Vladimir Pokhilko

Who was Vladimir Pokhilko?

Vladimir Pokhilko was a Russian entrepreneur and academic who specialized in human-computer interaction.

A friend of the Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, he was the first clinical psychologist to conduct experiments using the game. He played an important role in the subsequent development and marketing of the game, and a 1999 article in the Forbes magazine credited him for "co-inventing the seminal videogame Tetris".

In 1989, he and Pajitnov founded the 3D software technology company AnimaTek in Moscow. While attempting to create software for INTEC that would be made for "people's souls", they developed the idea for El-Fish.

After suffering financial difficulties at his software company, AnimaTek, he murdered his wife Elena Fedotova and their son Peter, then committed suicide. Shortly before his death, Pokhilko penned a note. The police initially did not release the content of the note, saying that it was not a suicide note, and they didn't know who authored it. The content of the note was released in 1999; it read: