Henk Rogers is a Dutch-born American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

and entrepreneur. He is known for producing Japan's first major turn-based

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

'' The Black Onyx'', securing the rights to distribute the Russian puzzle video game ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

'' on

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

s where the game found popularity, and as the founder of

Bullet-Proof Software Blue Planet Software Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded by Henk Rogers in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1996. The company was founded as the successor to Bullet-Proof Software Inc. (BPS), founded in 1983 by Rogers in Japan ...

(and later Blue Planet Software) and The Tetris Company, which licenses the ''Tetris'' trademark. He was instrumental in resolving licensing disputes that brought ''Tetris'' to the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. Today, he is managing director of The Tetris Company.

Early life

In 1972 Henk Rogers graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. He later relocated to Hawaii, where he pursued studies in Computer Science at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Manoa Manoa (, ; ) is a valley on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from ...

. While studying at the University, Henk met his future wife, Akemi. He followed her to Japan, her home country, and after three extended visits, they married in 1977 and settled down there; they lived in the family compound owned by his father-in-law. Henk was involved with his family business at the time. They have four children together.

Career

During the 1980s, as the founder and CEO of

, Rogers developed an interest in ''Tetris'', a game designed by Alexey Pajitnov that was gaining popularity in Europe. Rogers perceived the game as having enormous global market potential and decided to acquire its rights. To achieve this, he negotiated a deal with Nintendo to secure the rights for their upcoming

system, and then made a trip to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to deal with Elektronorgtechnica, a software development company. During his meeting with ELORG's management, he managed to convince them about Tetris' prospects in the global market, resulting in a successful deal. The deal with Elorg granted Rogers international rights to ''Tetris'' for home gaming systems. From there, he promoted the game, which ultimately became a global hit, primarily due to its release on Nintendo's handheld gaming system, the Game Boy. This success led to the establishment of The Tetris Company, co-founded by Rogers and Pajitnov. Beyond ''Tetris'' and other video game endeavors, Rogers has founded or cofounded several community and sustainability-oriented organizations and companies. The first of these was Blue Planet Foundation, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

public charity focused on activities of advocacy, which Rogers founded in 2007 to build awareness and fostering action for

clean energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...

in Hawaii. In 2015, the foundation led the campaign to make Hawaii the first state in the United States of America with a

100% renewable energy 100% renewable energy is the goal of the use renewable resources for all energy. 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues, as well as ec ...

law. Following this, Rogers joined his daughter Maya Rogers and local

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

Chenoa Farnsworth to launch Blue Startups, a

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

-based startup accelerator to mentor, invest in, and encourage the founding of technology startups, particularly ones servicing the cross-Pacific region and/or several targeted interest areas. In 2015, Rogers then founded Blue Planet Energy, a

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...

systems (i.e., batteries) provider. Blue Planet Energy's

lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...

batteries use a lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) chemistry instead of nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry. Rogers believes LFP to be more environmentally friendly because the batteries are noncombustible and do not require rare earth elements. Rogers is also chairman of the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) and founder of the International MoonBase Alliance, which developed the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), a 1,200 square-foot Mars and moon analog habitat on

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa (, ; ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest ...

. PISCES' core mission is to develop and grow an

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

industry in Hawaii through

applied research Applied science is the application of the scientific method and scientific knowledge to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines, such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted with basic science, ...

, workforce development and

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

initiatives.

In media

Rogers is portrayed by Welsh actor Taron Egerton in the 2023 film ''

''.

References

External links

www.tetris.comInterview with Planet GameCubeBlue MarsBlue Lava TechnologiesBlue Planet FoundationBlue StartupsBlue Planet Energy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Henk Living people American people of Dutch-Indonesian descent Dutch computer programmers Dutch emigrants to the United States 21st-century Dutch businesspeople University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Businesspeople from Hawaii Tetris Stuyvesant High School alumni Dutch video game designers 1953 births