Lumines Skills Guide
By Rovingbar AKA Jeff Hebert
Version 1.0
0. Contents
1. Introduction to this Guide
2. Know Yourself
2.1. Your brain and Lumines
2.2. Motor skills
3. Blocks and Sequences
3.1. Squares, Blocks, Deletes, and Combos
3.2. Block Types
3.3. Block Frequencies
3.4. Destroyers
3.5. Sequence Probabilities
4. Rotating Blocks
4.1. Single Direction Strategy
4.2. Dual Direction Strategy
4.3. Rotation Statistics
5. Delete Strategies
5.1. A word on scoring
5.2. Basic Deletes
5.3. Infinite Tower
5.4. Layers
5.5. Slice
5.6. Double Slice
5.7. Power Slice
5.8. Advanced slice and dice
5.9. Maximizing Deletes
5.10. Managing Leftovers
6. Delete Theory
6.1. How many Squares does it take to make a Delete?
6.2. Rectangular Deletes
6.3. Max and Min Squares per Delete
7. Game Speed
7.1. Game Speed
7.2. Max Drop Rate
8. Know your Skills
8.1. Performance Statistics
9. Improve Your Skills
9.2. Upcoming drops
9.3. Planning your next move
9.4. Play Faster
10. Know your habits
10.1. Identify your habits
10.2. Break your habits
10.3. For Lumines Sake ? Know your habits
11. Credits
12. Copyright
13. Version History
14. Appendix
14.1. Table of 3 block sequences
14.2. Table of Typical Deletes
1. Introduction to this Guide
This is a different kind of guide. I?ve read many guides on
how to play Lumines. They cover controls and strategy very
well. Please refer to them if you want to learn strategy.
This guide is intended to help you develop your Lumines
skills. I am actually writing this guide to help me
formalize my thoughts. I am NOT an advanced player. I see
things in this game that I have not seen in any other game.
More importantly, no other guide covers this material. The
shining star (IMHO) of this guide is the Improve your Skills
section. In that section I discuss the essential skills of
Lumines ? predicting, planning, and speed. Most important,
I?ll recommend some exercises to help you develop these
skills. But first, we need to cover quite a bit of ground so
lets get started.
Here is a quick guide to how you play the game, and the
section of this guide with info on that skill.
Quick Guide to Lumines Activities
1. Recognize the block (Section 3)
2. Decide what to do with it (Sections 5,6)
3. Slide the block (Section 9)
4. Rotate the block (Section 4)
5. Drop the block (Section 9)
2. Know Yourself
2.1. Your brain and Lumines
Many folks describe a moment where you ?get it?. Before that
moment, Lumines seems impossibly difficult. After that
moment, everything seems to make sense. Yet the game is
still impossibly difficult, you can just get much farther in
the game until you come to some barrier. The way it
typically goes is the first few games you get to 10k or 20k
points, and get stuck there for a while. You may steadily
improve to 30k or 40k where you get stuck again. Then you
figure out the controls and the timeline and how deletes
work and you can suddenly get to 50k or 80k. Then after
another breakthrough you suddenly start scoring 150k to 200k
points. Then you run into some of the fast levels and get
stuck again.
The reason this happens is because to play this game well
you need to re-train your brain. This game is not just about
reflexes or strategy, it is about training your brain to
recognize and respond to patterns. As you play, you will
recognize lots of patterns. You will drop a block onto it
and see the results. Sometimes the results are good (many
deletes) sometimes they are bad (checkerboard of death).
After repeating that same pattern a few dozen times your
subconscious will suddenly 'get it' and you will start
dropping the blocks better. You will suddenly start getting
combos that seemed impossible before. If you look closely at
your combos, you will notice that they are usually the same
pattern over and over. Even the most advanced players have a
set of standard patterns stored away in their subconscious
somewhere.
The point of this is that the only way to improve in this
game is through practice. You can study all the guides in
the world. You can read how to beat specific puzzles, or how
to do an infinite combo, or whatever. But not of that will
really help you improve. (Actually, learning those
techniques can help you improve, but only if you practice
the technique over and over.)
