Tetris Friends

Tetris Friends is a Tetris game available on its website and Facebook.

Gameplay details

 * ARE: No
 * Initial actions (IRS,IHS): Yes (must be unlocked)
 * T-Spin detection
 * Website version
 * 1989 and N-Blox mode: None
 * All other modes: 3-corner T
 * Facebook version
 * Ultra, Battle+, and Battle+6P mode: 3-corner T
 * BlockStar mode: None
 * All other modes: 3-corner T no kick
 * Combo bonus: Yes

Expert Plus (E+) mode:


 * The assumption is that in all modes, combos above 12 will generate 5 lines for each line cleared.

Below is a table for Normal Mode and Expert Mode (Numbers in bold are different than E+ Mode):

Marathon
Standard marathon mode with 15 level limit.

In both versions, this mode always starts from level 1.

In Facebook version, different goal system (5-5-5-5-5-10-10-10-10-10-15-15-15-15-15).

Scoring Strategy
Tetris Friends has a goal system where the way to get to the next level is to clear a certain number of goal lines that increases as the levels do. The optimal way to acheive a high score is using the Single-single combo strategy:

Post specifically about facebook tetris scoring strategy

YouTube - Higher Tetris Splash and Facebook Tetris marathon score's

Sprint
Clear 40 lines as fast as possible. Level is not selectable and fixed to 1. This is an excellent mode to practice in because it is the only 1P mode which has the same game mechanics as Arena with Expert Mode.

Sprint 5P (Sprint 4P in Facebook)
Compete with 4 opponents in Sprint mode. Opponents are just the previously recorded play, and randomly selected based on your current rank. This mode uses slower gravity than normal Sprint and therefore has a heavy time penalty for all twists.

Arena
This mode features realtime multiplayer between 2-6 players. Players earn points by winning and advance through a ranking system. There are currently 20 player ranks and 4 player classes.

Ultra
2 minutes ultra mode. Score as many points as possible within 2 minutes. In Facebook version, music is selectable from 5 songs. In website version, however, only "Midnite" music is available. This mode was formerly known as Tetris Solo, and 3 minutes mode was also available. Level is not selectable and fixed to 1. Your score will not be recorded if you top out.

T-Spin with wall kick is allowed even if it is played in Facebook version. However there are some graphical glitches. If you perform TST, only the score marker (the floating "+1600" text) will be displayed.

Battle 2P
Fight against a randomly selected opponent. As in Sprint 5P mode, opponents are just the previously recorded play. Garbages doesn't have a hole. You can remove it by attacking your opponent.

Battle 6P
Fight against five randomly selected opponents for 2 or 3 minutes. You can select a map. (the initial block patterns, as seen in TOJ)

Game Tunings
Game tunings are expensive with tokens and require an unrealistic amount that would require around 30,000 games to played. They are cheap however with rubies. The two major upgrades are DAS and ARR. Very important: After purchasing these upgrades you must activate them on your profile page under "My Tetris Style" > Advanced. It is not enough simply to buy them. There are also two minor upgrades which were designed to neutralize the effect of the 0.5 second line clear delay: IHS and IRS.

It is recommended first to get 5 ARR, then at least 3 DAS, then IRS, and then maybe IHS.


 * DAS - Delayed Auto Shift: This is how long it takes for a piece to start sliding once you hold left or right. This will cause many misdrops while learning to do this and full DAS (level 5) may take months for acclimation. Unless you have a perfect network and a decent graphics card then 5 DAS is not recommended.


 * ARR - Auto Repeat Rate: This is how long a piece starts moving once the DAS kicks in. High ARR is much easier to get used to and level 5 is recommended in all cases.


 * IHS - Initial Hold System: This will allow you (intentionally or accidentally) to hold a piece during the line clear delay. This theoretically will save you time but will also cause many unfortunate misdrops.


 * IRS - Initial Rotation System: This lets you rotate the next piece during the line clear delay. Something like this is almost impossible to do deliberately, but may have some advantages when moving quickly and intuitively.

