Super Tetris
© 1992 Spectrum HoloByte

Manual

  PRIVYET! 
  First there was tetris. Then there was the fall of communism. 
  Coincidence - or incredibly crafty plan? 
 
  Consider: when Alexey Pajitnov created tetris, there were very few 
  computers in the whole of the Soviet Union and authorities were mightily 
  concerned with controlling the flow of information those computers could 
  provide. But the savvy young Russian went ahead and made his game 
  in spite of that, and then found a way to market it around the world. It 
  became one of the most successful games the world has ever seen and 
  threw a spotlight on the creativity waiting to be unleashed in the 
  world's eastern hemisphere. Who's to say if that one example showed the 
  Soviet bureaucrats that there was more to be gained from plunging ahead 
  into modern times than holding back? All we know is, the world started
  humming balalaika music and the commissars collapses... 
 
  ...leaving Alexey even freer to take tetris to new levels of 
  entertainment and excitement, so that now: 
 
  *       The pit is deeper, and it scrolls as your pieces fall. 
  *       The bottom of the pit is filled with rubble, which conceals 
          seven types of buried treasures. 
  *       Removing a line wins you a bomb cluster, which you can use to 
          blow up extra pieces or activate treasures. 
  *       The rubble makes up a hidden picture, which is revealed in the 
          thermometer next to the pit as you remove each line of rubble. 
  *       The game advances to a higher level when you've completely 
          revealed the picture in the rubble. 
  *       The number of pieces you can use to clear the pit is limited. 
  *       Pieces fall faster and the rubble is more difficult to clear 
          at higher levels. 
  *       You can make pieces fall faster by pressing a key, but releasing 
          the key returns them to their normal rate of descent. 
  *       The game ends when the pieces reach the top of the pit, you run 
          out of pieces, or you run out of time (in a timed game). 
  *       There are single player timed games, cooperative games and 
          competitive games. 
 
  So get ready to dig into super tetris. Who knows? You just may be 
  changing the course of history - again! 


AMIGA
~~~~~
Loading the Program

Turn on the computer (Amiga 1000 owners must use Kickstart.) When prompted
for the Workbench disk, place the Super Tetris disk into the drive. The 
game will "auto-boot."
 
If you have 1 megabyte RAM or more, Super Tetris can be multi-tasked.

Making a Backup Copy

Super Tetris for the Amiga contains off-disk copy protection, which means 
that you can make a backup copy.

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can install Super Tetris to any location on your hard drive, as long
as you assign tetris: to that location.
I.E:

ASSIGN TETRIS: DH3:GAMES/TETRIS

Copy it with

COPY DF0: TO DH3:GAMES/TETRIS ALL


IBM
~~~

  SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Super tetris operates on any IBM PC compatible computer running Windows 
  3.0 or later. In addition, the program requires: 
 
  *       2MB RAM 
  *       One 1.2 MB 5 1/4 or 1.44 MB  1/2 disk drive 
  *       Hard drive 
  *       VGA graphics 
  *       Microsoft-compatible mouse 
 