So don't worry if you don?t get it right away. Just keep
playing and practicing. When you get stuck with Challenge
mode, switch over to Time Attack for a day or two then come
back to Challenge mode. Try some of the exercises later in
this guide. They are designed to help you develop some of
the skills that help you improve the critical areas of your
game.
[At some later date I may describe mental pathways,
invariant representations, and habits.]
2.2. Motor skills
Obviously, motor skills play a role in this. Again, the only
way to develop those skills is through practice.
Remember, this game is about patterns. That is why it is a
puzzle game. The more you play, the faster your brain gets.
Soon enough you will find that you have an intuition about
where to place blocks, so you don?t have to think about them
much. At that point, your game becomes limited by your motor
skills. How fast can you move the block 3 columns right,
rotate it once, then drop it. Fast players can do that in
about half a second. Slow players take 1.5 to 3 seconds to
do that simple move. When you first start playing, it may
take 2 seconds to figure out what to do with a block, so it
doesn?t matter if it takes you 2 or 3 seconds to move it.
You can do some multi tasking and the entire sequence works
well. But as you advance in the game, you must be able to
move blocks faster so you can devote more brainpower to
figuring out what to do with the blocks.
3. Blocks and Sequences
3.1. Squares, Blocks, Deletes, and Combos
Squares are the fundamental pieces of Lumines. Four squares
create a block. You drop blocks to create deletes. A single
delete is always a 2x2 collection of same color squares.
Combos happen when you get more than 1 delete. The most
efficient way to get combos is to pile many squares of the
same color onto each other. There will be more on deletes
and combos later in this guide.
3.2. Block Types
For the purposes of this guide, I?ve chosen to use a numeric
nomenclature for blocks. Whenever you see a code like [1],
that means that 1 of the squares is dark. A [2x] means that
2 are dark, and they are the checkerboard type (AKA Deuce)
block. Note that there are only 6 types of blocks, but for
some the orientation is significant. So there are 16
possible configurations. I label the possible orientations
ABCD. Throughout this GUIDE, you will see codes like [3]A or
simply 3A which means 3 dark blocks, and the one light block
is at the top left. Keep this table handy for reference.
Orientation
Block code A B C D
Blank [0]: OO
OO
One [1]: XO OX OO OO
OO OO OX XO
Two [2]: XX OX OO XO
OO OX XX XO
Deuce [2x]: XO OX
OX XO
Three [3]: OX XO XX XX
XX XX XO OX
Four [4]: XX
XX
3.3. Block Frequencies
We need to get something straight here. Lumines is a game of
random probabilities. That is part of the elegance of the
game. When generating blocks, the program randomly chooses
the color of each square. There is a 50% chance of getting
either light or dark for each square. Squares are put
together in groups of 4. The order is significant, thus the
probability of getting any one pattern is 2^4 (i.e. 2*2*2*2)
or 16 possible combinations. The probability of getting any
one of the combinations is 1/16 or 6.25%. The part that
confuses most people is that there are several different
orientations for some of the blocks.
Block My Code Orientations Total Probability
Blank [0] 1 6.25%
One [1] 4 25.00%
Two [2] 4 25.00%
Deuce [2x] 2 12.50%
Three [3] 4 25.00%
Four [4] 1 6.25%
TOTAL 16 100%
3.4. Destroyers
Destroyers come along about once every 64 or 128 blocks.
That means the probability that any given square is a
destroyer is 1 of every 2^8 or 2^9 squares. Yes indeed, they
are very rare.
Note: I would be grateful if anyone can provide statistics
on actual destroyer frequency. I?ve seen some posts, but
there is precious little data.
3.5. Sequence Probabilities
This section is of limited use, but I thought it would be
useful to get a sense of the top sequences. Note: These
sequences ignore orientation because initial orientation is
not relevant to how the block is finally placed on the
field.
3.5.1. Two Block Frequencies
As expected, the most frequent blocks dominate the most
frequent sequences. Blocks 1,2, and 3 show up together
nearly 56.25% of the 2 block sequences.
This is just the top frequencies that you will see more than
1% of the time. The complete table is at the end of this
guide. Note that again, these sequences are dominated by the
most frequent blocks. Blocks 1,2, and 3 show up together
nearly 42.19% of the 3 block sequences.
