This is a list of variants of the game Tetris. It includes officially licensed Tetris sequels, as well as unofficial clones. In 2017 Guinness World Records reported Tetris to be the game with most official versions released at 220, over 65 different platforms.[1]
Sega's arcade version of Tetris was released in December 1988.[5] In Japan, it was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1989,[6] and remained among the top ten annual highest-grossing arcade conversion kits through 1995.[7] Mega Drive version developed by Sanritsu Denki, which was cancelled, resulting in less than ten copies being printed.[8][9] A new version based on the arcade version was released on the Sega Genesis Mini in 2019.[10]
Bundled in the North American and European releases of the Game Boy itself and the first game compatible with the Game Link Cable, a pack-in accessory that allowed two Game Boys to link together for multiplayer purposes.
Designed by Alexey Pajitnov and developed by Doka. Pieces (including tetrominoes and occasionally pentominoes) slide down one of four wall surfaces in a well, the "well" being an 8x8 square. When a piece lands while fully or partially sticking outside of the well, the wall is temporarily blocked. The game ends when four walls are no longer accessible. Other versions:
Winner of the 1991 Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Award for Best Action/Arcade Program.[12] Alexey Pajitnov's fourth and final official game in the "Tris" series. Developed by Sphere, Inc.
The player must arrange falling pieces to form a complete face, which include famous historical figures. Features 10 themed difficulty levels and a head-to-head mode.
Developed by Sphere, Inc. Added bombs, new special block types, and two-player co-operative and competitive modes.[14] Bombs appear in some blocks, which explode when the row is filled and removed.
Originally developed by Chunsoft, Tetris 2 + Bombliss (テトリス2+BOMBLISS) was directed by Koichi Nakamura and produced by Tsunekazu Ishihara.[17] One mode, "Bombliss", features bomb blocks that destroy surrounding blocks when a line is completed. Bombliss uses the gravity algorithm to re-arrange the stage after an explosion has destroyed some blocks. A "Tetris C" mode automatically raises the playfield one level after a certain number of blocks are used.
Includes background graphics depicting scenes from Ruslan and Ludmila, a soundtrack based on Russian folk melodies, and a number of cooperative and competitive two-player modes
Uses disconnected colored tetrominos instead of adjacent type tetrominoes, the goal of Tetris 2 is to clear all the bombs by making the blocks of the same color stick together. Released as Tetris Flash in Japan. Other Versions:
Similar to Puyo Puyo in use of competitive mode, characters, and humorous storyline. Different characters can also unleash special moves that affect the opponent in some way. Also includes a Rensa mode, in which gravity takes a bigger part. Came to the attention of European gamers by way of a review in Issue 18 (April 1994) of Super Play magazine.
Sparkliss is similar to Bombliss, but the bombs have orthogonal explosions. Some blocks need to be hit more than once by explosions before they are destroyed.
Magicaliss has pieces that may also be one of four colors. Making a full line with one color destroys all the blocks of that color in the stage. The remaining blocks fall in place.
Familiss is a four-player multiplayer Tetris. Each playfield in this mode is 7 columns across, instead of the usual 10 columns.
Japanese-exclusive. It is not to be confused with the similar Virtual Boy title 3D Tetris, as the two games are entirely different. V-Tetris is mostly the same as the original Tetris games, the only difference being the cylindrical puzzle mode in which blocks could be placed in a 3-D spiral. By using the L and R buttons, or the right D-pad, the screen shifts a block left or right respectively.
Known in Japan as Super Bombliss, Tetris Blast was developed by Bullet Proof, and published by Nintendo.[21] It was released for the Game Boy in Japan on 17 March 1995, in North America in January 23, 1996.[22][23] It is the same as the Bombliss mode in Super Tetris 2 & Bombliss. In an added "Fight" mode, there are creatures that traverse the constantly changing 'terrain' of the play field and try to hinder the player from clearing the screen of blocks. Players can battle others by using a link cable.[24]
Added to the classic Tetris is the new Puzzle Mode. Each level begins with a character (the professor) standing on a different pattern of blocks. This is somewhat is similar to Welltris The goal is to clear the blocks out from under him to get him to the bottom. He climbs to the top of the blocks being stacked up and the game ends when the professor and the descending spiked ceiling collide.
Uses some of the tetrominoes (as well as two 3-block piece) with different gameplay than standard Tetris. The object of the game is to reveal the core in the center of the sphere (which is actually a torus as seen through a fisheye perspective). To achieve this, you need to stack similarly shaped pieces on top of each other. Once three are stacked, the pieces disappear and reveal the layer below. If the player doesn't clear blocks fast enough they lose one life, and if they lose three, the game is over. Wild card pieces, power-ups and a limited ability to slide pieces over the surface of the sphere all help with this task.
