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.