Tetris (PC, Spectrum HoloByte)

Tetris
Developer(s)	Spectrum HoloByte
Publisher(s)	Spectrum HoloByte
Release Date(s)	1988
Platform(s)	IBM PC
Gameplay Info
Next pieces	One
Playfield dimensions	10x20
Hold piece	No
Hard drop	Yes
Rotation system	Identical to Sega Rotation, except the vertical state of the S tetromino is shifted 1 space right

One of the Tetris games Spectrum HoloByte developed before losing their legal battle with Nintendo.

Timing

Timing is based on video frames, which are approximately 1/70 of a second.

• Gravity makes a piece fall by one row every 20 - (level * 2) frames.
• Lock delay is 16 frames.
• Line clear delay is 20 frames.
• ARE is 2 frames.

Scoring

Placing a piece awards score according to the following formula:

• points = 4 + (2 * level) + row number of top of piece

The bottom row is number 1. If the piece was dropped manually, the position before dropping is used, so for a high score the player should drop as soon as possible.

If piece preview is enabled at the time a piece is placed, a 25% penalty is assessed: (both divisions are rounded down)

• points with preview on = floor(points / 2) + floor(points / 4)

No additional points are awarded for line clears.

External Links

Download the TSR utility DivEFix v2.0 to fix divide overflow errors when running the game on a modern PC.

See also

• Games