Lesson 1: Basics

The 7 tetrominoes and the buttons.

A Button

Initial Appearance

B Button

C Button

T

Same as A

J

Same as A

L

Same as A

Z

Same as A

Same as A

S

Same as A

Same as A

I

Same as A

Same as A

O

Cannot be rotated.

Same as A

Same as A

TGM Follows the SEGA rotation system. All of the blocks except I always have a block in the lowest row, and in this way, appear to roll on the ground.
This might seem unnatural at first, but I think it is easier to use in high speed situations.

The Well

The well is a 20 rows by 10 columns field. However, as shown to the left, the blocks can go over the uppermost row. The stacked blocks as a whole are called the stack. The game is over when blocks are forced to overlap. Above the well you can see the next block to come.

Levels

Progress in the game is represented by levels.
The game starts at level 0 and end at level 999.
For each block to appear the level will raise by 1, Every time you clear lines the level will go up by the amount of lines cleared.

Every level divisible by 100 is the start of a new section.
To rise from x99 to x00 or from 998 to 999 you will need to clear a line.

Examples:
- Clearing a line at Lv.99 will raise it to 100, the next block to enter the well will raise it to 101.
- Clearing 4 lines at Lv.95 will raise it to 99, when the next block enters the well it will still be at Lv.99

20G

A frame is calculated 60 times every second.
The amount of rows a block descends every frame is called a G.
TGM Has a new mode called 20G in which blocks appear at the bottom of the well.

ARE/Lock delay

When blocks fall on the stack there is a brief period before they lock.
This allows you to move blocks in 20G mode.
This period is called the Lock Delay and is set at about 0.5 seconds.

There is also a brief pause after a block locks and before the next one appears, this is called the ARE.

Soft drop/Manual Lock

You can make a block fall faster by holding the control stick down. It will fall at 1G unless the current speed is higher than 1G, then it will not fall faster.
If you pull the control stick down while a block is on the ground it will ock despite any lock delays.

IRS

IRS Stands for Initial Rotation System.
If you keep a button pressed during the ARE, the block will appear rotated.

→

IRS Can be used to prevent a game over. Normal appearance of the S block would have caused a game over by intersecting the Z block. IRS prevents this. IRS will be blocked when it would cause a game over.

Wall kicks

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According to the table above this rotation should be impossible. But, because of an empty space to the right the T will kick the wall. Wall kicks, along with IRS make TGM a comfortable series to play. Lesson 8 will handle IRS more and lesson 11 will help you use wall kicks.