List of curiosities

Little known facts

• The number of board states in Tetris can have (assuming a 10 × 20 playfield) is 2²⁰⁰ = 1 606 938 044 258 990 275 541 962 092 341 162 602 522 202 993 782 792 835 301 376 ≈ 1.6 × 10⁶⁰.
• The number of valid board states (states without any completely filled lines and where there no completely empty lines in the middle of the stack) is 1023 + 1022 × 1022 + ... + 1022²⁰ = 1 546 831 721 292 591 640 116 011 560 045 710 774 439 430 123 900 352 379 195 051 ≈ 1.54 × 10⁶⁰.
• Nowadays Tetris logo was drawn by Roger Dean

Also, according to RealTechnews:

• The game inspired a terrible single in 1992 by Dr Spin, featuring samples of music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• In September 2002, Faiz Chopdat, 23, of Blackburn, was jailed for four months after refusing to turn off his mobile on a flight from Egypt to Manchester. The crew asked him three times to switch off the phone, which was interfering with the plane’s communications system, but each time Chopdat turned it on again. He was playing Tetris.
• The world’s smallest game of Tetris took place under an electron microscope using 42 glass ‘microspheres’ at the Department of Physics of Complex Systems in Amsterdam (video here)
• Yuri Yevushenko, director of the Russian Academy in the 1980s, claims Tetris is so successful because "unlike American games it is not about murder, shooting or chasing; it is about building and order."
• In a recent US study at the Harvard Medical School’s department of psychiatry, 27 Tetris players spent seven hours a day, for three days, playing the game. Many had ‘Tetris dreams’.

More interesting trivia:

• In the 1989 Gamest Magazine character popularity poll, the monkey from Tetris (Sega) placed 5th, just above the I block in 6th. The Tetris blocks won the Favourite Group award. (ref)

Tetris apparel

• "Put pieces Together to Make a Peace" (Threadless ; out of stock)
• "Tetris the Soviet Challenge" (comboutique)
• "Tetris addict" on T-shirts, messenger bags... (comboutique)

Art and Culture

• Tetris falling on an alley (photography)
• Human Tetris
• Tiny tiny tiny Tetris GIF
• Tetris Crate
• Tetris vandalism
• Virtual Valentine's Day card
• Sugar stop-motion Tetris
• Various Tetris commercials
• Tetris Tableware
• Lady Sovereign "Love me or Hate me (explicit version)" clip (Tetris at the beginning and the end)
• Another stop-motion video (tetris at 02:34)
• German Honda Commercial
• The Perry Bible Fellowship Tetris Strip
• Tetris DS Japanese 24h marathon
• Tetris in Real Life (art photography)

People

Utada Hikaru, japanese pop idol

• can play a vs match while laughing
• hit 99999999 on Tetris DS
• participated in a Tetris DS event organized by Nintendo
• (is cute when she plays)

Alexey Pajitnov, the man behind Tetris

• won a GDC game design challenge
• (has an admirable russian accent)

Interviews

Developers

• Alexey Pajitnov interview from Tetris Gold (1993)
• Still Falling for 'Tetris' (2001-08-09, with Alexey Pajitnov)
• WonderSwan Tetris developer interview (2005-05-12, in Japanese)
• Tetris from the Top: An Interview with Henk Rogers (2006-04-06)
• Tetris DS Staff Interview (2006-06)
• Game Developer Magazine, September 2006 featuring "Alexey Pajitnov, Master of Shapes" (pp10-16)
• GameZombie.tv Presents A Conversation With Alexey Pajitnov (2007-03-14)
• Q&A;: Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov (2007-10-30)
• Catching Up Casually: A Chat With Alexey Pajitnov (2008-01-18)
• Interview with Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers on Tetris (2009-06-08)
• Interview: Tetris Friends (2009-08-04, with Casey Pelkey, VP of Sales and Marketing at Tetris Online)
• The Man Who Won Tetris (2009-09-10, with Henk Rogers)
• Alexy Pajitnov and Henk Rogers on selling the next 100 million units of Tetris mobile (2010-01-21)
• Alexey Pajitnov - Tetris: Past, Present, Future (2010-06-28)
• Tetris at 30: An Interview with the Historic Puzzle Game's Creator (2014-06-06, with Alexey Pajitnov)
• The Man Who Made Tetris (2014-11-21, with Alexey Pajitnov)
• Secret Origins of the Tetris Phenomenon (2015-02-05, with Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers at D.I.C.E Summit 2015)
• Meet the men who built the only perfect video game: Tetris (2015-02-12, with Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers)
• Off The Grid (2015-12-09, with Henk Rogers, on being awarded Hawaii Business magazine’s CEO of the Year)
• The Man Behind the Tetris MicroCard - An Interview With Kevin Bates (2017-10-27)
• Meet The Man Who Gave Nintendo Tetris And Got Hiroshi Yamauchi Gaming (2018-07-28, with Henk Rogers)

Players

• In Conversation with the King of Game Boy 'Tetris' (2016-10-13, with Uli Horner, Twin Galaxies record holder for Tetris (Game Boy))
• The Life of a Tetris Master - Interview With Jonas Neubauer (2017-10-13)
• Becoming a Tetris Grand Master - Interview with Kevin Birrell (2017-11-01)

Interesting articles

• New Software Game: It Comes From Soviet (1988-01-29)
• GLASNOST REACHES COMPUTER GAMES, AND TETRIS IS TERRIFIC (1988-06-10)
• Tetris: can a Cold War classic evolve for the touchscreen? (2012-06-12)
• Playing to Lose: How Competitive Tetris Players Approach an Unwinnable Game (2013-02-03)
• VRやeスポーツまで広がるテトリス35年の歩み！ヘンク・ロジャース親子が語る (2018-11-14)
• How the Classic Tetris World Championships became a top esports tournament (2018-11-14)

Other curiosities

• This Woman Loves Tetris So Much She's Going To Marry Her Copy (2018-01-05)