Pipetris

OTHER VERSIONS WITH THE SAME TITLE (1)

• ST FormatUnited Kingdom · 1995

INSTRUCTIONS

PIPETRIS
========
By Ross McNaughton, January 1994.
Requirements: 512K ST/STe, TOS 1.62 or lower, colour, joystick controlled.

As its name suggests, PIPETRIS is a cross between Tetris and Pipemania. As in 
Pipemania, your task is to create a pipe for a liquid to flow through, but 
whereas in that game the pipe sections can be placed anywhere on screen, in 
PIPETRIS they fall into a well Tetris-fashion. Unlike Pipemania, they can be 
rotated. 

When the game starts, you'll see the main playfield on the left. At the bottom 
right of the playfield is the starting point of the liquid, and up the right 
hand side are eight targets. Each target has an associated score, the higher 
targets having higher scores. On the right of the screen are the game stats: 
score, lives remaining, level and high score.

The falling sections are controlled with the joystick. Left and right move the 
sections, the fire button rotates them. When you have a section in the right 
place you can make it fall faster by pulling down on the stick.

As soon as a piece lands above the red line, the liquid starts to flow. Points 
are awarded for every section it passes through. If it reaches one of the 
targets, the points for that target are added to your score and you progress 
to the next level. If the path is not complete, you will lose a life and 
replay the level. Once all your lives are lost, the game ends. Press fire to 
start a new game.

An extra life is awarded every 10,000 points.

The levels increase in difficulty in several ways:
     -    The range of available pieces increases. New types appear, and the 
          standard straights and corners become more scarce.
     -    The pieces fall faster.
     -    Some pieces may already be in place at the start of the level.
     -    Eventually, the lower scoring targets are removed. When you reach 
          level 20, only the top four are available.

The game will go on forever if you're good enough, but the difficulty stops 
increasing at about level 25.


Pipe Sections
-------------
Straights, corners and crossovers work as you would expect.

One-way straights have a blue direction arrow: the liquid can only flow in 
that direction.

Bonus sections are marked with a green '100' and making the liquid flow 
through them scores extra points.

Blank sections just get in the way!

Bombs are the most useful piece. When they land they disappear, taking with 
them the piece underneath. This is often the only way out of a seemingly lost 
level.


Scoring
-------
Each section placed earns 10 points.

Each section through which the liquid flows scores as follows:
          Straights and corners:  25 points.
Crossovers and one-way sections:  50 points.
                 Bonus sections: 100 points.

Getting the liquid to one of the targets scores between 250 and 2000 points 
depending on the position of the target.