Pytris

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| |   ______     | || |  ____  ____  | || |  _________   | || |  _______     | || |     _____    | || |    _______   | |
| |  |_   __ \   | || | |_  _||_  _| | || | |  _   _  |  | || | |_   __ \    | || |    |_   _|   | || |   /  ___  |  | |
| |    | |__) |  | || |   \ \  / /   | || | |_/ | | \_|  | || |   | |__) |   | || |      | |     | || |  |  (__ \_|  | |
| |    |  ___/   | || |    \ \/ /    | || |     | |      | || |   |  __ /    | || |      | |     | || |   '.___`-.   | |
| |   _| |_      | || |    _|  |_    | || |    _| |_     | || |  _| |  \ \_  | || |     _| |_    | || |  |`\____) |  | |
| |  |_____|     | || |   |______|   | || |   |_____|    | || | |____| |___| | || |    |_____|   | || |  |_______.'  | |
| |              | || |              | || |              | || |              | || |              | || |              | |
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A terminal-based Tetris clone written in Python. Features a persistent leaderboard, AI and hint modes, and a ghost piece. Inspired by Michael Fogleman's original QBasic implementation from 2000.

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Requirements

• Python 3.7 or higher
• Windows only: windows-curses (see below)
• All other dependencies are Python standard library (curses, json, os, datetime)

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Installation

From PyPI

pip install Pytris-B1

From source

git clone https://github.com/basanta-bhandari/Pytris.git
cd Pytris
pip install .

Windows

windows-curses is listed as a conditional dependency and installs automatically via pip. If running from source manually:

pip install windows-curses
python main.py

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Running

If installed via pip:

pytris

If running from source:

python main.py

On startup, the banner is printed and you are prompted for a username before the game launches:

 .----------------.  .----------------. ...

  >>> Enter Username: basanta

Pressing Enter without a name sets the username to anonymous.

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Game Modes

Select a mode from the main menu using the number keys.

Key	Mode	Description
1	Normal	Standard Tetris
2	Hint	Ghost piece + AI suggested landing spot shown in cyan
3	Computer	Fully automated — AI plays the game
4	Leaderboard	View the top 10 scores

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Controls

Key	Action
Left / Right	Move piece
Up	Rotate (with wall kick)
Down	Soft drop (+1 point per row)
Space	Hard drop (+2 points per row)
P	Pause / Resume
ESC	Save score and return to menu
Q	Save score and quit

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Scoring

Action	Points
1 line cleared	100 × level
2 lines cleared	300 × level
3 lines cleared	500 × level
4 lines cleared	800 × level
Soft drop	1 per row
Hard drop	2 per row

Level increases every 10 lines. Fall speed increases with level.

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Leaderboard

Scores are saved to scores.json in the same directory as main.py. Each player keeps only their personal best. The top 10 are shown on the leaderboard screen.

scores.json format:

[
  {
    "user": "basanta",
    "score": 4200,
    "lines": 12,
    "level": 3,
    "date": "2025-02-27"
  }
]

On game over, your rank and whether you set a new personal best are shown before auto-returning to the menu after 5 seconds.

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AI

The computer mode evaluates every valid (x, rotation) placement for the current piece using a weighted heuristic:

• Completed lines: rewarded
• Gaps below pieces: penalised
• Aggregate stack height: penalised
• Bumpiness: penalised

The highest-scoring placement is chosen each turn. Hint mode uses the same logic to overlay the suggested drop position without taking control.

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File Structure

Pytris/
├── main.py          # entire game
├── scores.json      # created automatically on first game over
├── setup.py
├── requirements.txt
└── README.md

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Basanta Bhandari — github.com/basanta-bhandari