June 6th, 2014 marked the 30th year of Tetris, which was exported from the USSR to the US shortly after its creation in 1984. It is best known for its use of tetrominoes, which are geometric shapes composed of four squares that are connected in various ways.
Henk Rogers, the managing director of The Tetris Company, was one of few who played an important role in bringing the Russian puzzle game to the West and into America. "I think in the next five to 10 years," he says today, "Tetris will go from being a solitaire game to being a community game, a cooperative game."
"Most people have never seen a good game," Rogers says in a statement to WIRED, "because they only play by themselves on their own device, so they haven't gotten to see an amazing player play. I think this will be a new experience for them."
This theory matches the concept that has become popular for strategy games like League of Legends, in which stadiums of people gather to watch professionals play the game. It has become so popular that the United States began issuing athletic visas to pro gramers in the last year.
There is a new generation version of Tetris to be published by Ubisoft and appear on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The broadcast capabilities may help Tetris become the type of community experience like Rogers envisions for his game. Roger states he was a surf bum in the 70's, reports Time, and at the time no one would have imagined it would turn into a popular, competitive athletic activity.
"I see professional players. I see a Tetris league. I see competition between cities, between colleges. Just like we have athletic teams today, we'll have tetris teams," Roger envisions.