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More than 25 years after its birth, Tetris is the best-selling mobile game of all time, having surpassed 100 million paid downloads on cell phones around the world.

Adam Sussman, vice president of worldwide publishing at Electronic Arts Inc.'s mobile unit, said the milestone marked “a huge moment not just for EA but for mobile gaming in general. It speaks to the evergreen appeal of Tetris.”

EA Mobile and the company it licenses the game from, Blue Planet Software, planned to formally announce the milestone on Thursday in Montreal. The companies disclosed it to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

After 25 years, more than 140 million copies of Tetris have been sold worldwide and it has consistently ranked as one of the greatest video games ever produced.

Created by a Soviet programmer in 1984, Tetris rode to popularity on Nintendo Co.'s Game Boy – a mobile gaming device – in 1989. Millions of people have continued to play it since, on gaming consoles and over the Web, or on mobile gadgets such as the iPhone or simple cell phones.

The game's neat interface, simple controls and addictive nature make it especially well-suited for mobile gadgets. Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, said the game itself is simple, and it's easy to get hooked on it. But getting really good results is difficult.

“It is appealing to all demographics, all cultures,” he said.

EA won't say how much money it has made off Tetris. On the iPhone, it costs $5 to download.

Sussman said Tetris is available in 60 countries on about 64,000 different handsets, about 20 per cent of them smart phones.