With its scratches and sticky brown beer stains, the “Tetris” arcade machine near the back of a Brooklyn bar called Barcade has seen better days. Which makes sense, given that the machine was made in the 1980s.
Even today, though, it’s not hard to find 20- and 30-somethings plucking away at its ancient controls, flipping shapes made up of four connected squares and fitting them into orderly patterns as they descend, faster and faster as the game goes on.
“You could just play infinitely,” said Michael Pierce, 28, who was playing against Dan Rothfarb, also 28. Both have been fans since they — and the game — were young. “Tetris” has its 25th birthday this week.
Pierce recalls playing “Tetris” on a Nintendo Game Boy that was on display in a department store when his family couldn’t afford the unit. Rothfarb played on his Nintendo until the game wouldn’t go any faster.
Completed by a Soviet programmer in 1984, “Tetris” has come a long way from its square roots. It’s played by millions, not just on computers and gaming consoles but now on Facebook and the iPhone as well.
“Tetris” stands out as one of the rare cultural products to come West from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. And the addictive rhythm of its task-by-task race against time was an early sign of our inbox-clearing, Twitter-updating, BlackBerry-thumbing world to come.
In her book “Hamlet on the Holodeck,” Georgia Tech professor Janet Murray called “Tetris” the “perfect enactment of the overtasked lives of Americans.” The game, she wrote, shows the “constant bombardment of tasks that demand our attention and that we must somehow fit into our overcrowded schedules and clear off our desks in order to make room for the next onslaught.”
Many people who grew up with “Tetris” haven’t stopped playing.
“I’d stay up, wait for…