"Tetris" released / Kamehameha III assumes throne - June 6

On this day in 1984, the video game "Tetris" was released. / On this day in 1825, Kamehameha III becomes the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all were rerunning two episodes today in Troy, the
show What's Up? Everyone. Welcome to this day in History class,
where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day.

(00:20):
The day was June six, n Soviet Russian computer engineer
Alexey podget Off launched a video game he called Tetris. Today,
Tetris is one of the best selling video games of
all time. Pogetnov have been working at the doubt Nietschen
Computing Center of the Academy of Science of the U

(00:42):
s s R. In Moscow as an artificial intelligence researcher.
When the lab was sent new software, researchers there would
figure out the software's power by writing a program for it.
Poget Off would sometimes makes games as the simple programs.
One game that podget Off particularly liked was Pentominoes. A

(01:03):
penomeno is a plane geometric figure made by joining five
squares of the same size together edge to edge. In
nine four podget Knov realized that Pentominoes could be part
of a good computer game, but there are twelve variations
of Pentominoes, which Pogetnov thought was too many, so he

(01:23):
decided to go with Tetraminos, which used four squares and
have only seven variations. He was working on a computer
called the Electronica sixty, which had a text based display,
so he had to create the puzzle pieces using letters.
Then he set up the procedures for the game, which
are fairly simple. The player flips and rotates puzzle pieces

(01:45):
of different colors and shapes as they fall so they
fit together. As the pieces form solid rose rose disappeared
to make room for more. The player loses when a
puzzle piece hits the top of the screen. Once the
game was where mind, he and his colleagues founded enjoyable.
The game was soon ported to a PC. Pogetnoff called

(02:07):
the game Tetris, which was a combination of the words
tetraumino and tennis. The first playable version of the game
was released on June six. N Early on players used
floppy disk to copy and share the game. It quickly
spread across Moscow, and soon the PC version was sent
to Hungary. Pirate it versions spread to western countries. In Hungary,

(02:32):
the game was put on display in a software exhibit
at the Hungarian Institute of Technology. Hungarian programmers had made
versions of the game for other computers, including the Apple Too.
Owner of Andromeda Software Limited, Robert Stein, saw the game
there and found out poget Knoff was the creator, but
poget Knov had granted his rights to the game to

(02:53):
the government for ten years. Electron North Technica or l
ORG was a state owned organization that controlled the export
of computer software from the Soviet Union. It was responsible
for licensing Tetris, and it handled all rights to the game.
L OR licensed Tetris to Stein, who licensed it to
distributors A Spectrum Holloby and Mirror Self Limited in the

(03:16):
US and UK, respectively. The version Spectrum Holobite design had
Russian theme, imagery and music. Tetris was one of the
first pieces of software to be exported from the Soviet
Union to the United States. After some conflict over the
right to distribute Tetris on devices other than computers, l

(03:37):
OR signed rights for an arcade version over to Atari
and non Japanese console and handheld rights over to Nintendo.
A copy of Tetris came bundled with every game Boy,
helping spur the device's success. Even though Tetris was becoming
a hit around the world, Podjetnov did not make much
money in the beginning, but in when the Russian license expired,

(04:01):
the rights to the game went back to podgeting Off
and he began to collect royalties. He and game license
or Hank Rogers founded the Tetris Company, which owns Tetris
rights worldwide. I'm each Jefco and hopefully you know a
little more about history today than you did yesterday. If
you're so inclined, you can follow us at T D

(04:24):
I h C Podcasts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And
if you're interested in learning even more about history, then
I suggest you listen to another podcast I host called Unpopular.
In it, you'll hear the stories of people in history
who challenge the status quo to create meaningful change, even

(04:44):
when their descent had serious consequences, and I'll try to
parse what their descent can teach us about protests and
contrarianism today. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow. Hey, y'all,

(05:05):
I'm Eves, and welcome to This dand History Class, a
podcast where we peeled back a layer of history every day.
I hope you all are doing well. I'm still here
in my closet, but I am so excited that I
still get to bring you a new episode of this
podcast every single day. I hope you all are holding
up and I hope that this podcast is bringing you
some spot of joy every single day. But that said,

(05:28):
on with the show. The day was June six. Kameha
may Had the Third, the third king of the Kingdom
of Hawaii, ascended to the throne. Kamehamy Had the Third
was Hawaii's longest reigning monarch. Kamehamy Had the Third was

(05:52):
the son of Kamehamyhad the First and the younger brother
of Kamehamiha the Second. Kamehami Had the Second and one
of his wives, Kamamalu, died in eighteen twenty four in
London after contracting measles. On June six, less than a
year after the death of his brother, Kawi Kayoli took
the throne as Kamehameha the Third. He was young when

(06:15):
he ascended to the throne, so he initially shared his
rule with Kahamanu. Kamanu was the Kuhina Nui or queen regent,
and she was also his stepmother. She embraced Christianity and
before Kamehameha the Third took the throne. She had issued
edicts that were based on the moral teachings of the Bible.
Kahumanu placed emphasis on education, and she instituted laws against murder, theft, adultery,

(06:42):
and brawling. But in eighteen thirty two, Kamanu died. At
that point, Kamehameha's sister he now took Kahamanu's place, but
the next year Kamehameha assumed power in his own right.
For a short time, Kamehameha rebelled against his Christian teacher Jings,
but he soon settled into his role and worked to

(07:03):
formalize Hawaiian government. In eighteen thirty eight, former missionary William
Richards resigned from the church and became a political advisor.
He taught the king and his counselor's Western ideas of
law and economics. That year, Kameha Mayha promulgated the Declaration
of Rights, as well as an Edict of Toleration, which

(07:24):
was issued under the threat of force by the French government.
Under the Edict, Roman Catholicism was legalized, and in eighteen
forty Kamehameha enacted Hawaii's first constitution. The constitution was greatly
influenced by Europeans, Americans, and Protestant missionaries. The introduction of
the constitution marked the beginning of a new era of

(07:45):
constitutional monarchy. Kamehameha established judicial and executive branches of government.
In eighteen forty three, British Captain Lord George Poult pressured
Kamehameha into relinquishing the Hawaiian kingdom Tosh rule, but about
five months later British Admiral Richard Thomas restored Hawaiian sovereignty.

(08:06):
At the end of this period, Kameha Mayha gave a
speech in which he said, quote, the life of the
land is perpetuated in righteousness. This statement became Hawaii's state motto.
Under the Mahela at eight Kameha Maha established a system
of land ownership. Land was divided among chiefs, the king,
and the government, and by eighteen fifty commoners and foreigners

(08:30):
could on land outright. Many commoners, though, did not know
about the distribution. Another constitution in eighteen fifty two expanded
the declaration of rights, and it put more techs on
the monarch. By eighteen fifty three, the US was considering
the annexation of Hawaii under Kamehameha's rule, British influence decreased

(08:51):
in Hawaii, while US influence increased. When kamehamehad took the throne,
there were about one and fifty thousand native people living
in Hawai, but because of epidemics, that number would be
cut in half during his reign. The California Gold Rush
brought more trade, but it also brought smallpox, which wiped
out a lot of the Hawaiian population. Kamehameha died suddenly

(09:14):
in eighteen fifty four. He was succeeded about his nephew
and adopted son, Kamehameha the Fourth. I'm each Jeff Cote
and hopefully you know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. And if you have any comments
our suggestions, you can send them to us at this
day at i heeart media dot com. Feel free to
leave a comment or share your thoughts with other listeners

(09:36):
on social media where at t d i HC podcast
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks so much for listening
to the show and we'll see you tomorrow. For more
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(09:58):
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