Top out

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Revision as of 14:10, 4 January 2008 by *>Nicholas (Reverted edits by 123.120.152.84 (Talk); changed back to last version by DIGITAL)
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A top out occurs when:

  • a tetromino cannot be place at least partially within the play zone.
  • garbage pieces are sent, pushing the top pieces above the spawn zone.

Top outs result in a game over.

Loss condition

There are several variations of what constitutes a top out:

  • Block out: a piece is spawned overlapping at least one block in the playfield
  • Lock out: a piece locks when it is entirely out of bounds (that is, above the ceiling)
  • Partial lock out: a piece locks when it is partially out of bounds, even if it would clear a line
  • Garbage out: After lines are cleared and garbage is added, a block remains out of bounds

Different games have used different combinations of these conditions:

This list is incomplete.