Behind the beloved game lies a struggle over mathematical ideas, erased collaborators, offshore millions, and copyright power.

Opening screen of the Atari-Tengen Tetris port. The designer made sure to highlight the Soviet origins of the game.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration released a politically charged clone of Tetris called Build the Wall. The Tetris Company (TTC), which owns the rights to the iconic video game, swiftly responded with a thinly veiled legal threat, writing on X : “We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Four days later, the White House took down the game without explanation.

Whether TTC’s post prompted the removal is unknown. But the episode points to a broader and more dubious claim advanced by the company: that it holds exclusive rights to what it misleadingly refers to as “Tetris” pieces — and, more broadly, to any electronic puzzle that involves falling shapes. The claim relies on a flawed ruling rendered in 2012 in Tetris Holding, LLC v.…