  Options: 
  ~~~~~~~~ 
  *       Super VGA graphics 
  *       Sound blaster card 
 
 
  INSTALLATION 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Make backup copies of your super tetris program disks before you do 
  anything else and put your original program disks in a safe place. 

  Because the super tetris program must be run from a hard drive, you 
  cannot run super tetris from floppy disks. 
 
  To install the program: 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  1.      Start Windows as you normally do. 
  2.      Insert super tetris disk 1 into your floppy drive. 
  3.      From the program manager's file menu, choose "RUN" 
  4.      In the command line box, type "A:SETUP" 
  5.      Press the ENTER key 
  6.      Follow the onscreen instructions. The setup program will install 
          super tetris to c:\supertet unless you want to change it. If you 
          wish to install the game to a different directory, type the new 
          directory name in the space below. Press OK to continue with the 
          installation. 
  7.      Next the setup program will determine if your windows system is 
          running in a 256 color or 16 color mode. If your system is in 
          256 color mode, setup will ask if you want to install 256 color 
          images, 16 color images or both. Choose one of the options and 
          press OK 

  8.      Next, the setup program will ask you if you have a sound blaster 
          or sound blaster pro card. If so, the setup program will install 
          the necessary sound files. 
  9.      The setup program will then check your win.ini file to see if it 
          has been modified for the sound blaster. If not, setup will ask 
          if you want to add the following lines to your win.in file: 
 
          [SoundBlaster] 
          Port=220 
          Int=7 
          DMA=1 
 
          Note: The lines above assume that your sound blaster is set to 
          220 hex for the address and 7 for the interrupt. If your 
          settings are not the same as these, change the values 
          accordingly in your win.in file. The testsbc program from 
          creative labs will help you check your card's address and 
          interrupt setting. 
 
          You will need to restart windows in order for the changes in 

          your win.in file to take effect for the sound blaster. 
 
 
  LOADING SUPER TETRIS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  To run super tetris, open the games program group in the program 
  manager. Double-click the super tetris icon. You will soon see the 
  introductory sequence and the super tetris title screen. 
 
  Please note that super tetris will only run under the standard or 386 
  enhanced mode of windows. You can check to see which windows mode you 
  are running in by selecting "about program manager" from the help menu 
  while in the program manager. If you are running in real mode, super 
  tetris will not load. 
 
  If you are running in standard mode, super tetris does not support music 
  through the sound blaster or sound blaster pro. The music button on the 
  game configuration screen will be dimmed out if you are either running 
  in standard mode or do not have a sound blaster card. If you are running 
  in enhanced mode, super tetris supports both music and sound effects on 
  your sound blaster. 
 
 
  TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Level           Level of difficulty in the game 
  Square          Basic unit of a super tetris piece 
  Piece           Made up of four squares. There are seven unique pieces 
  Next Piece      Next piece to fall. This is shown so you can anticipate 
                  where to place it in your well. 
  Pieces Left     Number of pieces you have to finish the level 
  Line            Horizontal row of squares, formed by fitting pieces 
                  together 
  Pit             Where the game is played, 28 squares deep 
  Water Line      The line which is 14 lines from the top of the pit with 
                  the rubbles below 
  Rubble          Squares beneath the water line that have been already 
                  placed in the pit 
  Thermometer     Small replica of the entire pit which allows you to 
                  better see the design formed as you remove lines of 
                  rubble 
  Bomb            Special piece which destroys squares and itself when it 
                  touches squares or other bombs 
  Treasure        Special square embedded in rubble which provides rewards 
                  when bombed 
 
 
  GAME CONFIGURATION 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  The game configuration screen allows you to choose the type of game you 
  want to play. Make your choices by moving the onscreen arrow with the 
  mouse. When the arrow is positioned over the choice you want, click the 
  left mouse button to open dialog boxes or to toggle (if an On/Off choice 
  is available). 
 
 
  SELECT A GAME MODE 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  There are six game modes in super tetris: 
  SINGLE PLAYER, SINGLE PLAYER 5 MINUTE, SINGLE PLAYER 10 MINUTE, SINGLE 
  PLAYER 15 MINUTE, CO-OPERATIVE AND COMPETITIVE. When you select the 
  first button on your screen, a dialog box appears listing these modes. 
  Select one by clicking on it with the left mouse button. We suggest you 
  start with a single player game to get a feel for super tetris before 
  you try the other game modes. Playing and scoring in a single player 
  game is explained in the playing super tetris section later in this 
  manual. The other game modes are explained in their own chapters. 
 
 
  SELECT A DIFFICULTY LEVEL 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  When you select difficulty level, a dialog box appears listing the 
  levels by number. The higher the number, the faster the pieces fall; 
  also, rubble becomes more difficult to clear, the pit becomes deeper and 
  more treasure types appear. Select your level by clicking on it with the 
  left mouse button. We suggest you start with level 1 to get a feel for 
  super tetris before you try the other difficulty levels. 
 
 
  SELECT A CONTROL METHOD 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Now move the arrow over the player 1 button and select your method of 
  controlling super tetris. You can use either the keyboard or the mouse. 
  If you've selected a cooperative or competitive game, the same choices 
  appear for player 2 just below player 1's button. Only one player can 
  have mouse selected in a cooperative or competitive game. 
 
 
  SELECT OPTIONS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  The following buttons allow you to change the way the game is played. 
 
  You can decide whether you want advance notice of what piece will fall 
  after the current piece by toggling next piece on or off. The game is 
  more challenging if you don't know what is coming next and you will 
  score more points for successful play. We suggest, though, that you lean 
  super tetris with this option turned on. 
 
  You can also decide whether you want to play with sound effects by 
  toggling sound effects on or off, and whether you want music (if you 
  have a sound blaster running in enhanced mode) by toggling music on or 
  off. 
 
 
  AND...GO! 
  ~~~~~~~~~ 
  Select new game to begin a brand-new game. This activates all your 
  choices on the game. Configuration screen and starts the game. 
 
