Piece

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A piece in Tetris and similar games is a geometric shape consisting of a set of blocks that is moved as a unit. A block is the part of a piece that fills one unit of the playfield. In some games, all blocks that make up a piece are colored the same; in others, especially falling piece games other than Tetris and its clones, they are colored differently.

Polyominoes

A polyomino is a piece made of one or more square blocks, where all blocks are connected through full coincident edges (as if squares on graph paper).

  • A free polyomino is one that may be translated (moved about), rotated, or reflected. These are used in Pokémon Tetris.
  • A one-sided polyomino is one that may be translated or rotated. These are the ones used in Tetris.
  • A fixed polyomino can only be translated.

Polyominoes come in several sizes:

Polyominoes are often named by a Latin letter that resembles the shape of the polyomino. For instance, an "I" has all its blocks in a straight line, and a "T" consists of an "I" tromino with one or more blocks in a straight line connected to one side of the center of the "I".

Pseudo-polyominoes

..........
..ZJJ.....
.....O....
..........
..ZJ....O.
.O....ZZ..
.O......J.
..........
Pseudo-tetrominoes
in Tetris 2

A pseudo-polyomino, also known as a hinged polyomino, polyking or polyplet[1] is similar to a polyomino but also allows connections at a point. In games that use pseudo-polyominoes, a piece may break apart at the diagonal connections when it lands, and the fragments may or may not be controllable afterward.

Quasi-polyomino

A quasi-polyomino is any set of blocks regardless of whether they are connected or not. These are featured in some fan games, such as Kowaris.

Other polyforms

Hextris and Bikaka are variants of Tetris that use 4-cell polyhexes, or pieces created from regular hexagons.[2] Bubble Bath Babes uses polyhexes that may be reflected around the X or Y axis but not rotated.

Polycubes

A polycube is a piece made of cubic blocks, where all blocks are connected through full coincident faces. These are featured in 3D variants such as Blockout and 3-D Tetris.

See also

External links