How to play

Highlight the "Tetris BLOCKOUT" icon in the games menu on your phone, and press "OK." An EA Mobile screen appears followed by the Tetris BLOCKOUT splash screen. You will be given the option to play with sound on or off. Select "Yes" or "No". The Tetris BLOCKOUT Main Menu then appears. Select "New Game" to start playing instantly with default settings.

Menu

• Resume - Continue the last game in progress
• New Game - Start a brand new game
• Help - Display detailed instructions about how to play the game
• About - Display legal info, customer service and copyright information
• High Scores - Records of the top scores
• Settings - Access a number of settings including Game Modes and Difficulties
• More Games - Find more EA Mobile games for your phone
• Exit - Return to the game's Main Menu

Settings

Within Settings, you have multiple choices to determine game mode, difficulty level and more:

• Modes: Marathon/20 Planes/Ultra
• Marathon: Score as many points as you can as the game gets faster and faster
• 20 Planes: Clear twenty planes as fast as possible
• Ultra: Achieve the highest score that you can within 3 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy/Normal
• Easy: Blocks are comprised of 1-3 Minos. Classic Tetriminos are gradually introduced to gameplay
• Normal: Classic Tetriminos
• Level: 1-15
• Select starting level
• Starting Blocks
• Blocks that are automatically generated at the bottom of the Matrix with more appearing per level
• Sound: Music/SFX/Off
• Select music or sound effects to play while in-game, or turn sounds off completely
• Vibration: On/Off
• Turn handset vibration on or off
• Controls: Layout 1/Layout 2/Custom
• Select between 2 predefined control layouts (see below) or map your own
• Tutorial: Walk through the tutorial (only available on Verizon and Sprint).
• Next Queue: Yes/No
• Turn the Next Queue display on or off
• Ghost: On/Off
• Turn the ghost piece display on or off. The ghost piece displays where a Tetrimino will land in the grid. 
• Reset High Scores
• Delete the recorded high scores

How To Play

The default game mode is the classic Marathon variation of Tetris. In Marathon, in order to advance you must clear the required number of planes per level. As you progress through the levels, the drop-speed of the Blocks will increase, and the speed of the game will grow increasingly fast. To clear a plane, Blocks must be placed in the correct formation to fully complete a layer. Higher point bonuses will be awarded when more planes are cleared at once. For example, if you clear four planes simultaneously, also known as a "Tetris," you will be awarded 800 points multiplied by your current level. If two Tetrises are executed in succession without any plane clears in between, an additional Back-to-Back bonus is added to your cumulative point total. You can also earn bonus points by completing a level as fast as possible.

The game will end with a "Blockout" if a Block is prevented from entering the matrix. In Marathon, the game will end when you successfully complete level 1. Ultra Mode ends after the preset 3 minutes of gameplay and 20 Planes ends when all 20 planes are cleared.

Controls



FUNCTION	KEY
ALL
Navigate Up / Down	d-pad up / 2, d-pad down / 8
Navigate Left / Right	d-pad left / 4, d-pad right / 6
Select / OK	OK / 5
Quit / Exit App	EXIT
ENABLE SOUND SCREEN
Yes / No	LSK/RSK, 5
IN-GAME (Layout 1 controls)
Move Up,Down	d-pad up / 2, d-pad down / 8
Move Left,Right	d-pad left / 4, d-pad right / 6
Rotate on Z-axis	hold d-pad left / 4 , hold d-pad right / 6, or *, #
Rotate on X-axis	hold d-pad up / 2, hold d-pad down / 8, or 3, 1
Rotate on Y-axis	7, 9
Soft Drop	OK, 5
Hard Drop	left soft key, 0
IN-GAME (Layout 2 controls)
Toggle between Move and Rotate Mode	OK, 5
Move Up,Down (Move Mode)	d-pad up / 2, d-pad down / 8
Move Left,Right (Move Mode)	d-pad left / 4, d-pad right / 6
Rotate on Z-axis (Rotate Mode)	d-pad left / 4, d-pad right / 6
Rotate on X-axis (Rotate Mode)	d-pad up / 2, d-pad down / 8
Rotate on Y-axis (Rotate Mode)	*, #
Hard Drop	left soft key, 1
ENTER HIGH SCORE
Enter Characters	handset alphanumeric entry
Commit	OK / RSK

Please Note: Controls may differ across handsets.

Saving / Loading

Game progress is automatically saved upon exiting the game. To continue the current game that you've exited, select "Resume" on the Main Menu.