  Load game brings up a dialog box which allows you to restart a saved 
  game. 
 
  Selecting quit at the game configuration screen returns you to the 
  desktop. You can also press ALT F4. 
 
 
  PLAYING SUPER ns allow you to change the way the game is played. 
 
  You can decide whether you want advance notice of what piece will fall 
  after the current piece by toggling next piece on or off. The game is 
  more challenging if you don't know what is coming next and you will 
  score more points for successful play. We suggest, though, that you lean 
  super tetris with this option turned on. 
 
  You can also deRIS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Super tetris starts on whichever level you last selected on the game 
  configuration screen, but the initial default is level 1. Each level 
  shows the pit on the left and a screen from the world famous moscow 
  circus on the right. 
 
  In single player and cooperative games, the box above the pit shows the 
  current point score. In a competitive game, player 1's point score 
  appears in a box at the upper left of the screen and player 2's score 
  appears in a box at the upper right. 
 
  In single player and cooperative games, the box at the upper left of the 
  screen shows the level. In a competitive game, the level is shown above 
  the pit. 
 
  If you choose next piece on from the game configuration screen, a 
  picture of the next piece to fall is shown in the box below your score. 
  In a competitive game, each player has a separate box for the next 
  piece. 
 
  Below the picture of the next piece is the number of pieces left at this 
  level. 
 
  To the lower left of the pit is a miniature version of the pit, called 
  the thermometer, which shows a miniature picture of the rubble as you 
  destroy it. The rubble forms a picture, which you can best see in the 
  thermometer's reduced format. The rubble picture is usually related to 
  that level's background artwork. 
 
 
  PIECES AND BOMBS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Super tetris pieces come in seven shapes. Each level has a finite number 
  of pieces to begin with. In the single player and competitive game modes 
  you have 50 pieces, but in cooperative it is 100. Each time a super 
  tetris piece drops, the number of pieces left goes down by one. If the 
  number of pieces decreases to zero, then the game is over. You can get 
  more pieces by completing lines or exploding certain treasures. Each 
  time you finish a level, the number of pieces is reset to 50 (or 100) 
  and you now have that number of pieces to complete the new level. 
 
  The lower portion of the pit is filled with water and rubble. Pieces 
  drop randomly from the top of the pit and fall until they land on 
  another piece or the rubble. You must position the pieces as they fall, 
  trying to fit them together at the bottom like a jigsaw puzzle. When a 
  horizontal line completely crossing the pit is formed, the line 
  disappears and the piece that falls next is, in fact, a cluster of 
  bombs. This cluster can also be positioned as it falls and whatever 
  squares the bomb touches as it moves are destroyed. Bombs do not 
  subtract from the piece count. 
 
  Bomb clusters are awarded as follows: 
 
          Completing 1 line               2 bombs 
          Completing 2 lines              4 bombs 
          Completing 3 lines              8 bombs 
          Completing 4 lines or more      12 bombs 
 
 
  MOVING PIECES 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  As pieces or bombs fall into the pit, you can move them left or right, 
  rotate them or make them fall more quickly, using the control method you 
  choose on the game configuration screen. You can also move pieces using 
  a mouse. 
          Rotate  Left button 
          Drop    Right button 
          Left    Move mouse left 
          Right   Move mouse right 
 
  The following table lists the keys that control the movement of the 
  pieces and bombs: 
 
  Control 1: Single Player 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
          Move piece left         4       A       left arrow 
          Move piece right        6       D       right arrow 
          Rotate piece            5       S       up arrow 
          Drop piece              2       X Space down arrow 
          Left and down           1       Z 
          Right and down          3       C 
 
  Control 1: Competitive and Cooperative 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
          Move piece left         A 
          Move piece right        D 
          Rotate piece            S 
          Drop piece              X Space 
          Left and down           Z 
          Right and down          C 
 
  Control 2:Competitive and Cooperative 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
          Move piece left         4       left arrow 
          Move piece right        6       right arrow 
          Rotate piece            5       up arrow 
          Drop piece              2       down arrow 
          Left and down           1 
          Right and down          3 
 
