Top out

A top out (also called Tetris Death, or Topped Out) occurs when:
*a tetromino cannot be placed at least partially within the play zone.
*garbage pieces are sent, pushing the top pieces above the spawn zone.
Top outs usually result in a game over. However, in Tetris Blitz, top outs result in a 3-second penalty and removal of line 16 upwards.
==Loss condition==
There are several variations of what constitutes a top out:
* Block out: a piece is spawned overlapping at least one block in the playfield
* Block out no hold: a piece is spawned not from hold, overlapping at least one block in the playfield. This is the variation of block out used in Tetris DS, along with lock out.
* Lock out: a piece locks when it is entirely out of bounds (that is, in the vanish zone above the ceiling)
* Partial lock out: a piece locks when it is partially out of bounds, even if it would clear a line. This is not used in the Tetris Guideline as of 2009.
* Garbage out: After lines are cleared and garbage is added, a block remains out of bounds.
** Line 41+ garbage out is the version used in the Tetris Guideline.
Different games have used different combinations of these conditions:
:This list is incomplete.
*Tetris (NES, Nintendo): a piece locks overlapping at least one block, but in some cases it is possible to move or rotate out of such a situation
*Tetris (Game Boy): a piece locks on its starting position (regardless of rotation) twice in a row. Similar to NES Tetris, it is possible to move the piece out from existing blocks.
*Dr. Mario, Tetris and Dr. Mario, Puyo Puyo, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Kirby's Star Stacker: block out
*Dr. Mario 64 (Marathon mode): block out or garbage out. The latter condition is checked only when a new virus line is added to the field.
*Columns: block out or garbage out
*Lumines: lock out; the game tries to move the piece one space downleft or downright before ending the game
*Bombliss: garbage out
*Tetris (Atari), Tetris (NES, Tengen), The New Tetris, and Tetris DS (push mode): partial lock out or garbage out
*Tetris Attack: garbage out; in multiplayer mode, evaluation is delayed by a split second
*Hatetris: partial lock out
*Guideline games: block out/lock out/garbage out (either of the conditions is a Tetris Death)
*Tetris Best family: block out
*Tetris Brick: partial lock out, or equivalently, lock in the starting position, as the piece overlaps ceiling only in the starting position
*tetris2019.sb2/tetrisimplementation: lock out — guideline, but pieces spawn above the maximum of line 23 achievable without lock out, making block out impossible and lock out the only Tetris Death condition
Category:Interface