Recently, I've noticed that some sites are announcing the fortieth anniversary of Tetris, June 6, 1984, to be more precise. However, other sources indicate that the game emerged at some point in 1985, first on the Electronika 60 system, and a year later with its port for PC. So, where did that 'June 1984' come from? The strongest hypothesis points to a publicity stunt, conjured up to celebrate its 'false 25 years' during the development of an old edition of E3...
A frequent problem in the world of video games is the lack of precise historical documentation. For example, if you visit the official Pac-Man page, you'll discover that the game reached the Japanese public in July 1980... but we don't have the exact day. We also know that Space Invaders has a copyright registration from April 1, 1978, and when looking for the precise moment of its launch in Japan, what we get is just 'July'. (スペースインベーダー, 78/07)
Now, everything seems to indicate that these small historical controversies have reached Tetris. Alekséi Pázhitnov himself said he created it in 1985, however, a quick visit to the Spanish version of Wikipedia says 'June 6, 1984'. Following that chain, we end up at a Reuters article that confirms that date, and also mentions the development of the 2009 edition of the (now defunct) E3 convention. That event lasted three days (June 2, 3, and 4), so how does Tetris 'fit' into all this?
June 6, 1984, and the 'Non-Anniversary' of Tetris
On the 'Tetris Concept' forum, a user named 'necrosaro' shared in September 2014 several links that cast doubt on June 6, 1984 as the official birth date for Tetris. One of those links takes us to the PRWeek portal, where it mentions that the public relations agency Grayling Connecting Point, with a budget of $250,000 from Blue Planet Software (now The Tetris Company), started the 'Tetris' 25th Anniversary' campaign, with the goal of presenting Tetris not as a 'relic', but as a classic that remains relevant. Even Google joined the celebration on June 6, creating a doodle.
The campaign was an absolute success... but it left that 'June 6, 1984' nailed down. In the same Tetris Concept thread, a user identified as 'cgwg' published the timestamps of the original Tetris versions, and the oldest one reports 'April 4, 1985'. However, there's more: if you visit the official Tetris section on Vadim Gerasimov's personal page (the creator of the IBM PC-compatible port), you'll notice that the development years are '1984-1986'... but in a snapshot from June 2, 2009, the date says '1985-1986'. Someone decided to ask Gerasimov himself about this in 2018, and his response was emphatic: The birthday of Pázhitnov's original version was shifted a year.
In summary, the available information suggests that June 6, 1984 was a date invented for advertising purposes. Obviously, at the end of the day this doesn't change anything: Tetris is one of the best video games in history, and maybe Pázhitnov did write the first lines of code in the spring of 1984... but I think it turns 40 next year.
Source: Tetris Concept