 
  TREASURES 
  ~~~~~~~~~ 
  Buried in the rubble are treasures. When a bomb blows up treasure, good 
  things happen, as described below: 
 
  5                       adds 5 pieces 
 
  10                      adds 10 pieces 
 
  15                      adds 15 pieces 
 
  (Square in a circle     turns into a bubble which moves upward, filling 
  in a square)            all empty spaces with pieces, until it reaches 
                          the water line. 
 
  (Circle in a square)    turns into a bubble which moves upward, 
                          destroying all rubble and treasures it touches, 
                          until it reaches the water line 
 
  (Squiggle line)         removes the line it's in 
 
  (Detonator box)         destroys all squares, treasures and your other 
                          bombs in a 3x3 area around itself 
 
  (Bomb)                  turns the next piece into a bomb shaped like 
                          the next piece 
 
  (Line in a box)         turns the next piece into a straight, blue, 
                         4-square piece 
 
  The first three treasures give you more pieces with which to form lines, 
  thus giving you a better chance of finished the level. The fourth 
  treasure is valuable for filling holes to make more lines. The next 
  treasure eliminates any pieces overhanging holes, making it easier to 
  fill in the holes. Since the sixth treasure takes out a line, you should 
  always detonate this treasure. The seventh treasure destroys a large 
  section of rubble. The next treasure gives you an extra shot at blowing 
  things up with bombs, and the last treasure is the long straight piece 
  you always want. 
 
 
  COMPLETING THE LEVEL 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  When a horizontal line disappears, one of two things happens in the pit. 
  If the line is above the water line, all squares above the line drop 
  down into the open space. If the line is below the water line, the rubble 
  rises all the way to the water line (i.e., if you complete the last line 
  of rubble), the level is won. Each time you complete a level, you will 
  be awarded a point bonus before going to the next level, where you will 
  be given more pieces to finish the new level. 
 
  You lose the level if one of three things happens before you complete 
  the level: 
 
  1. You let pieces reach the top of the pit 
  2. You run out of pieces 
  3. During a timed game, you run out of time 
 
 
  HIGHER LEVELS 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  As each higher level begins, the background art changes to another 
  scene from the Moscow circus, the depth of the rubble increases, and 
  (though level 10) the pieces fall move quickly. In addition, new 
  treasure types are introduced at higher difficulty levels. 
 
 
  MENU BAR 
  ~~~~~~~~ 
  The game screen also has a menu bar which you can use to change your 
  options and perform other activities while the game is in progress. When 
  you activate the menu bar, the game will pause. You can then click with 
  the left mouse button to select a menu option or you can press the 
  equivalent hot key combination. 
 
  About                    Credits screen 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  Game            ALT G 
  New             ALT N    Aborts game and starts a new one 
  Abort           ALT A    Aborts game and returns to the game config 
  End             ALT E    Ends game with a score awarded and 
                           continues to the high scores screen 
  Load            ALT L    Loads a previously saved game 
  Save            ALT S    Saves current game 
  Pause           ALT P    Pauses the game 
  Exit            ALT F4   Exits to desktop 
  Options         ALT O 
   Next Piece 
   Sound Effects 
   Music 
  High Scores     ALT H 
   Single player 
   Single player timed     Submenu chooses 5, 10 or 15 minute 
   Cooperative 
   Competitive 
 
