Tetris DS/Terms

There are quite a few Tetris terms. The main ones are explained here and despite there being many more, they are rarely used. Most of them date back from the early 90's when the game was released on a lot of consoles.


 * Tetromino: These are the pieces that drop from the top of the screen. You must link them together at the bottom of the screen. There are seven different tetrominos used in Tetris DS. All of these are made up of four blocks but are different colours.
 * I Piece: Light Blue
 * J Piece: Dark Blue
 * L Piece: Orange
 * O Piece: Yellow
 * S Piece: Green
 * T Piece: Purple
 * Z Piece: Red
 * T-Spin: When the T tetromino is used to fill in a space that requires you to spin it at the last second for it to slot in perfectly.
 * Hold Box: There is a hold box that can be used by pressing L or R. This will hold one piece at a time and that piece can be used later.
 * Tetris: As well as being the name of the game; it's when you clear four lines using the I tetromino.
 * Soft Drop: Dropping a tetromino faster than it usually goes whilst still keeping control of it.
 * Top Out: When the tetrominos have reached the top of the screen, usually that means game over.
 * Infinite Rotation: There is no limit to how many times you can rotate a tetrominos.