2008 Woodie Awards
Tetris Cup final brings gamers together in the spirit of competition
Steven Tonthat
Issue date: 11/21/07 Section: Mixed Plate
The crowd comes alive as the competitors take their positions on stage. Weeks of training have all come down to this. It is their chance to shine. It is their chance at glory.
It is the final of the first annual Tetris Cup Challenge.
For the past two weeks, students at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa had the opportunity to quality for the Tetris Cup final. Prizes for the winners were valued at over $5,000 and, along with that, a multitude of bragging rights. On Friday night, the top 16 competitors in both the individual and team events came together at the UH Campus Center Ballroom in a showdown to determine who was the best Tetris player on campus.
Tetris was created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian computer programmer. At the time, he was working in the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"I just made little games for fun and that was one of them," he said. "I have no other purpose to do those games."
Eventually Tetris took the world by storm, appearing in nearly every gaming console. The Tetris Company was formed in Hawai‘i by Pajitnov and his friend, UH alumnus Henk Rogers, who became CEO, as a way to license the Tetris game to other companies.
The idea for the Tetris Cup Challenge was introduced by Rogers and Pajitnov. According to Rogers, the Tetris Cup Challenge was created as a way to legitimize the game as an actual spectator sport. Rogers said that what makes a good spectator sport is for the audience to feel that they can play it.
"We're at the point now where I think we finally found the first virtual sport," Rogers said, "We're starting to give out prizes and eventually we're going to have a professional league of Tetris players."
"We have everything to really turn it into a sport," Pajitnov said, "and this is our very first serious try."
Rogers and Pajitnov plan to expand the Tetris Cup Challenge to all campuses in the country before expanding to the international level.
It is the final of the first annual Tetris Cup Challenge.
For the past two weeks, students at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa had the opportunity to quality for the Tetris Cup final. Prizes for the winners were valued at over $5,000 and, along with that, a multitude of bragging rights. On Friday night, the top 16 competitors in both the individual and team events came together at the UH Campus Center Ballroom in a showdown to determine who was the best Tetris player on campus.
Tetris was created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian computer programmer. At the time, he was working in the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"I just made little games for fun and that was one of them," he said. "I have no other purpose to do those games."
Eventually Tetris took the world by storm, appearing in nearly every gaming console. The Tetris Company was formed in Hawai‘i by Pajitnov and his friend, UH alumnus Henk Rogers, who became CEO, as a way to license the Tetris game to other companies.
The idea for the Tetris Cup Challenge was introduced by Rogers and Pajitnov. According to Rogers, the Tetris Cup Challenge was created as a way to legitimize the game as an actual spectator sport. Rogers said that what makes a good spectator sport is for the audience to feel that they can play it.
"We're at the point now where I think we finally found the first virtual sport," Rogers said, "We're starting to give out prizes and eventually we're going to have a professional league of Tetris players."
"We have everything to really turn it into a sport," Pajitnov said, "and this is our very first serious try."
Rogers and Pajitnov plan to expand the Tetris Cup Challenge to all campuses in the country before expanding to the international level.
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