Game Tips

A few game tips to help you become a better Teamtris'er.

Tip #1: Squirrel away bombs - Get 4 lines at a time

Teamtris gets harder each level by introducing new pieces. Some of these pieces are quite difficult to place, and it's always better to blow them up with a bomb than to place them incorrectly.

So you not only want to conserve bombs for harder levels, but actively build up a savings of bombs. And the key here is: when you get 4 lines at a time, you get way more bombs than by getting single, double or triple lines. Always strive for the four-line Tetris!

Also, pressing down and placing pieces quicker increases bomb supply. Once the progress meter at the bottom reaches the right side, a new bomb is granted.

Tip #2: Slide those pieces

After placing a piece, you have a good second to slide the piece into its final position. This works especially well with little pieces that need to be slid into small holes created by bombs, or tough-to-place pieces.

Tip #3: Only one bomb on the screen

You're only allowed one bomb on the screen at once. If one player activates a bomb, he should use it as fast as possible as other players will not be able to activate a bomb. (For you programmers, holding a bomb is like holding onto a critical section!)

However, when another player has a bomb active, you can blow up your piece if you get close enough to the explosion. It's not called 'Teamtris' for nothing!

Tip #4: Use multiple keyboards (or joysticks)

Teamtris was written so 4 people could play on one keyboard. Back in the MS-DOS days, this was the only option besides joysticks. However, with USB keyboards today, you can plug in multiple keyboards. Each player could theoretically use his or her on keyboard (but with different key settings of course).

Note that "keyboard jamming" still does exist - so having multiple players on a single keyboard can cause this problem. Using up to two joysticks in Teamtris is also an option.

Tip #5: Easter egg to skip levels

Pressing F1 will skip to the next level. This feature was built for game publishers to try out the various levels without having to play the game in entirety.

Try out those funky pieces and check out the various graphics and music for each level!

Setup and Help

Teamtris requires MS-DOS, or DOSBox running on any DOSBox supported platform (Windows, Mac, Linux). It is recommended to read the DOSBox help and configuration options when setting up DOSBox.

Teamtris comes with a setup program (called Setup.exe) and is optional only if you'd like to change the audio card settings from the defaults (IRQ 7, Port 220), or if you are configuring a joystick. Otherwise you can just run Teamtris.exe to play the game.

Although there is no Teamtris forum, you can leave a comment on Brian Orr's Blog and other users may be able to help out.

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