Includes Normal Tetris, Giga Tetris that has tetriminoes of different sizes, and Bio Tetris that determines the shape and complexity of falling pieces based on feedback from a heartbeat measuring clip that attaches to the play's ear.
Released in Japan, designed for seasoned and skilled Tetris players. At higher levels, tetriminoes begin to drop so fast that they appear immediately at the bottom, with no airborne phase at all; Players only have a split-second to slide the block into designated locations before they lock down. This distinctive style is called "20G". Subsequent entries in the Grand Master series continued the high-speed trend.
Tetrominoes start out with two blocks and increase with further lines. Circus, Firehouse, Haunted House and Laboratory stages have different graphical effects with each cleared level. Includes printing option.
Tetris with a new feature: when a 16-block (4 by 4) square is made, the tetrominos used to form the square are merged as 16-block squares. A square formed using different types of tetrominos is called a combo square or multisquare, and it appears silver. A square formed using four of the same piece is called a pure square or monosquare, and it appears gold. All pieces but the S and Z can form monosquares.
Story mode with Disney characters. The game implements a new Tetris deviation of combos, where consecutive cleared lines give those clears greater value. Non-story variations include magical, updown, and endless mode with other modes which can be unlocked in the story mode.
Version of The Next Tetris with overhauled presentation and visuals and online play added. Released in Europe in 2001 as The Next Tetris with online functionality removed.[30]
Sequel to Tetris: The Grand Master, featured faster gameplay than its predecessor. A later upgrade, Tetris: The Absolute – The Grand Master 2 Plus, featured several new modes including the "Death Mode" where tetriminoes fall furiously fast right from the beginning.
Released only in Japan, a Cardcaptor Sakura-themed Tetris game. It presents puzzles in which the player (as Sakura Kinomoto) has to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards by defeating Eriol's Tetris style Puzzles. The game also features player vs CPU and contains hidden extras based on the anime series.
Released only in Japan and Europe, a tiny keychain Tetris game with a Pokémon theme. Features the ability to flip pieces horizontally in addition to standard rotation.
Includes classic Tetris and five variations: Stratosphere, which features meteors that can either help or hurt in eliminating rows; Earthquake, where tremors shake the falling shapes and move them around; Tempest, a double Tetris game where players are switched back and forth between screens; Ice, which has falling icicles that will knock into the falling shapes and make them crash down; and Fire, where heat can cause a chain reaction and melt multiple rows.
Sequel to Tetris: The Absolute – The Grand Master 2 Plus with several changes in game mechanics and a "Shirase" mode, analogous to Death Mode but with a drastic speed increase.
Featured ten game modes, including Marathon, Ultra, Sprint, N-Blox, Sprint 5-Player, 1989, Survival, Battle 2-Player, Battle 6-Player, and Rally 8-Player. Leaderboards were based on Facebook friends, encouraging the "friends" aspect. Tetris Friends permanently shut down on May 30, 2019.
A WiiWare title released on 20 October 2008; there were 18 modes, including one which involves building a tower that a tiny person on the stack can climb, and one using the Wii Balance Board.
Features 17 mini-variations, including Ball, Circuit, Erosion, Filler, Flood, Furnace, Limbo, Meteors, Touchdown, Scanner, Split, Stacker, and Vanilla. Three game modes: Pop, Mix, Chrono. Tetris Pop to be released worldwide for mobile devices. Expected Winter 2008.
A giant version of Tetris that features a playing field that is 6 cells wide by 7 cells high as opposed to the almost universal 10 cells wide by 20 cells high. The game is played on a large 70" DLP Projection Monitor and is controlled using giant joysticks with a built-in rumble motor. The base unit is actually a projector which can optionally be detached from the default screen and projected onto a large wall.
A DSiWare title featuring several modes (Marathon, VS, Battle, and Dual Spaces). The focus of the game is multiplayer, where players can compete with other players around the world in real-time.
Similar in design to Tetris Friends, this game features competitive Tetris modes against friends or random people. Both direct "battles" and competitive 40-line sprints are included.
Features over 10 modalities, including Original, Gravity and Laser. It's also possible to play a bonus modality named "Variant", what includes some modified variants of these modalities. It also includes new soundtracks. Available for download in the PlayStation Network as a Mini. The PS3 version features exclusive Power Ups, Shared Mode, and Team Battle.
