Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov

Creator of Tetris, Pajitnov developed the iconic game with the help of Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov in 1985. The game, first available in the Soviet Union, appeared in the West in 1986. Pajitnov also created the lesser-known sequel to Tetris, entitled Welltris, which had the same principle but in a three-dimensional environment where the player viewed the "board" from above.

Tetris was licensed and managed by Soviet company Elorg, which had been founded specially for this purpose, and advertised with the slogan "From Russia with Love" (on NES: "From Russia With Fun!"). Because he was employed by the Soviet government, Pajitnov did not receive royalties.

Pajitnov, together with Vladimir Pokhilko, moved to the United States in 1991 and later, in 1996, founded The Tetris Company with Henk Rogers.