There are two strategies when it comes to rotating blocks:
Single direction or dual direction.
4.1. Single Direction Strategy
The single direction strategy is easier to learn, you rotate
blocks either clockwise or counterclockwise. The primary
benefit is that once you?ve decided what orientation you
want, you don?t have to think about which direction to
rotate. You just hit your favorite rotate button 0, 1, 2, or
3 times.
4.2. Dual Direction Strategy
The dual direction strategy is slightly harder to pick up,
because you have to learn which way the block rotates when
you press the different buttons. However, once you master
this technique you can rotate blocks with fewer button
strokes. Let?s look at some numbers...
4.3. Rotation Statistics
Given the random nature of Lumines, let?s look at each type
of block and each type of orientation to see which rotation
strategy is best. To read the following tables, consider any
block can be presented randomly in any given orientation.
That is that the Drop orientation can be A, B, C, or D. You
may need to rotate it to another orientation. Overall the
Drop and Need orientations should be uniform. That means
that 25% of the time it drops in orientation A. Given that
drop, 25% of the time you need orientation A so you don?t
need to rotate it. 25% of the time you need orientation B so
you have to rotate it once. 25% of the time you need
orientation C so you have to rotate it twice. The main
difference between the Single and Dual strategy is that in
single, you periodically have to rotate 3 times, while in
the dual, you simply rotate backwards 1 time.
Single Strategy Rotation Table for type 1,2,3
Need
Drop A B C D
A 0 1 2 3
B 3 0 1 2
C 2 3 0 1
D 1 2 3 0
Average = 1.5 Rotati0ns per Drop
Dual Strategy Rotation Table for type 1,2,3
Need
Drop A B C D
A 0 1 2 1
B 1 0 1 2
C 2 1 0 1
D 1 2 1 0
Average = 1.0 Rotati0ns per Drop
Single and Dual Rotation Table for Type 2x
A B
A 0 1
B 1 0
Now that we have tables for the different types of blocks,
lets put them together and use the drop probabilities to
figure out how many rotations you need for each strategy.
So this data shows that folks who use the single direction
strategy will press the rotate button 50% more than those
that use the dual direction strategy. This may be a limiting
factor when you advance very far in the game.
5. Delete Strategies
5.1. A word on scoring
There are basically two scoring levels. You get 40 points
per delete. However, if you get 4 or more deletes when the
timeline passes, you get a 4x combo bonus. This is great for
your score, and it actually gives us a way to measure how
good you are at using combos as you will see in Know your
Skills.
N Points Points/Delete
1 40 40
2 80 40
3 120 40
4 640 160 ? 4X Bonus begins
5 800 160
6 960 160
And so on... all combo?s after 3 deletes are worth 160
points per delete. So when it comes to maximizing your
score, make sure you get 4 deletes each time the timeline
passes. This will come naturally as you play faster.
5.2. Basic Deletes
The first think you need to realize about deletes is that
they are not always 4 squares. The first delete is always
made by 4 squares of the same color. After that, you only
need 2 squares to make the second delete. Sometimes you can
make a delete with only one more square. (This topic is
covered in detail in the Delete Theory section of this
guide.)
One delete
4 squares
XX
XX
Two delete combo
6 squares
XXX
XXX
Three delete combo
8 squares
XXXX
XXXX
XX
XXX
XXX
Four delete combo
9 squares
XXX
XXX
XXX
10 squares
XXXXX
XXXXX
XX
XXXX
XXXX
5.3. Infinite Tower
As I understand it, Stan64 was the first to formally
articulate this strategy in Lumines forums. This is a
fundamental skill which helps buy you time to think, and can
help you get through some very tough spots in the game. I
believe that most people develop this strategy on their own,
though they may not recognize it as thoroughly as Stan64
did.
The Infinite Tower combo always starts with a single X or O
square. The square can be sitting on the base, or it can be
on other squares. You can find this pattern just about
anywhere. Sometimes you will get a delete with a tower drop,
sometimes you will just build up the tower. Using this
strategy you will very rarely get more than 2 or 3 deletes
when the timeline passes.