Features two modalities of gameplay: the classic Marathon mode and a new mode named "Magic", what features a new gameplay style and over new 20 levels. It also includes new soundtracks. In fall 2011 the game was removed from the iOS and Android app stores. However, the Android version can actually be purchased on the Amazon Appstore.
Features two modalities: the classic Marathon mode and a new mode named "Galaxy", what features a new gameplay style and over new 50 levels. It also includes new soundtracks and the classic 8-bit theme from the original Tetris game. Not to be confused with the 2011 game. Following N3TWORK INC.'s acquisition of the Tetris license, both the iOS and Android versions of this game were discontinued and retired from their respective app stores on 21 April 2020.
Tetris versus Puyo Puyo. The game features modes that allow for playing standalone Tetris, standalone Puyo Puyo, and a Fusion mode that combines the two.
Featuring 3 game modes: Marathon, Sprint, or Ultra. Also has over 40 different achievements to earn along the way, as well as global leaderboards to compare a player's progress against other GameCircle participants.
A game based on Tetris Battle, which introduces an all-new interactive adventure where players can battle their way through a series of challenging opponents and goals to become a Tetris Master, where they have to collect special Amulets that can be used to give them an added boost as they progress their way to victory. Over 50 Amulets can be collected.
Includes support for Virtual reality (PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest) and features a "Zone" mechanic which allows the player to freeze time and clear more than four lines at once. Superseded by Tetris Effect: Connected.
A browser version created by Red Bull. Tetris M1ND BEND3RS is a twist on the traditional formula by having different effects whenever the player clears a certain line.
A release of Tetris Effect for the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows that adds a 'connected' suite of multiplayer modes. It was confirmed that the connected multiplayer modes would be ported to the original Tetris Effect as an expansion in Summer 2021.
A compilation release commemorating the 40th anniversary of Tetris. Includes playable emulations of over 15 Tetris games, an all-new version called Tetris Time Warp, and 90 minutes of documentary footage. Part of Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series.
Tetris
2024
iOS, Android
PlayStudios
Tetris mobile app including Tetris Levels, Tetris Marathon, and Puzzle Your Way[58]
Like "Standard Tetris" but with options of more/less complex dropping figures (Polyominoes). Easiest level included 1-square figures (also known as Monominoes). Hardest level included figures of up to 8-square figures (octominoes), including "holes".
Unofficial version of Tetris for Acorn Archimedes from Irish developer SICK. Heavily leans into the game's origins to the Soviet Union, with the cursor even being represented by a hammer and sickle.[75] Appears to use the BBC Micro release as a base, as it includes the block statistics bar, but adds graphical features such as simple polygonal models for both high score letters and current block in play. Only features single player score attack and interestingly is labelled as both TETris and TERtis in-game, in multiple menus, at the same time.
A joke version with a single column. The player is repeatedly given only the long piece, and only has one control key (to increase the falling rate.) 1D Tetris was included in the "Zero Gamer" Exhibition as a "game that tests the viewers' endurance in meditative inaction."[105]
Recreation of Tetris with network capability through TCP/IP and Bonjour.[106] The Tetris Company requested removal in 2006,[107] but it was available as of 2008 with a disclaimer that it is not "affiliated with or sponsored by The Tetris Company or part of their Tetris line of products."[108]
Open-source Tetris fan game notable for its variety of gameplay modes and customizability. The Nullpomino League Edition allowed for tournament play and sprint training. NullpoMino gameplay videos of Mario and Luigi patterns were shown in the Yoasobi Sanshimai show.[111]
A game with the same mechanics as Tetris. Mino also featured multiplayer support for up to four players.[112] In a 2012 U.S. District Court ruling, Mino was found to have infringed on the Tetris Company's copyrights because it had replicated a combination of visual elements from the official Tetris.[113]
A free-to-play online multiplayer block game.[118] Jstris is a simple online multiplayer block game built in JavaScript, HTML5, and Python (server),[119][120] comparable to "battle royale" game such as Tetris 99.[121]
An online multiplayer stacker game with global leaderboards, worldwide matches,[127] and a "battle royale" style gamemode comparable to Tetris 99.[128] In 2021, TETR.IO had 2.6 million active players worldwide.[129]
Ultimate Tetris is a Tetris game that has more than 20 block types, a few new game modes, and a "Hardcore" mode where the game is played on a 125x125 grid.
PicTiles is a variant of Tetris in which the tetrominoes are used to fill in pictures. The game is available as shareware for OS X (PPC and Intel) and was originally released in 2004 by Charcoal Design (website).
