The Soviet Brick

It is the most played video game in history, but its origin story is a Cold War thriller. Tech historian Oliver Reed tells the story of Tetris in "The Soviet Brick." Created by Alexey Pajitnov in a Moscow computer lab in 1984, the game was technically owned by the Soviet state. Reed details the chaotic battle for the rights, involving shady British tycoons, KGB agents, and Nintendo executives flying to Moscow in secret. He explains how the game's hypnotic "Tetris Effect" bridged the ideological divide, becoming the first piece of Soviet software to enter the US market. The book is a study of genius and exploitation—Pajitnov didn't see a dime of royalties for a decade—and the chaotic transition from communism to capitalism. It's the story of how seven geometric shapes brought down walls that diplomacy couldn't.