About the game
The granddaddy of falling-block games, and still one of the best designs ever put in a browser. Seven tetromino shapes drop one by one into a ten-wide well, and your job is to rotate and slide them into place so complete rows vanish. The game speeds up as you survive, the music pulls tension tighter, and every cleared line pushes you one line closer to the top of the screen.
This version plays faithful to the classic feel: a clean grid, an up-next preview, soft and hard drops, and local high scores. No spinners, no power-ups, no gimmicks — just the pure loop that's kept people playing for four decades.
How to play
- Click inside the game and press Enter to start a game.
- Guide each falling piece with the arrow keys, rotating it to fit gaps in your stack.
- Complete a full horizontal row to clear it. Lines cleared = points; speed rises as you climb.
- Keep the stack below the top. Stack to the top and the round ends.
Controls
| Move left / right | ← / → |
| Soft drop | ↓ |
| Rotate right | X or ↑ |
| Rotate left | Z |
| Hard drop | Ctrl or Space |
| Pause | P |
| Mute | M |
| Start / confirm | Enter |
Five beginner tips players wish they knew
1. Keep the stack flat
Nearly every Tetris skill traces back to this: don't leave holes and don't build towers. A flat surface gives you every piece a place to settle and doubles your usable board.
2. Rotate the piece where it will land
Rotate your piece while it's roughly where you want it, then nudge side to side for the final fit. Rotating mid-flight and drifting while spinning costs time and invites mistakes.
3. Slower drops are easier to place
Use the soft drop (↓) for fine positioning and save the hard drop (Space) for when you're locked in. Hard-dropping early throws pieces off by a column faster than you'd think.
4. Don't chase lines at level one
Trying to build a Tetris (four lines at once) before you're comfortable with the speed will wreck your stack. Clear singles and doubles first; the four-line clears come when reading the board is instinctive.
5. Use the up-next preview as a promise
That small window shows what's coming after the current piece — plan a gap for it while the current piece still falls. It turns every placement into a two-piece decision.
Why you'll like it
It's Tetris — genuinely, faithfully, in a tab. The controls are snappy, the speed curve is classic, and your best scores stay saved on your own device. Few games reward ten minutes of practice as visibly as this one.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't the game respond to my keys?
The game window needs focus. Click inside the play area once and the controls engage.
Can I change the controls?
Not in this version — but the defaults (arrows, X/Z to rotate, Space to drop) match the most common layout people already know.
Is my high score saved?
Yes, in your browser's local storage on your own device. Nothing is uploaded.
Is this game free?
Yes. It's an open source (MIT) remake by Tomás Malbran; game and license files ship with the page.
Game credit: Tetris by Tomás Malbran (github.com/TomMalbran/games), open source under the MIT license.