Tetcolor — Build color matches in four directions

Read colors, not rows

The board does not reward a row merely for being full. Progress comes from arranging three or more blocks of the same color in a straight line. Because both diagonal directions count, a useful connection can cross open space that looks unimportant at first.

Several matches may qualify together. Their blocks are collected into one removal, so an intersection disappears and scores once.

Pieces and styles

Standard Tetcolor uses compact one-, two- and three-block shapes. Each occupied block independently chooses one of six colors, and rotation moves the complete colored shape without changing those colors.

Normal and Relax use the compact standard pool. Crazy makes the expanded eleven-shape pool available immediately. Crazy still follows pure Tetcolor color rules: a mixed-color full row does not clear by itself. Arcade and Classic support all three styles on the same 7 × 16 field.

How matches resolve

The game finds maximal same-color runs of at least three along four axes: horizontal, vertical, rising diagonal and falling diagonal. Intersections and long lines are deduplicated before everything in the pass disappears together.

Blocks above empty spaces then fall straight down inside their own columns. The stable board is scanned again before the next piece arrives.

In Arcade, each colored block on a new piece can carry one primary Arcade Special: Normal Bomb, Horizontal Bomb, Vertical Bomb, Lightning Bomb, Mega Bomb, Bomb Activator, or Stone Cover. It can also carry an Ice Cover. Tetcolor's ordinary same-color match supplies the first strike; a merely full row does not. Ordinary score counts only blocks actually destroyed.

Normal Bomb reaches eight neighbors, Horizontal Bomb its occupied row, Vertical Bomb its occupied column, Lightning Bomb every block of its color, and Mega Bomb combines all four areas. Bomb generations resolve serially at 0.5-second intervals, and each unique block destroyed only by a bomb adds 1 point. Bomb Activator disappears and globally triggers all settled bombs without a local blast. Stone Cover survives an ordinary color match, stays forever at its settled coordinate as support and a column barrier, and can be destroyed only by a bomb.

The first strike on Ice Cover removes only the ice and cannot activate the covered special; a later bomb generation can hit the exposed block. Simultaneous activators are deduplicated, freshly thawed blocks stay anchored for the resolution, and final collapse runs inside segments around surviving barriers. Across settled, current, and preview blocks, the capacities are five bombs including Mega Bombs, three Bomb Activators, ten Stone Covers, and ten Ice Covers.

Cascades reward preparation

Removing n unique blocks awards n × (n + 1) / 2, multiplied by the current cascade multiplier. The first pass uses ×1. Each successful follow-up doubles the multiplier to ×2, ×4 and beyond.

The best turns often begin one move earlier: a modest match removes support, then the falling colors assemble a larger second line.

Useful Tetcolor habits

• Build around more than one axis. A block that nearly completes a vertical line may also anchor a diagonal.
• Avoid sealing single empty spaces beneath unmatched colors; vertical collapse cannot fix a cell it cannot reach.
• Keep several colors active instead of growing one tall, fragile tower.
• In Arcade, align a bomb's own color with several possible match axes; diagonal access can trigger a chain without filling the surrounding row.
• In Crazy, judge the color positions before the silhouette. A large shape is helpful only if its colors still connect.

Common questions

Does a complete row disappear?

Only when its blocks also belong to ordinary same-color matches. Tetcolor has no separate full-row rule.

Do diagonals count?

Yes. Both rising and falling diagonals count alongside horizontal and vertical lines.

What changes in Crazy?

The shape pool expands from the start. Matching, scoring, collapse and cascades remain Tetcolor rules.

What changes in Arcade?

The field and matching rules remain those of Classic, while new pieces can carry layered Arcade Specials resolved before segmented collapse.