Tower base examples
X X O
_X_ XO XX XX
Blocks 0 or 4 ? Be sure to put these off to the side
OO
OO -->
OO
X X OO
Blocks 1 or 3
OO -->
OX O
OO
X XX
Block 2 ? Be sure to put these off to the side
XX
OO -->
XX
X X OO
Block 2x
XO
OX --> X
OO
X XX
5.4. Layers
Layering is what I call laying down rows of 2 colors side by
side. You can sometimes get a long row of the same color. Or
you can end up with a stack of alternating colors. Either
way, these layers are fairly easy to set up and to delete.
You will get a 0, 2, or 4 about 37% of the time, so one in 3
blocks should be a perfect match for one of these setups.
You can also use a 1 or 3 block, but it will mess up your
layer.
OO
XX OO XO
OO OO
OXXO
OOOO OOOO OOOO
Another way to use 1 or 3 blocks is by building a ?house?
around an existing layer. The example below will clear all
the blocks with two timeline passes.
OOOO
OXXO
XX
OO
5.5. Slice
I call this a slice when you build vertical columns of
similar colors. You slice off part of a block to get a
delete. The block below will cause the two O columns on the
left to delete.
OX
OX
OXXO
OOOO
5.6. Double Slice
A double slice will make two deletes over the course of two
timeline passes. In this example, the two O columns will
delete, and then the X column will drop and cause another
delete with the next timeline pass.
OX
OX
OXXO
OXOO
5.7. Power Slice
A power slice causes two or more deletes when it drops.
Usually you get these deletes by staggering columns of
blocks.
OX
OX
X
X
OXXO
OOOO
5.8. Advanced slice and dice
As you get better with slicing, you can build higher
columns. If you are fast enough, you might be able to drop 2
or 3 blocks into one of these structures and get quite a few
deletes. Sometimes folks will call these J, U, or L
structures because they look like letters J, U, and L. These
structures can have a one or two square opening in the
middle. The advantage of one square opening is that you get
an extra deletes with the drops. The next section has
details on how to maximize deletes with each type of block.
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O O
OOO OOO OOO
Variations on JUL
X O O X O X
X O O X O X
XO O O X O X
XOOO OOO OOOX
5.9. Maximizing Deletes
I?ve spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to
get the most number of deletes from a single drop. There are
two issues here: 1. Maximizing delete with this drop, and 2.
Setting up to maximize deletes with another drop. For now,
lets focus on how to maximize the number of points you get
with each type of block. As you develop your skills, you
will naturally setup these types of patterns.
5.9.1. Blanks (0 or 4)
6 deletes from a blank or four block.
OO
OO
O O OOOO
O O --> OOOO
OOOO OOOO
5.9.2. Ones and Threes (1 or 3)
4 deletes from a One or Three block
XO
OO
X
O OOO
O O --> OOO
OOO OOO
5.9.3. Twos (2)
5 deletes from a Two block (Note: A = any block that does
not complete a delete.)
XO
XO
X XX
X --> XX
XO O XOOO
AO O AOOO
AOOO AOOO
3 deletes from a Two block
XX
OO
XX
O O --> OOOO
OOOO OOOO
Or even 4 deletes from a Two block
OX
OX
O X OOXX
O X --> OOXX
OOXX OOXX
5.9.4. Deuces (2x)
3 deletes from a Deuce block
OX
XO
O
X XX
XX --> XXX
AO O AOOO
AOOO AOOO
5.10. Managing Leftovers
5.10.1. Cleaning up a mess
[Eventually I plan to add some details on how to clean up a
mess. But first I have to learn how to do it myself. :) ]
5.10.2. Setting up for slicing
The simple rule for slicing is that you need vertical
columns of similar colors. This is exactly the opposite of
the infinite tower strategy. You start off with a similar
base, and you simply want to make it taller. Try to have
open space next to your column.
Slice base examples
X X O
_X_ XO XX XX
Blocks 0 or 4 ? Be sure to put these off to the side
OO
OO --> O
OO
X XO
Blocks 1 or 3
OO -->
OX O
OX
X OX
Block 2 ? Be sure to put these off to the side
XO
XO --> X
XO
X XO
Block 2x
XO
OX --> O
XX
X OX
6. Delete Theory
So what the heck is he talking about delete theory? What
theory could there be? Its just a game. Well if you are
interested, here are some interesting observations.
