Tetris

About this game

Tetris is the falling-block puzzle that Alexey Pajitnov created in 1984, and it has since been played on nearly every kind of screen ever made. Pieces of seven different shapes drop into the well one at a time. Fit them together to complete solid rows, which vanish to make room for more. It takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master: the pieces fall faster as you go, and the game ends when the stack reaches the top.

You can play by either of two sets of rules. Modern follows today's standard rules: a hold slot, a ghost piece that shows where the falling piece will land, a preview of the next five pieces, hard drops, and bonus points for T-Spins, combos, and back-to-back clears. Classic recreates the 1989 Nintendo (NES) version, with one next piece, no hold or hard drop, and the original's scoring, speeds, and colors, which change with every level.

How to play

• Press New Game (or Enter, or click or tap the board) to start.
• Move and rotate each piece as it falls. When a row is completely filled it clears, and everything above it drops down. Clearing four rows at once, which only the long straight piece can do, is called a Tetris, and it scores the most.
• Every 10 lines you clear raises the level, and every level the pieces fall faster.
• In Modern, a piece doesn't lock the instant it lands: you have half a second to slide or spin it into place, and each move resets the clock (up to 15 times).
• Hold (Modern only) sets the falling piece aside and brings in the next one, or swaps with the piece you held earlier. You can hold once per piece.
• A T-Spin (Modern only) is rotating the T-shaped piece into a slot it could not have slid into. T-Spins that clear lines score big.
• The pause button (the two bars) or the P or Esc key pauses the game, and the board is hidden while it's paused. The game also pauses by itself if you switch to another tab or window.
• The lock button (the padlock) scrolls the page so the board fits on screen, then holds the page still until you press it again, so a sliding thumb or a stray key can't scroll it while you play.

Controls

• Arrow keys: ← and → move, ↓ soft-drops (speeds the piece down), ↑ or X rotates clockwise, Z rotates counterclockwise, Space hard-drops (drops the piece straight to the bottom), and C or Shift holds.
• WASD: A and D move, S soft-drops, W rotates clockwise, Q rotates counterclockwise, Space hard-drops, and E holds.
• Split hands: your left hand moves and drops, your right hand turns. A and D move, S soft-drops, W or Space hard-drops, J rotates counterclockwise, K rotates clockwise, and L holds.
• With every layout, P or Esc pauses and resumes, and Enter starts a new game when none is in progress. Holding a move key slides the piece along; the Key repeat option sets how quickly that starts.
• Touch controls: on a phone or tablet a control panel appears under the board. One side has the arrows: slide your thumb across them to move left and right, or hold the down arrow to soft-drop; the red button above them hard-drops. The other side has the two rotate buttons, with Hold above them. Choose moves on left or moves on right to put the arrows under the thumb you prefer.
• Touch gestures: you can also play right on the board. Drag left or right to move the piece, drag down to soft-drop, flick down to hard-drop, flick up to hold, and tap to rotate clockwise.
• In Classic, as on the NES, there is no hard drop and no hold, so those keys and buttons do nothing.

Scoring

Modern: each clear scores the points below multiplied by the level.

• Back-to-back: a Tetris or line-clearing T-Spin that follows another one, with no ordinary clear in between, scores 1½ times as much.
• Combo: each piece in an unbroken run of line-clearing pieces adds 50 × the combo count × the level.
• All clear: emptying the whole board adds 800, 1,200, 1,800, or 2,000 × the level for 1 to 4 lines (3,200 for a back-to-back Tetris).
• Soft drops earn 1 point per row and hard drops 2 points per row.

Classic: 40, 100, 300, or 1,200 points for 1 to 4 lines, multiplied by the level plus one, as on the NES, plus 1 point per row of soft drop. The first level-up comes sooner or later depending on your starting level, as on the original, and then every 10 lines.

Options

• Rules chooses Modern or Classic. If a game is in progress, the change takes effect when you start the next one.
• Starting level runs from 1 to 15 in Modern and from 0 to 19 in Classic. A higher level falls faster and scores more.
• Controls selects the keyboard layout, or the touch control panel with the arrows on the left or on the right. The panel is selected automatically on phones and tablets.
• Ghost piece shows or hides the outline of where the falling piece will land (Modern only).
• Key repeat sets how soon a held move key starts repeating and how fast it repeats. Relaxed suits beginners; Instant slides the piece to the wall as soon as the repeat begins.
• Volume adjusts the sound effects. Web browsers allow a page to play sound only after you have interacted with it, so the sound starts with your first key press or tap.
• Your choices, and your best score under each set of rules, are remembered in this web browser.