THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE TETRIS PUBLISHER Mirrorsoft AUTHOR YEAR 1988 CATEGORY Puzzle CONTROLS Keyboard, Kempston KEYS: I - Left } P - Right } Joystick controls O - Rotate } SPACE - Drop - Joystick fire Y - Speed up S - Show next block Q - Quit INSTRUCTIONS For the very few people who don't know how to play Tetris: blocks of different shapes drop from the top of the screen into a box. Each block is made up of four small squares arranged to make a larger square, an L-shape or a column. As the blocks fall they can be rotated or moved horizontally so that every space in the box is filled. When a horizontal line is completed, that line is "destroyed" giving you more points and moving the rest of the placed pieces down by one square. If a line remains incomplete, another line must be finished above it. The more lines that stand incomplete, the higher the blocks above them stack, reducing the space in which falling shapes can be manipulated. Eventually the blocks reach the top of the screen and the game ends. The statistics box at the left of the screen shows the number of shapes of different colours that have been positioned, and another box at the bottom right shows what shape of block will appear next. There are ten skill levels; the higher the level, the faster the blocks fall. CASSETTE INLAY GETTING LOADED After loading select your starting level of difficulty. The higher the number, the greater the rewards, but the harder the task. PLAYING TETRIS A variety of differently shaped blocks fall, one by one, from the top of the screen, or playfield. You can manipulate these shapes left/right and rotate them before they land at the bottom of the playfield. The idea is to create complete horizontal lines of blocks across the playfield. When one of these unbroken lines is completed it disappears, and any blocks above fall into the now vacant area. OBJECTIVE The aim is to create as many complete lines as possible. If you leave gaps, the playfield will fill up rapidly, leaving you less room to maneuvre. Should the pile of blocks reach the top of the screen, the game ends. The show key displays the shape of the block that will fall after the current block has landed - useful for formulating you optimum strategy. The rate at which the blocks fall speeds up automatically as your score increases. SCORES RECEIVED "This looks destined to be one of the best thinking games yet - and a never-ending source of fun and frustration for players." 77% (CRASH #50, March 1988) GENERAL FACTS NOTES Crash were absolutely right; this has become one of the most- played computer games ever. It has appeared on virtually every computer and console you can think of and its clones are too numerous to list. (Sonic, eat your heart out...) An all-time classic! It has to be said, though, that there are public domain versions (TWINTRIS on the Amiga springs to mind) that are far better than this one.