🟦 How to play Tetris (controls and tips)
By Miguel Arechaga
Tetris is one of the most influential video games of all time. Fitting falling pieces together to clear lines is easy to understand, but playing it well takes speed, order, and foresight. Here's how to master it.
What is Tetris?
Four-block pieces (tetrominoes) fall in different shapes. You have to move and rotate them to fit together without leaving gaps. When you complete an entire horizontal row, that line disappears and you score points.
Controls and rules
- ← → arrow keys: move the piece. ↑ arrow key: rotates it.
- ↓ arrow key: speeds up the drop. Spacebar: drops it instantly.
- On mobile, use the on-screen buttons at the bottom.
- Complete entire rows to clear them and score points.
- Every 10 lines you level up and the speed increases. You lose if the pieces stack all the way to the top.
Strategy: a flat board and the "Tetris"
The golden rule is to keep the surface as flat and low as possible, with no covered holes. A buried gap is very hard to recover from and is usually the beginning of the end. Place each piece wherever it leaves the terrain smoothest, even if it doesn't clear a line right away.
Advanced players deliberately leave an empty column on one side and fill in the rest; when the long piece (the "I") arrives, they drop it there and clear four lines at once: that's a "Tetris" and gives you the maximum score. It takes nerve to hold out while the stack keeps rising.
Quick tips
- Always check the "next" piece to plan where the current one should go.
- Don't cover holes: it's better to lose a line than to bury a gap.
- Rotate pieces before they fully drop; it saves you time at higher levels.
Tetris trains spatial awareness and fast decision-making. With a flat board and the occasional Tetris, your score will skyrocket.
🏆 Score ranking
Tetris has its own global ranking: your best score is saved. Go to Ranking, the 🕹️ 1 Player tab, choose "Tetris" from the dropdown, and compare your score with other players, synced to your account. For your result to count you need a free account on MundoSudoku (just a username and password, no email required): you can play without one, but without logging in your score won't be saved to the ranking.
