This week, I will be talking all the Tetris modes I play and why. Normally when people think of Tetris, they think of a variation of Marathon. Of course I’ll be talking about the most common game mode, but there are plenty more to talk about!
First is the most common game mode and personal favourite, Marathon. A normal game of Tetris, will likely be Marathon to most people. In this game mode, there are no power ups or hidden features by default. The blocks fall, you place them, they get faster as the game progress. The most differences I find in Marathon between different websites or consoles is how the game ends. Normally you lose the game if you top out, but the game can also end after a certain level. One of the reasons I stopped using the website Tetris Friends is because of this level limit. Compared to the current website I play Tetris on, Tetris Friends only goes up to level 15. When I first started, this level seemed like a pipe dream but now it’s kind of casual to me, being able to finish a round one handed. If you also take it to the next level, Tetris Friends rewards a certain type of play style. In Tetris people usually score in two ways, back to back Tetris’s and T-spins. Tetris’s are easier to get but T-spins earn more points. In the end, the top players are the ones who can cram as many triple T-spins they can before hitting level 15. Alternatively, there are the websites that go on endlessly increasing in speed every level until it is physically impossible to play. The current website I use is Tetris.com, which increases the level limit and speed from Tetris Friends. The website also lets you jump levels so you don’t have to play 15 levels just to get to level 16. So far, I’ve only barely been able to get to level 25, which is the highest level you are able to jump to.
Another common game mode I see is Sprint. However, depending on the website the name could be different. Fortunately the goal of the game is the same, to clear 40 lines as fast as possible. Sprint also doesn’t use a point system. Meaning a single is worth just as much as a Tetris, being zero points. Besides playing against the clock and using no points, it doesn’t have anything else too defining. Back in Tetris Friends, my friends and I would compete to earn the lowest time (This being after hitting our limits in both Marathon and 2P). However, now most of my friends don’t play and I occasionally see if I can top my own record, being around sub 1.30.00.
Finally, the last game mode I will be talking about is 2P. I call this game mode 2P but it is essentially the game mode that pits you against bots are varying level. Basically, most of the time you build and clear lines to send to your opponent. In order to send lines, you must clear at least two lines at once. On your opponents screen, the sent lines will appear as grey blocks boosting their build several lines, which may or may not cause them to top out. When my friends and I use to play Tetris regularly, this was are favourite game mode. We use to see who could have a highest win ratio. However, we stopped due the the difficulty of the bots become too hard.
Overall, I have played a lot of Tetris game modes. However after all this time, my favourite remains modern Marathon. There of course many other game modes expanding beyond these three, an example being classic Tetris. Unfortunately, if I were to do a comprehensive list, this blog would be far too long. In the end, I may come back and expand on my explanations of Tetris game modes.