alt Hacker NewsTypically it's not pure random, instead they randomize the ordering of the 7 pieces, otherwise called the 7-bag system. Some games use different bag size, e.g. 35-bag system used in TGM3. AFAIK with 7-bag, a good Tetris player can play pretty much indefinitely, assuming that the speed of the falling pieces never increase, and that they can pause the game to take rests.
I used to play Nullpomino (an open source tetris game) for hours. It has a mode called marathon, where the goal is to play as long as possible. It's normal to see good players surviving for hours, even with increasing level. Here's an example of someone playing for 1h, 90% at level 20 (at level 20, pieces appear immediately at the bottom): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXxKywAQME
Replies
Any Tetris game where the term "Kill Screen" applies doesn't use the 7-piece bag randomizer.
TGM, the first one, is my one time sink, I started to play first on Mame until I got an original Capcom ZN2 PCB.
Right now you can get an official TGM and TGM2:TA port on Sony PS4 (PS5 too?) and Switch for less that 10 dollars each. For TGM3 there's no port in sight, FWIK. In my opinion TGM2:TA is a better game that TGM but before tackling it I want to become GM on the first. According to expert players the second is increasingly more difficult, for example stricter time limits and conditions to meet, faster spawning and the infamous credit roll...
Last year TGM4 was released on Steam, but I don't like at all the new ranking system, also vs play doesn't have items.
Not really relevant to the article, but I wanted to give a shout out to my all time favorite pass time... ^__^;
P.S. Some random modder a few years created a patch for the original TGM arcade ROMs to run on a Playstation. Other than the Qsound, more RAM and some CATs used for protection, the ZN2 was basically a Playstation without an optical reader.