Tetris (Spectrum HoloByte)

Tetris
Developer(s)	Spectrum HoloByte
Publisher(s)	Spectrum HoloByte
Platform(s)	DOS Amiga Apple II Apple IIGS Apple Macintosh Atari ST
Release	January 1988: (DOS) July 1988: (Apple II, IIGS, Mac) December 1988: (Amiga) March 1989: (Atari ST)
Gameplay info
Next pieces	1
Playfield size	10 × 20
Hold piece	No
Hard drop	Hard only
Rotation system	Identical to Sega Rotation, except the vertical state of the S tetromino is shifted 1 space right
DOS version
Amiga version
Apple II version
Apple IIGS version
Atari ST version
Mac version

Tetris is the first Tetris game developed and released by Spectrum HoloByte, and the first version to be released commercially.

There are two versions of the DOS release; the revised version has the plane on the title screen removed (at the request of Elorg) and the military-themed backgrounds replaced (at the request of Pajitnov). The other Spectrum Holobyte versions were based on the revised version.

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

Level Select screen

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.

See also

• Tetris Gold - A compilation release which included the DOS version.

External links

Tetris (Spectrum HoloByte) on StrategyWiki