Tetris drops a sequence of seven differently shaped blocks into a rectangular well. You rotate and position each one as it falls, and whenever a horizontal line is completely filled it clears and everything above drops down.
The game never ends in victory. Pieces arrive faster as your score rises, so every game is ultimately a question of how long you can keep the stack under control.
Frequently asked questions
- How many piece shapes are there in Tetris?
- Seven, each made of four squares: I, O, T, S, Z, J, and L. Every piece you receive is one of these seven, rotated into one of its orientations.
- What is the fastest way to score in Tetris?
- Clearing multiple lines with a single piece. Four rows cleared at once scores far more than four rows cleared one at a time, which is why players leave a column open for the long straight piece.
- Why does Tetris speed up?
- The drop rate increases as you clear more lines, so the game continually reduces your thinking time. This is what makes it endless rather than winnable.
- How do I stop losing so quickly?
- Keep the stack flat and avoid burying empty squares. Most short games come from a few covered holes early on that make every later row impossible to complete.