rights. This is, in fact, largely true; the Maxwells DID try to get Gorbachev himself to intervene, and they still didn’t get the publishing rights.

Right

In the 1980s, the rivalry between Nintendo and Atari was fraught as ever, with matters made worse by various backroom deals – all depicted in the movie – threatening to give Atari “Tetris’s” distribution rights instead. Henk works closely with Nintendo, so close that they even show him a prototype Game Boy before the product is publicly announced. We don’t know if Henk Rogers WAS shown a Game Boy, but Nintendo’s stake in “Tetris” is true to life, and it WAS the major publisher of the title for years. And, yes, Nintendo was accused by Belikov of publishing “Tetris” illegally because of some contractual ‘misunderstandings’.

Wrong

The first friendly face Henk meets when he arrives in Moscow is Sasha, the put-upon and slightly eccentric Russian translator. She initially seems like she’s Henk’s ally in the bid to negotiate with Belikov, but that’s not the case. Eventually, she arrives at Henk’s apartment to warn him that he’s a threat to the Soviet Union, and to seduce him. It turns out that he’s the victim of a honey trap. Luckily, Henk being a family man dedicated to his wife and children, he doesn’t fall for it – though Sasha returns in a more antagonistic role later on in the movie, still trying to stop Henk from getting what he wants with “Tetris”.

Right

Were Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov really friends? Yes! They really did meet in the 1980s when Henk traveled to Moscow to try and secure the rights. In the movie, their budding friendship is a little strained, with Pajitnov perpetually paranoid that somebody is listening in or following them. But eventually, Alexey took Henk to see the real Moscow. And as we see right at the end, Alexey did come to America after the fall of the Iron Curtain, with Henk helping facilitate his move to Seattle. Together, they formed The Tetris Company in the mid-90s, and finally, Pajitnov could profit from the video game he created once Nintendo’s rights expired.

Wrong

Possibly the most talked-about scene in the whole film because of its absurdity, the climax sees Henk, Alexey, and two Nintendo executives in an all-out car chase through 1980s Moscow while “Holding Out for a Hero” plays. It’s just about the most eighties thing you could imagine, and it absolutely didn’t happen in real life. There was no rush to the airport to escape the KGB, and they definitely didn’t almost crash into a semi in a narrow alleyway. The real-life Rogers and Pajitnov said that while they did give suggestions to make the script more accurate, when it strayed into more ‘Hollywood’ territory, they let the filmmakers do their own thing.