Tetris: The Games People Play

Box Brown's graphic nonfiction from First Second traces the improbable journey of Alexey Pajitnov's puzzle creation from Soviet-era computer labs to a global phenomenon, exploring the Cold War tensions and corporate machinations that nearly buried the game. Through Brown's clean, expressive art and meticulous research, the single-issue volume unpacks how a simple block-stacking concept became a cultural touchstone, revealing the human stories behind the pixels. It's a compact, essential read for anyone curious about how a game with no story became one of the most compelling narratives in tech history.