6.1. How many Squares does it take to make a
Delete?
No, this is not the start of a joke. This is a serious
question. You?ve probably noticed by now that you can get a
delete with fewer than 4 blocks. But how many squares does
it really take?
Lets start with some basic deletes. In the diagrams below,
there are three columns, the number of deletes from the
pattern, the number of squares in the pattern, and a diagram
showing the pattern. The numbers in the pattern refer to the
delete in the pattern. For instance a 3 represents the third
delete in the pattern.
Del Sq Pattern
1 4 11
11
2 6 112
112
3 8 1123
1123
8 33
112
112
4 9 334
112
112
10 11234
11234
10 44
1123
1123
6.2. Rectangular Deletes
We can easily develop a grid for calculating the number of
deletes from a rectangular pattern of the same color
squares. A 2x2 square gives 1 delete. A 4x4 square gives 9
deletes. A 4x5 rectangle gives 12 deletes.
It turns out that the formula for the number of deletes for
a rectangle is (h-1)*(w-1).
6.3. Max and Min Squares per Delete
I combined the numbers from the previous two sections and
came up with a regression equation for the min number of
squares per delete. The equation for minimum number of
squares per delete is
MinSq = 2.1 + 1.9 * Number of Deletes (Combos <10 deletes)
The equation for maximum number of squares per delete is
very easy. It is one block per delete,
MaxSq = 4 * Number of Deletes
So the average number of squares per delete falls somewhere
between those two numbers.
Actually, at the extreme, you only need 1.14 squares to get
more deletes. But this is really only valid for single
combos above 20 deletes so it really is not useful.
MinSq = 7.8 + 1.14 * Number of Deletes (Combos >20 deletes)
7. Game Speed
Game speed governs how far you can get.
7.1. Game Speed
I?ve collected some data on the speed of the timeline and
the speed of drops. The timeline speed is the amount of time
it takes for the timeline to cross the screen. The Drop
Speed is the time it takes a block to fall if you don?t
speed it up. Notice that the timeline speed is all over the
mpa throughout the game, while the drop speed decreases as
you advance. The one exception is that blessed oasis Holiday
in Summer where we get a brief respite before the maddening
pace resumes.
Skin Skin Timeline Drop Speed Level
1 Shinin' 3.0 6.7 0
2 Urbanization 4.0 6.5 4
3 Round About 3.7 7.2 8
4 Slipping 4.0 6.4 12
5 Shake ya Body 4.0 6.3 16
6 Square Dance 4.0 5.0 20
7 Talk 2 You 4.0 4.0 24
8 Just... 3.5 3.0 28
9 I Hear the music... 7.0 4.1 32
10 Dark Side... 4.5 3.0 36
11 Aback 4.5 3.1 40
12 Working in the Hole 3.5 3.0 44
13 Sister Walk 4.5 3.0 48
14 Da-Di-Do 3.5 2.5 52
15 Strangers 3.0 2.5 56
16 Holiday in Summer 6.7 6.0 60
17 Take a Dog out... 6.0 5.0 65
18 Big Elpaso 7.0 4.5 70
19 My Generation 3.5 3.8 75
20 Meguro 6.0 2.7 80
21 Spirits 4.0 2.2 85
22 Get Up and Go 4.0 1.2 90
23 Fly into the sky 4.0 95
24 Lights 100
25 Water, Flower & Lights
The important lesson here is that your ability to progress
in the game depends on your speed relative to the native
Drop speed. If you need 4 seconds per drop, you will very
rarely make it past the 8th skin. (And many intermediate
players can attest just how frustrating that Just... level
really is.) If you need only 3 seconds, you can barely make
it to the 13th skin as you watch the screen fill up with
your mistakes.
7.2. Max Drop Rate
Your maximum drop rate may vary, but I?ve measured it to be
about 0.4 seconds. That means that at best you can drop 2.5
blocks per second, or 25 blocks in 10 seconds. This has real
implications on how many deletes you can get in the game.