California Dreams released a Tetris variant called Blockout (website) in 1989. It is played in three dimensions from a top-down perspective. The basic mode uses standard tetrominos, which can be manipulated with three different degrees of rotation, in two directions (requiring six separate keys for rotating, in addition to the four movement keys and a key to drop a tetromino). Further modes in the game introduce extra dominos composed of blocks set above and below each other, and may have more or less than four blocks. www.blockout.de international championships
Eqtris ([1]) is a clone with numerous gameplay variations, including competitive and co-operative two-player modes, editable game pieces, and a mission-based Challenge Mode.
Gravytris (www.gravytris.de) is a freeware implementation of Tetris in OpenGL that implements the "chain-reaction" variant of gravity. Furthermore, it has a contemplative puzzle mode with complex tiles and no time pressure. Another game mode is color tetris where a strategic twist is introduced by adding colored subblocks to the tetris tiles effectively combining the games Columns and Tetris into one game. Other features: Online Highscorelist, 1-hour soundtrack, windows and Linux binaries, no installation required (single self-contained executable)
Bastet, short for Bastard Tetris, is a Tetris clone created by Federico Poloni. Running on the Linux platform, Bastet increases the game's challenge by using a mathematical formula to choose the worst possible tetromino to give the player, rather than selecting one randomly.
Vertris, is a simple cross-platform Tetris clone created by Andrés Rassol. It is covered under the GNU General Public License.
TetriNET is a popular variant playable on Internet with up to 6 players. On clearing lines the player receives special blocks that can be used to damage the field of the opponent or help a teammate. This imitation uses general Tetris inferences, but the main differential is its 12 by 22 play field dimensions.
Duotris is a Tetris clone produced by team Magnetics, which was released on Commodore 64. It featured classic 2D tetrominos and included a standard singleplayer mode, a two-player split-screen mode as well as a unique team mode in which both players filled up the same playing area.
Tetripz is also a freeware game for the PC, written by Mute Fantasies. It has a number of levels that alter the appearance of the game board (by spinning, warping or otherwise changing the traditional board). It is, according to the game designers, "playing Tetris under influence of LSD, but without the LSD." The row width is 11 blocks wide.
Tetanus On Drugs is a free software game for Windows and Linux, and it is also ported to Game Boy Advance ROM. The game was developed by Pin Eight, and, while not stated by its website, it is probably based on the earlier game Tetripz. Tetanus On Drugs plays on more traditional restrictions with a mode similar to The New Tetris.
Tetris Worlds (NHN Corp, 2005) is a Korean interpretation of THQ's original Tetris Worlds. In NHN Corp's game, a player can rotate floored tetriminoes up to 15 times. The game includes modes of play similar to THQ's Tetris Worlds but also includes Tetris clear, where users compete in terms of time to clear lines containing "star" mino; survival, where users compete against each other like in other versus mode games; Sticky; Cascade; and Rush mode. Rush mode uses Cascade gravity and has 100 to 150 unfilled rows that a player needs to "dig down" using line clears and attack or defend items. The first player to clear the bottom row wins. The game also features Single Player puzzle mode and has multiplayer support for up to 6 players in Tetris/Sticky/Cascade and a maximum of 10 players in Rush mode. It is playable at http://tetris.hangame.com/.
Emacs has a Tetris easter egg available by typing ESC-x then tetris (or pong)
Phony Ring two:five is a variant of Tetris in which the playing field is a ring. It is a PC game released in 2006 by Volatile Assembly (website) with the music highly integrated with the game flow.
Lockjaw is an open-source Tetris clone designed to accurately play like a range of popular Tetris games. It is largely customizable by the player.
"Triz" is a Tetris clone made for Symbian OS. One important note is that it does not show you the next piece.
Quadrapassel (Formerly Gnometris) is a part of Gnome Games, and is installed by default with the Ubuntu distribution of Linux.
Scrablet is a variant where the basic game of Tetris is combined with Scrabble. The game feature an inbuilt dictionary of over 20,000 words. Scrablet won the Champion (Games Category) in National Software Competition held in Singapore in 1991.
^"第３回 ゲーメスト大賞" [3rd Gamest Awards]. Gamest (in Japanese). Vol. 41 (February 1990). 27 December 1989. pp. 52–79. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
^Chamberlin, Steve (11 December 2015). "The Story of Tetris Max". Big Mess o' Wires. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
^Chamberlin, Steve (11 December 2015). "The Story of Tetris Max". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
^Weikert, Dave (March–April 1997). "Macintosh Disketeria"(PDF). Washington Apple Pi Journal. Vol. 19, no. 2. Washington Apple Pi, Ltd. p. 88. Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
