Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet AI researcher, wrote Tetris in about three weeks in the mid-1980s on an Elektronika 60, a Soviet clone of the PDP-11, after playing with a pentomino puzzle set. He cut the pieces from twelve shapes to seven tetrominoes to keep the game simple. Soviet copyright did not let individuals earn money from software, so copies spread by hand on tapes and floppy disks. A Londoner, Robert Stein, obtained rights through a telex that was ambiguous and not a valid contract, and sold them to UK and US publishers. Later disputes over consoles and the Game Boy version followed, with Nintendo's Game Boy release becoming the version most people remember.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.