Tetris
When Alexei Pajitnov first ordered a load of bricks from Karpov Abramtsevo’s workshop, workers there were wondering who could be interested in all those right-angled blocks. No one in 1985 could have imagined those concrete Tetriminos would become world famous and constitute Russia’s deadliest weapon against Reagan’s America.
hit the jump to see pictures and descriptions of Arkanoid, Sonic, Mario and Pong.
Arkanoid
The notoriously bold Akira Gujita centralised the production of chromed steel balls and concrete breeze blocks needed to the construction of Fort DOH. The mix of techniques meant he chose to work with the Schuller Fabrik, situated on the outskirts of East Berlin. First established in 1986, their partnership would last for years after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Pong
It took the Reynolds Metals Company three months to manufacture the 140,000 raquets and 440,000 digits Nolan Bushnell had ordered, plus an extra two weeks to transport the merchandise from Kentucky to California. Completed in 1972, this memorable job brought about the rebirth of Louisville’s metallurgic industry.
Super Mario
In 1995, the collaboration between Oita’s mushroom farms and Nissin Foods Co. in Sapporo revolutionised the conditioning techniques of the time, also bringing biochemistry out of labs and onto a global stage. Without Shigeru Miyamoto’s 750 billion colored (shiitake) mushrooms, the Japanese food processing industry wouldn’t have cruised through the 1990s with the same optimism.
Sonic
In hindsight, Yuji Naka and Hirohaku Yasuhara almost regretted opting for a local foundry rather than sub-contracting from abroad. During the heatwave of summer 1991, the Yokohama Seitetsujo metal foundry had to keep four teams on the go to meet their deadlines. Over 32 billion brass rings have since been completed in these traditional molds.