 
  SCORING 
  ~~~~~~~ 
  Points are awarded for each piece that falls, for the speed at which the 
  pieces fall, for each line completed, and for completing the level with 
  pieces left over and for all the white space above the water line. Note 
  that points are awarded for lines completed, not lines removed with 
  bombs or treasures. The move lines completed with a single piece, the 
  move the lines are worth. In addition, more points are awarded if Next 
  piece is off. 
 
  For each line completed, you each: 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
          1 line          7  points 
          2 lines         14 points 
          3 lines         28 points 
          4 lines         56 points 
          more lines      (number of lines x 15) points 
 
  Then the speed that each piece falls is calculated and multiplied by the 
  level. If you choose next piece off, the total is multiplied by 25%. 
 
  At the end of each level, you earn a big bonus, which is calculated by: 
  (pieces left x 4 x level) + (amount of white space above the water line 
  x level) 
 
 
  HIGH SCORES 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  When you reach the end of the current game, the game continues to the 
  high scores screen for the game mode you chose. Whether or not your 
  score is among the top ten scores, it appears below the high scores 
  list. If your score does rank among the high scores, a dialog box 
  appears. Type in your name, then hit ENTER or click OK to record your 
  score, which will then appear in the list. 
 
  Click OK to return to the game configuration screen 
 
  Click ERASE to erase the current high scores. 
  
                             GAME VARIATIONS 
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  TIMED GAMES 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  In these forms of super tetris, you play with a predetermined time 
  limit, trying for the highest score in the time allotted. During the last 
  five seconds of the game, you will hear warning beeps or (if you have a 
  sound blaster) a countdown of 5-4-3-2-1! 
 
 
  COOPERATIVE MODE 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  In this form of super tetris, two players share the same game, the same 
  score, and the same pool of pieces to be used. In cooperative the two of 
  you have 100 pieces to finish each level, instead of the normal 50. The 
  pit is wider than in single player mode - 16 squares instead of 10 - so 
  that two pieces have enough room to fall at the same time. Each player 
  controls his own piece, with both working together to win the game. 
 
 
  COMPETITIVE MODE 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  In this form of super tetris, two players compete on the same computer, 
  each with his own pool of 50 pieces, each for his own score. The pit  is 
  wider than in single player mode - 16 squares instead of 10 - so that 
  two pieces can fall at the same time. 
 
  Each player controls his won piece, working to score points for himself 
  by completing a line before his opponent can. Each player can also keep 
  his opponent from scoring, by creating an arrangement his opponent's 
  falling piece won't fit or by using bombs to erase his opponent's piece. 
 
 
  STRATEGY 
  ~~~~~~~~ 
  Super tetris, like tetris, is both so simple and so addictive that 
  you're bound to develop your own strategies, but here are a few 
  different ideas to start you off: 
 
 
  PIT AND PIECES 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  *       Since you only have seven shapes to work with, try to avoid 
          forming empty areas where no piece can possibly fit. 
 
  *       If you get a run of pieces that won't complete lines for you, 
          try to stack them together on one side of the pit, leaving as 
          much open space as possible for later pieces to fill in. 
 
  *       Be sure not to create holes on both sides of the pit or else 
          you'll have to fill in both holes to complete lines 
 
  *       Use the diagonal keys to move a piece into an oddly shaped hole 
          that you couldn't ordinarily fill with just a straight drop 
 
  *       Try not to stack pieces over holes in the rubble because you 
          will eventually have to get a piece into those holes 
 
  *       If you're getting near the end of a level and you have enough 
          pieces and time left, clear away as much of the pieces remaining 
          in the pit before you complete the level - because any leftover 
          pieces are carried to the next level and because you also get a 
          bonus for the white spaces above the water line 
 
 
  BOMBS 
  ~~~~~ 
  *       Don't forget that you can move a bomb cluster after the first 
          bomb explodes 
 
  *       Similarly, don't forget that you can rotate a bomb cluster 
          around its original center point after the first bomb explodes 
 
  *       Try to set up your holes so you'll be able to complete more than 
          one line when you get the right piece. It means many more bombs! 
 
  *       Use your bombs to clear your mistakes. If you had to leave an 
          empty space which then got covered over, blast the covering 
          squares away to regain the chance to fill the hole 
 
  *       Don't use bombs to blow out squares below the top of the rubble 
          under the water line. If you have squares overhanging each 
          other, it makes it more difficult to fit pieces into complete 
          line 
 
  *       In a cooperative game, if one player gets a bomb, it can be used 
          to blow up squares in the other player's piece so that the piece 
          will fit in the pit better 
 
  *       One way to use a bomb wisely is in anticipation of the next 
          piece. You can blast away the correctly shaped space that the 
          next piece will fit in. 
  
  TREASURES 
  ~~~~~~~~~ 
  *       Use your treasures to clear away any mistakes. Super tetris is 
          much more forgiving than tetris, so take advantage of that. 
 
  *       Since treasures must be detonated by a bomb, don't forget that 
          you can also move a bomb sideways into a treasure as well as 
          from directly above. 
 
  *       Going after a remove line treasure is almost always a good 
          thing. The only drawback is that you don't get any points for 
          completing the line 
 
  *       At the higher levels, you definitely need to go after the add 
          pieces treasure. Otherwise you'll probably run out of pieces 
          before completing the level  
 
  THE FINAL GOAL 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  *       But the bottom line, so to speak, is to complete lines below 
          the water line. Of course, you want the pieces to fit together 
          well, but don't get too caught up in the jigsaw aspects of super 
          tetris. Or else you will run out of pieces because you spent all 
          of them making lines above the water line 
