Tetris

Ladies and gentlemen,

you've already made the incredibly smart decision to skip the casinos,

where the odds are stacked against you,

and come to the place where you can't lose.

Technology is the future, and video games are leading the charge.

So, step right up and be the first to experience the world's next big hit.

Come try GO, Asia's favorite game.

Rights available everywhere except Japan.

How are you, sir?

GO, GO, GO. Come on. Wanna play? It's like chess.

Except infinitely harder.

GO didn't go as planned.

I couldn't even keep my salesgirl interested.

And I know how many excuses bank managers hear every day.

But this is not an excuse. This is an opportunity.

In fact, my little setback may have been the best thing to ever happen to us.

- -Yeah.

- Tracy. -Yeah.

- -Tracy. What are you doing?

How's it going? I just invited this young lady over

to see how our new game fares with the female audience.

- -Uh-huh. Sure.

Come on, Tracy. I'm paying you to sell my game, not play other people's.

Relax, Henk. This game is swell.

-What's it called? -Tetris.

Tetris.

I don't get it.

It's a combination of tetra, Greek for "four"--

all the game's pieces are variants of four-- and tennis.

-Tennis? -Tennis.

Yeah, supposedly, the Russian inventor, he, um-- he likes tennis.

- -Here, Henk. Try it.

- -

Was this coded in Pascal, or C?

That's proprietary.

You like it?

It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, Eddie.

Heard that line before.

No. It's nothing like GO. It's in a completely different league.

Heard that line before.

Okay, fine. But, Eddie,

I played Tetris for five minutes, yeah.

I still see falling blocks in my dreams.

This game isn't just addictive.

It stays with you.

It's poetry. Art and math all working in magical synchronicity.

It's…

It's the perfect game.

Why are you telling me this?

Do you have the video game rights?

Mirrorsoft control all rights on all platforms, worldwide.

Is Japan available?

Because you're looking at the proud licensee of Tetris in Japan

for PC…

- -…games console…

- -…and arcade.

Is this a joke?

You took the money you owed this bank for your failed video game…

-…to buy yet another video game? -Correct.

But, Eddie, this is different.

Tetris is already a hit.

-Where? -Russia.

Henk, there is no video games business in Russia.

I know.

Please, let me finish.

It all began with a guy named Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov,

four years ago.

By day, he worked as a programmer for the government

at the Soviet Computer Science Center.

But by night, he invented games for fun.

- -

His computer, a Stone Age, Soviet piece of crap called an Electronika 60,

didn't even have a graphics card.

His falling blocks were parentheses pushed together.

- -

Alexey and a couple of buddies from work made the game IBM-compatible.

Which meant color graphics,

8-bit music and floppy disks that people copied and shared for free.

It spread like wildfire.

But this is the Soviet Union, remember?

Nothing gets out easily.

It would take an entrepreneur to actually go there and monetize it.

Who?

You?

Jesus, no.

I'm not that crazy.

That was Robert Stein.

Two years ago.

Welcome back to Budapest Mr Stein.

A one-man band based in London,

he would travel to eastern Europe looking for licensed games cheaply

and then resell them for a profit to the West.

Seen it and boring.

What's this?

This is not our game.

- -

MOSCOW COMPUTER SCIENCE CENTER

This jackass Stein won't stop faxing us, wasting our paper.

What does it say?

He wants to license my game.

Am I allowed to do that?

We better ask the bosses at ELORG.

Yes we can. Send the fax.

Once the Russians made a deal with Stein,

his next appointment was back in London with Robert Maxwell.

- -

One year ago.

Mr. Stein, pleasure to meet you. Robert Maxwell.

Pleasure.

The Robert Maxwell?

-The billionaire media tycoon? -The one and only.

Okay, now that's the type of businessman us bankers actually approve of.

Maxwell pays his debts.

Mm-hmm.

-And he's heading distribution? -

Uh, next best thing.

-And this is my son. -

I can introduce myself, Father.

Kevin Maxwell, CEO of Mirrorsoft.

-Good to meet you, Kevin. -Uh-uh-uh.

It's Mr. Maxwell to you, sir.

Anyway, gentlemen, I feel a celebration is in order.

Kevin.

The first computer game to leave the Iron Curtain.

My old mate Mikhail Gorbachev will be proud.

We'll start by licensing computer games,

then video games, arcade games, board games, everything.

Go on.

Great, 'cause you're not gonna believe where I was yesterday.

[video game beeps, ascending notes play]

- -Hi. Henk Rogers, Bullet-Proof Software.

I have a meeting with Hiroshi Yamauchi, your CEO.

-Rogers? -Mm-hmm.

Not in book.

Oh, okay.

I understand.

Thank you.

Could I use your restroom before I go?

-On the left? - Left.

-Okay. Thank you. -

Hi. I have a meeting with Mr. Yamauchi. I wonder--

Mr. Rogers, you're trespassing.

Mr. Yamauchi is out of town. So--

That's not true because I saw him this morning, and his car's still outside.

No, no.

Who is this?

Hi.

Uh, Henk Rogers. Bullet-Proof Software.

[video game buzzes, victory tune plays]

Not too bad.

-Really? -

We'll buy you out for 500,000.

Whoo!

Five hundred grand?

Henk, let me get you that drink.

I told them no.

You did what?

Are you out of your fucking mind?

I got a bigger vision, Eddie.

That is why I'm here.

I'll publish it and cover all up-front costs.

We publish our games in-house.

We don't use outside partners.

-You don't do it often, true. -

-But you do make exceptions. -

Because you know as well as I do, partners are what make us great.

That's why Mario has Luigi.

That's why Zelda has Link.

That's why Mike Tyson has whoever he's punching out in Punch-Out!!

Yeah.

We want you to make 200,000 cartridges.

You want two million dollars?

No.

Had me worried for a bit.

-I need a check for three million dollars. -

That's the punch line? You want a check from me?

And how did you get to three million?

Because I'll need two million for Nintendo cartridges

and one million to make arcade machines.

I have Tetris for arcade too, remember?