Block Drop is a block stacker in the modern guideline tradition: seven tetrominoes, a 10×20 well, and the rotation system competitive players expect. This page covers the controls, the full scoring table, and how the rotation and T-spin detection actually work underneath.
Objective
Seven tetrominoes fall one at a time into a well ten columns wide and twenty rows deep. Fill a whole row and it clears. Four rows at once is a Tetris. The run ends when a new piece has nowhere left to spawn.
Controls
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Move left / right | ← → — or J L |
| Soft drop | ↓ — or K |
| Hard drop | Space |
| Rotate clockwise | ↑ X D |
| Rotate anticlockwise | Z Ctrl S |
| Flip 180° | A |
| Hold | C Shift |
| Pause | Esc P |
| Restart | R |
Holding left or right auto-repeats after 140 ms, then every 38 ms. On a touch device an on-screen pad appears below the well, so the whole game is playable with thumbs.
Scoring
| Clear | Points |
|---|---|
| Single | 100 × level |
| Double | 300 × level |
| Triple | 500 × level |
| Tetris (four rows) | 800 × level |
| T-spin single | 800 × level |
| T-spin double | 1200 × level |
| T-spin triple | 1600 × level |
| T-spin, no lines cleared | 400 × level |
A mini T-spin pays a quarter of the full value. Note that a T-spin double beats a Tetris — if you can set up spins reliably, that is where the score is.
A Tetris, or any T-spin that clears a line, counts as a difficult clear. Chain two of them with nothing easy in between and the second is worth half again — the back-to-back bonus. Consecutive clears also add a combo step of 50 × combo × level, and emptying the board completely is a perfect clear, worth 800 to 2000 × level depending on how many rows went with it. Soft drop pays 1 per row, hard drop 2.
Modes
| Mode | Goal | Speed | Ranked by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon | 150 lines | Rises every 10 lines | Best score |
| Sprint 40 | 40 lines | Fixed, level 1 | Best time |
| Ultra 2:00 | Survive two minutes | Starts at level 3, rises | Best score |
| Zen | None | Fixed, level 2 | Most lines |
A Sprint time only counts as a record if you actually reach 40 lines, so there is no credit for a fast abandon. Records are kept in your own browser.
How the rotation actually works
Rotation is SRS — the Super Rotation System used by modern guideline games. Each piece has four precomputed rotation states, and a rotation walks the standard five-offset kick table for that transition. The first offset that fits wins. If none fit, the rotation is refused rather than nudged somewhere it does not belong, which is what makes wall kicks predictable enough to rely on.
The 180° flip is not part of SRS, so it uses a short table of our own: enough to turn against a wall or a flat floor, deliberately not enough to tunnel a piece into a gap it could not otherwise reach.
T-spin detection requires two things at once: three of the four corners around the T's centre must be filled, and your last successful action must have been a rotation. If both corners flanking the T's nub are filled it is a full spin; otherwise it is a mini — unless the rotation used the last kick offset, which always counts as full.
Lock delay is 500 ms, and moving or rotating a grounded piece resets it — but only fifteen times per piece, so you cannot stall on top of the stack indefinitely.
The well is really 24 rows with the top four hidden. That buffer is deep enough that no kick near the ceiling can push a cell off the top of the board, so a block is never silently lost. Locking a piece entirely inside the buffer is a lock-out, and ends the run.
One deliberate omission: the board never shakes. A hard drop jolting the well is a common flourish, but at speed you are reading the stack constantly and a camera moving under you fights that. There is no camera offset in the renderer at all.
Strategy
- Keep the stack flat and leave one column open for a long piece. Four rows at once is worth eight times a single, so the well pays for the patience.
- Chain difficult clears — two Tetrises back to back, or a Tetris then a T-spin double, and the second is worth 50% more. An ordinary single in between breaks the chain.
- Use hold to bank a long piece for the well you are digging, not to dodge an awkward one. Dodging leaves you the same problem a piece later.
- Learn one T-spin setup and you will out-score a flat Tetris player, because a T-spin double pays 1200 against 800.
- In Sprint the clock is the only thing that matters, so take singles and doubles freely. Speed beats efficiency there, and the level never rises.
Questions
Does Block Drop use real SRS?
Yes — the standard five-offset kick tables, with the rotation refused if no offset fits. Wall kicks and T-spins behave as they do in any modern stacker.
How do I perform a T-spin?
Build a notch that a T fits into only by rotating, typically an overhang with a gap beneath. Slide the T alongside, then rotate it in. Three of the four corners around its centre must end up filled, and rotation must be your last action.
Can I flip a piece 180 degrees?
Yes, with A. It is not part of SRS, so it uses a smaller kick table than a quarter turn does.
Are my scores saved?
In your own browser, per mode. Nothing is sent to a server, so clearing your browser data clears your records, and they do not follow you to another device.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. A touch pad appears below the well with move, rotate, hold and hard drop.
Other guides
- Minefield — chording, safe first click and efficiency scoring
- Fruit Cascade — cascade multipliers and special fruit
- Merge Numbers — corner strategy on four board sizes
- All guides