Basic Fun, Blue Planet Software develop Tetris keychain carabiners

SOUTHAMPTON, Pa. Tetris keychain carabiners are slated to roll out worldwide next fall.

The keychain carabiners will be created through Basic Fun’s line of dynamic handheld electronic devices, according to Blue Planet Software, the company that manages the exclusive licensing rights to the Tetris brand.

“This agreement with Basic Fun opens many new doors for the Tetris brand, and we’re looking forward to working with their innovative and successful team,” said Henk Rogers, president and CEO of Blue Planet Software. “Basic Fun has created and licensed some of the most inventive novelty toys on the market, and Tetris is a truly portable and play-anywhere game — so we’re natural partners. Working together, our fans will have an all new way to take Tetris with them wherever they go.”

Created in 1984 by Russian-born mathematician Alexey Pajitnov, the Tetris game revolutionized puzzle games with distinctive "falling” blocks, called tetriminos, that players could arrange in real time along the bottom of the rectangular playing field, or “matrix,” in order to clear lines. Since then, the game has been translated into more than 50 languages, and it is played in more than 50 countries worldwide. To date, hundreds of millions of units have been sold.