Hidden Missions
As you complete premium missions, which cost rubies, you fill in a grid which will unlock hidden missions once you complete a row. Below are a list of the known hidden missions (acknowledgements to Bigwig, Pikiwedia, and Ravendarksky):
 * [Row 1 HM] For the Glory: Perform 10 Tetrises and 10 T-Spins in a single game of Marathon within 7 days.


 * [Row 2 HM] Hotline Deluxe: complete 10 hotlines in a single game of ultra in 7 days.

Comment: This one is annoying because by the third game the bar is so low it's easy to break above it. Losing a 2p game does not cause the 3 game consecutive to reset IIRC but breaking the limbo bar does.
 * [Row 3 HM] Limbo Bar Deluxe: Beat 3 games of 2p consecutively while staying under the limbo line.

Comment: While HMs 5 and 6 are currently unknown, this is reported to be the only mission that's fun or worthwhile.
 * [Row 4 HM] Hotlines: Complete all 40 lines on the HotLine.

Hidden Missions 5 and 6 currently do not exist because Tetrisfriends has halted the development of premium missions.


 * [Row 5 HM] ?
 * [Row 6 HM] ?

Arena Modes
After progressing beyond the silver class, the option of Expert Mode and Expert Mode + become available when making a room. A Purple E or E+ in the upper right of a game room will indicate the mode. It is highly advised that all games be played in Expert + mode.

Expert Mode: Speed increase, consistent garbage shifting, and sequential targeting.


 * Speed increase means higher gravity which means that tspins are quicker and therefore more powerful. Your tspins will start to misfire if you jump back and forth from these gravity modes. The gravity in Sprint is the same as Expert mode while unfortunately Ultra, Battle 2P, Battle 6P, and even Sprint5P have that of normal gravity.


 * Consistent garbage shifting means that every discrete combo or line(s) cleared will create a hole in a different spot. In normal mode you tend to get only one giant hole which tends to make gameplay silly.


 * Sequential targeting means that the gunscope, which shows where your lines and/or items will be sent, will move predictably from left to right rather than randomly. But please be sportsman and do not abuse the targetting feature to bully other players.

Expert + Mode: All features of Expert Mode plus the following: garbage block, combo attack adjustments, and extended time.


 * Garbage block was adapted from Tetris Online Japan (ToJ) and gives you an opportunity to combo to stall and/or counter your red bar. The red bar shows how many lines will be sent to you unless you combo. When you lower the red bar to counter, your lines are absorbed and none are sent to other players and those lines will not be a part of your "lines sent" total at the end of the match. Surplus lines after the red bar is eliminated will be sent.


 * Combo attack adjustments. As consistent garbage shifting makes combos much more deadly since they produce messy garbage, the number of lines sent from combos is slightly reduced as shown in the chart.


 * Extended time. The hurry-up garbage begins at 2 minutes rather than 1 minute.

Survival
This mode features similar objective as marathon, but has different goal system. Level advances by clearing every 10 lines. After you beat 20th level, you'll enter the "Bonus Level". The bonus level is semi-invisible challenge, and the game continues until you top out. This mode is available only in website version. In Facebook version it was available as Holiday mode, but it's not available now.

1989
This mode simulates classic GameBoy version of Tetris, but it's not so accurate. For example, DAS is somewhat faster, the gravity at level 15 is slower than original, and it has lock delay. Both A and B type game can be played, but B-type game doesn't have a separate leaderboard.

Acorn Drop
IceAge themed 150 lines marathon game. All pieces have same colors AND designs, that of an acorn. This was a promotional game and is no longer available.

N-Blox
It's not a real game mode, but can be played in website version. You can't change keyboard mappings in this game.

BlockStar
This mode is remake of the first Tetris game released on Facebook. It has classic game elements: no hold piece, no ghost piece, no lock delay, only one piece preview, endless game time, and more. This mode is no longer available.