Tetrinet
Update 22/04/01: Server is back up! Sorry about downtime, may go down again.
SecreNet now hosts a dedicated Tetrinet server. To access the server,
you need to point your Tetrinet client to "tetrinet.secret.com.au".
You should not have a problem connecting.
The first person to join a Tetrinet game gets access to Start, Stop
and Pause games. There is no way you can kick or ban people, or change
the game settings. If you would like to see some options changed, please
e-mail games@secret.com.au.
If you haven't heard of Tetrinet before, then here's a little info.
It's a multiplayer game based on the ever-popular Tetris game. Each
person in the game has their own Tetris "field", and can see other
people's fields. Players can also use special blocks on other
people in the game. To get Special Blocks, you must clear many lines on
your field, then you will see blocks with letters in them start to
appear. When you clear the lines with the letters in them, the
letters will move down into a row of letters just below your field.
The purpose of the first block is displayed to the left of the list of
special blocks. To use a special block, simply hit a number
corresponding to a player's number (above their field), you can also use
special blocks on yourself. To discard a block you do not want to
use, hit "d", and the block will be removed from your special queue.
You do not get this block back.
Here is a quick list of special blocks and what they do:
A - Add Line - Adds a line to the bottom of a
person's field.
B - Clear Special Blocks - Clears all special blocks
from a person's field (not from their special block queue). This stops
them getting the special blocks that are in their field.
C - Clear Line - Clears a line from the bottom of a
person's field.
G - Block Gravity - Shifts blocks down as far as they
can go, which fills in all the gaps in a person's field. Lines that are
completed while this is happening are removed, and you do not get the
special blocks from within those lines, but this is very useful if you
have a high field with lots of gaps.
N - Nuke Field - Clears a player's entire field
O - Block Bomb - Blows up block bomb's in another
person's field. If you look cloesly at other people's fields, you
may see an o in their field. If you use an o on their field, the
o in their field will explode, and the blocks around it will be moved
high up near the top of their field, making it very difficult for them to
play. Of course, eventually, they'll clear these lines, screw up badly,
or use a nuke/gravity on themselves to fix it :) Beware though,
they might seek revenge on you and switch fields, causing you to end up
with the mess you created.
Q - BlockQuake - Shifts certain rows in a person's
field sideways. This is best used when you see someone waiting for
a line to fill in a gap. By using a BlockQuake, there's a good
chance that you'll shift the gap sideways closing it shut :)
It's possible to use this as an aid in a really bad field, but it is so
uncontrollable, that you would probably make your field worse.
R - Random Remove - Removes a few random blocks from
a person's field, causing them to have gaps in really inconvenient
places.
S - Switch Fields - Switch your field with someone
else's. This is best used if your field is getting too high to
manage, or someone has really stuffed it up for you.
Well, there's my little info for Tetrinet, now if you don't have the
game, you may wish to download it now :) There are Windows and
Linux versions available.
Tetrinet v1.13 for Windows
If you use PKUNZIP, make sure to add the -d parameter, as the archive
does contain subdirectories and Winzip users, don't run Tetrinet from
INSIDE the archive.
Tetrinet for Linux
Should compile under most kernels, but keep in note, it uses the
ncurses includes. If you have problems compiling due to lots of
errors relating to ncurses (ie. KEY_UP not defined, COLOR_BLACK not
defined, etc), let me know and I'll tell you how to get around it.
All information on this page provided by Andrew Macks