Tetris Online (Japan)

Tetris Online (Japan) was an official online Tetris game for Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista, which was closed on July 1, 2011.

Gameplay

 * ARE, IRS and IHS are not present.
 * The Random Generator is used for piece distribution.
 * Line clear delay is minimal to non-existent depending on the upgrade level.

T-spins

 * T-spin recognition is 3-corner T.
 * A T-spin Single that uses a rule below is known as a "T-spin Mini" and is less powerful than a normal T-spin Single in both single player and multiplayer. A T-spin Double/Triple with a kick is still counted as a T-spin Double/Triple.

The rule for t-spin minis (the cell must be occupied to be mini):

This is different from Guideline, in which only 1 cell be occupied to be mini:

Back To Back

 * A Tetris or T-spin line clear is considered Back to Back (B2B/BtB) if the previous line clear was either a Tetris or T-spin.

REN

 * REN is the Japanese term for a combo.
 * Each consecutive line clear increases REN by 1 regardless of the type of line clear (Doubles/Triples/Tetrises only add 1 to the counter).
 * The REN counter is displayed for REN 1 or higher. The first line clear can be thought of as REN 0, and thus is not displayed.

Single Player
Single player is only available to Premium users. It consists of the following four modes:

Time Attack
A time attack mode in which the aim is to clear 40 lines as fast as possible, often referred to as Sprint or 40 lines.

Challenge
The aim of Challenge is to maximize your score before the timer runs out.
 * Players begin the game at Level 1 with 2 minutes of time available.
 * There are 30 levels in total.
 * To clear a level, the player must bring the goal down to 0.
 * The goal of each level is equal to 5 times the level.
 * Completion of each level adds 30 seconds to the timer.
 * Overclearing does not affect the goal of the next level.


 * A B2B line clear reduces the goal by 1.5 times more than its normal counterpart.
 * REN reduces the goal by floor(ren# / 2) (but not more than 10)

Marathon
The aim is to maximize your score before the game ends.
 * There are 20 levels in total, the goal of each level is 10 lines.
 * Line clears carry over to the next level.
 * Line clears reduce the goal by the amount of lines cleared.
 * The maximum total amount of lines a player can clear in a game is 203.

Hori Tetris
The aim is to dig through a field of rising garbage.
 * Four difficulty levels exist:
 * Easy - 100 lines
 * Normal - 200 lines
 * Hard - 400 lines
 * Very Hard - 1000 lines

Multi Player
Multi Player consists of the following classes/rooms:

TP = (players placed below you + 1) x (5 if premium, 1 otherwise) + (# of KOs)
 * The maximum room size is 6. Premium users may create password-protected rooms.
 * Teams must be the same size before a team match can start.
 * After topping out, a player may choose to practice while waiting. The practice session continues until the current match ends.
 * In a 1v1 game room, the winner stays in the round and the loser joins the end of the queue of spectators.
 * TP earned after every match is calculated as follows:

Back to Back
A Back to Back line clear sends an additional line.

T-spins

 * Excluding the possible B2B bonus, T-spins send double the amount of lines cleared with the exception of T-spin Minis which send 1 line. There is a 2-line bonus for B2B T-spin Triple, bringing the total lines sent to 8.

REN

 * Above table only includes lines sent from REN.
 * Any REN above 11 will continue to send 5 additional lines each.

Perfect clear
Perfect clear sends extra 6 lines of garbage to all.

KO
KO sends few (1,2 or 3) of extra to-all garbage lines too. Number of lines send depends on number of players in room and number of KO player got in the game.


 * Unlike normal garbage, to-all garbage is never used for garbage canceling.

Garbage Distribution

 * In a free for all match, a target cursor that randomly switches between players determines to whom your lines are sent.
 * Unlike other Tetris Guideline games (eg. Tetris DS, Tetris Splash, and Tetris Friends Live), the garbage holes do not line up or change randomly. Each line clear sends garbage to a single random column.

Possible garbage fields

1. Tetris, Tetris (B2B)

2. Single, Triple, Single, Tetris, T-spin Single (REN 4)

Training

 * Training is only available to Premium users.
 * Training mode involves battling against the AI in a 1v1 match.
 * There are 24 levels consisting of 3 stages each:
 * Tetris
 * REN
 * T-spin

Premium Membership
A Premium membership gives access to all single and multiplayer modes along with other benefits such as increased TP from games and the ability to create password-protected games. Note: On inviting a friend to join TOJ and provided the friend has successfully registered, both players will receive 3 days of free Premium Membership. 90 days and 180 days ticket are not selled now. And if you have Yahoo! Japan ID, you can buy 30 days ticket by 210 yen.

Lottery Balls
Lottery balls can be opened to give a random amount of TP. The amounts of TP given per lottery ball are 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000 and 10000. This is the quickest way to buy upgrades.

VS Item
There are 3 items packs for Specials Mode available for purchase either through lottery balls or TP:
 * Sword (Offensive set)
 * Shield (Defensive set)
 * Happy Face (Interference set)

Multi-player Items: (available through lottery)
 * Garbage Tetris: When you do a Tetris on VS COM or Multi mode, you send garbage with 2 gaps in the probability of ?% for ? games.
 * Garbage REN: When you do REN on VS COM or Multi mode, you send garbage with 2 gaps in the probability of ?% for ? games.
 * Garbage B2B: When you do Back to Back on VS COM or Multi mode, you send garbage with 2 gaps in the probability of ?% for ? games.
 * Garbage T-Spin: When you do line clearing T-Spins on VS COM or Multi mode, you send garbage with 2 gaps in the probability of ?% for ? games.
 * Anti-Miss: This item prevents your harddrop misses for ? games.

Upgrades
All upgrades start at level 0 except for piece previews which starts at level 2. 5 Upgrades are available: It is recommended to upgrade sensitivity first, then soft drop speed if you use many T-spins and finally, line clear delay or previews depending on personal preference.
 * Next piece previews - each level gives you (level + 1) piece previews
 * Sensitivity - each level will increase DAS speed
 * Soft drop speed - each level increases soft drop speed
 * Line clear delay - each level reduces line clear delay
 * Lock delay - This has very little effect in 0G gameplay. Lock delay upgrades will increase the amount of time before the piece will lock after it touches the floor.

Closing and legacy
On July 1st 2011 JST, TOJ was closed. An unofficial server exists where you can still play the game. The server, Tetris Online Poland, also known as TOP, is very active and is still used by Tetris players all around the world to this day.

Links

 * Tetris Online Wonderland
 * GungHo Games Tetris site
 * Official Site
 * Blink's New Player Guide