Drop

Drop refers to downward motion of each tetromino in Tetris games and other games that use falling pieces.

Gravity

Gravity can be thought of as an automatic drop. It moves a tetromino downward into the playfield at a regular rate, which may change depending on the difficulty level. Some games move the falling tetromino down the display by a distance of one block every so often; others move it continuously by units smaller than a block. If a tetromino cannot move down further, it locks into place either immediately or, in games that use TGM rotation or SRS, after a short delay.

Gravity is expressed in unit G, where 1G = 1 cell per frame, and 0.1G = 1 cell per 10 frames. Older games cannot move the tetromino down more than one cell per frame (60 cells per second). Newer games, especially those capable of a ghost piece, can do so; play at such speeds requires a lock delay. The term 20G was coined by the developer of Tetris The Grand Master to refer to a speed of 20 cells per frame, which produces the effect of a tetromino instantly falling onto the stack as soon as it appears in the playfield.

1/64 = 0.0156G

1/1 = 1G

5/1 = 5G

20/1 = 20G

Gravity, especially recursive gravity, can also refer to the downward motion of large groups of blocks on the playfield after a line clear.

Soft drop

Many games allow the player to temporarily increase the gravity by holding down a key, most often Down on the directional pad or joystick. A tetromino under soft drop (sometimes called fast drop) generally falls at around 20 to 60 blocks per second, as fast as or faster than DAS. The first few generations of games on consoles had only soft drop, not hard drop. Most games will lock a soft-dropped piece as soon as it lands; others (especially SRS based) apply the same lock delay used for gravity.

ARS uses locking soft drop.

SRS uses non-locking soft drop.

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