Photo: Official GDC / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Alexey Pajitnov

アレクセイ・パジトノフ　/　あれくせい・ぱじとのふ

Programmer from Duchy of Moscow

April 16, 1955 (age 71)　・　Moscow, Moscow Governorate, Duchy of Moscow

Moscow Governorate
programmer
computer scientist
game designer

My Take

I genuinely believe Alexey Pajitnov created the most perfect game ever designed. Tetris needs no language, no story, no tutorial, just falling blocks and the human itch for order, and the fact that it emerged from a Soviet computing center in 1985 as a side project makes the story even better. What I admire is the mathematician's restraint: he understood that subtraction, not addition, is the hardest discipline in design. Four decades later, nothing has dethroned it. Every minimalist puzzle game since lives in his shadow, and I suspect most designers would happily trade their entire catalog for that one flawless idea.

Overview

Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian and American computer engineer and video game designer. He is best known for creating, designing, and developing Tetris in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre under the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (now the Russian Academy of Sciences). In 1991, he moved to the United States and later became a U.S. citizen.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Alexey Pajitnov
Name (Japanese): アレクセイ・パジトノフ
Reading: あれくせい・ぱじとのふ
Born: April 16, 1955 (age 71)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Aries / Goat
Origin: Moscow, Moscow Governorate, Duchy of Moscow
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: programmer / computer scientist / game designer / mathematician / businessperson

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Private

Awards & achievements

Game Developers Choice Awards

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

Category	Title	Role	Year
Notable work	Tetris	—

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AC%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BB%E3%83%91%E3%82%B8%E3%83%88%E3%83%8E%E3%83%95

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