TETRIS TIPS
Want to see what happens when your score reaches anywhere above 32,000! Here is a screen shot of my old high score. Check it out! My new record I just keep track of the number of lines cleared. Maxed out at almost 600 lines!!!
So you have been playing tetris at work and can't get on the highscore table or you want to show your kids that there ol' man knows a thing or two, well you have come to the right place! Here you will learn the tips that will let you get the most out of your fingers. So lets get started.
1. The first thing you need to understand about Tetris is that you get more points by clearing 4 rows at a time then you would get by clearing 1 row four times. Try it and check your score after you advance to the 2nd level. By clearing 4 level at a time you will have close to 2000 pts. and by clearing one level at a time you will have about 1700 pts. This may not sound like much but it adds up over time.
2. The second tip is that you can get more points by hitting the downkey to place a piece than would get by letting it fall and land later. If one piece floats down to the bottom you get 4 pts when it lands. If you place it yourself you can get as much as 58 pts. The higher the better. So the faster you place the pieces the higher your score.
3. The next tip. Since you are trying to clear 4 rows at a time you only want to clear rows by placing the red pieces. So you will have to create a channel for the red piece to fit into. It is best to place this channel at the far right or far left. If the channel is in the center it will give you two smaller areas to work with which give you actually less play opportunities than one large area when placing non-red pieces.
4. The next one is so obvious that I almost left it out. You want the pieces to build up in a solid wall without creating any holes.
This is a skill that you must develop over time. You will have to develop an eye to quickly find where the pieces can fit. When I watch others play I see them make this error over and over. They will lay something that creates a hole in the wall when there was a groove that it fit into perfectly.
5. Use preview next piece. To get really good scores you must learn not to place the piece that is falling until you are sure it will allow you to place the next one also. You must avoid creating holes. So sometimes you must place the falling piece in an place that you normally wouldn't, so as to afford the next piece a place that it fits. Not as hard as it sounds. Remember you are still only mentallly fitting one piece in the same amount of time. You are just one step ahead, thats all.
6. Overhangs are bad but holes are worse. Sometimes no matter what you do there just isn't a good place to place that next piece. When this happens you must minimize the damage. The object is to create a solid wall with no holes or overhangs; once you create a hole it is impossible to get rid of it until you clear the blocks above it. If you create an overhang instead of a hole then at least there is a chance that it won't create a hole. You can sometimes fill in overhangs later by sliding pieces left or right as they fall.
7. Sometimes the computer just doesn't seem to want to give you a red (straight) piece. When that happens and the wall begins to get to high sometimes you must clear levels with something other than a red. When this happens you should look to use a yellow piece and try to get three rows instead.
8. As you approach level 10 you will need to abandon the 4 rows at a time approach and concentrate on keeping the wall totally knocked down to the very bottom. Once the pieces start falling this fast you will need the most amount of time possible to place it correctly.
9. When fate deals you a bad piece by forcing you to create a hole in your wall, it is best to deal with that quickly. Don't wait till later to get rid of it, go ahead and try not to place anything on top of it. Clear the piece which will usually be one or two rows cleared at a time, buts that the way the pieces fall.
10. Aviod this common mistake. You can take steps that will minimize the number of times that you are forced to create holes and overhangs. When placing pieces try to keep the top of the wall as flat as possible. Don't create channels. And ovoid channels that are more than 2 rows deep like the plague. Trust me the computer will generally give you just enough red pieces to clear levels. if you must use them just to fill channels then there will not be enough to clear levels.
So for example most people have a tendency to place the 7 and its sister piece upright even when they could have laid it flat.
11. Last Tip. Once you get good and quick at tetris you will want to move your starting level higher. This will give you more points because the higher the level that you are on, then the more points you get by placing a piece. Remember you will not reach level 8 sooner by starting on level 7, you will just play on level 7 for a longer time. You only advance to level 8 when you have cleared the required amount of TOTAL lines.
Ok thats it. Anything more would just get to tedious. So practice what you have learned here and break that record.