For instance, if the timeline speed is 4 seconds, you can
drop up to 10 blocks or 40 squares. Based on the previously
described delete theory, the best players use about 2.5
squares per delete. That means that the best players can get
up to 16 deletes in real-game situations. (Remember that you
can get many deletes in the aftermath of a destroyer combo.
This discussion is about typical game play, not those
situations.)
8. Know your Skills
This section tells you how to measure some basic performance
statistics, and gives some exercises to help improve your
performance.
8.1. Performance Statistics
The following statistics measure how well you play the game.
The purpose of these metrics is to give us a method of
measuring our improvement. Just like golf, or baseball,
these statistics can also tell us how we compare with our
past performance as well as comparing ourselves with others.
The first four can be calculated from data displayed during
most challenge mode levels. To measure your performance,
simply pause the game after you have been playing for a
while and write down your numbers. The remaining statistics
take some creative measurement.
LPM ? Levels per Minute
DPM ? Deletes per Minute
PPD ? Points per Delete
ACE ? Apparent Combo Efficiency
DrPM- Drops per Minute
TDR ? Typical Drop Rate
MDR ? Maximum Drop Rate
SAS ? Slide Accuracy Score
SDS ? Slide Drop Score
SAS = 2 * # perfect drops + 1 * Number off by 1 square
SDS = Start Seconds ? End Seconds
8.1.1. Levels per Minute
LPM = Level / (Hours * 60 + minutes + seconds/60)
Levels Per Minute is a simple statistic that is related to
how fast you play. I don?t find this statistic to be very
useful. Deletes per Minute is much more useful.
This is an elegant and useful statistic. It is the best
measure of how fast you play the game. DPM is an average
number of deletes per minute. Many factors influence your
DPM. Some of them are how fast you play, speed of the
timeline, how good you are at managing leftovers, and how
good you are at making large combos.
One quick estimate of your DPM is your max Time Attack
score. Your 60 Sec Time Attack score is your max DPM under
limited circumstances. You have one skin, and one timeline
speed to deal with. The best players can get 120 or even 150
deletes per minute in a 60 Sec Time Attack.
There are many ways to improve your DPM. Playing Time Attack
games is probably the best way. Also, try some of the games
described in this Faq. One non-intuitive way to improve your
DPM is to slow down and look for combos. Sometimes we get so
caught up in making deletes, that we miss opportunities to
get combos that may be worth 2 or 3 deletes instead of just
one.
8.1.3. Points per Delete
PPD = Score / Deletes
Points per Delete is also an elegant metric that tells how
well you are using combos. Each delete is worth 40 points.
However, when you get 4 or more deletes, you get a 4X bonus
so each delete is worth 160 points. Using this knowledge,
you can calculate your PPD to see how well you are using
combos. If your PPD score is around 40, then you are only
getting a few deletes per pass. If your score is near 160
you are usually getting 4 or more deletes per pass. This
metric is very useful, but it can be hard to interpret. So I
came up with the concept of Combo Efficiency or ACE.
Your ACE score should be reported as a percentage. It
represents how well you use combo?s during the game. If you
have a low ACE score, you rarely get more than 3 deletes
with each pass of the timeline. An ACE score of 100% means
that you nearly always have 4 or more deletes when the
timeline passes. For instance, I currently run around 60%
combo efficiency. That means that about 60% of the time I
have more than 4 deletes when the timeline passes.
Of course, this number is affected by points from fast
drops, single color bonuses, and all clear bonuses. So it is
possible to get more than 100% combo efficiency. That is why
I call it an _apparent_ combo efficiency, not the actual
combo efficiency. For the same reason, it is not really
possible to get 0% ACE.
You can measure your ACE score at any point during a game.
Simply pause and record the Score and the number of deletes
at that moment. The ACE score should be averaged over
several games. Generally it is best to calculate the score
later in a game because it will cover a broader range of
play conditions (i.e. many skins).
The ACE metric is valid for scores between 1,000 and
999,998. Once you reach 999,999 your ACE quickly becomes
meaningless. It is best to use DPM after you max out the
score.
8.1.5. Drop Rate
DrPM = Number of Drops / (Seconds / 60)
Drop Rate is an interesting metric related to your DPM rate
but entirely different. Drop rate is the number of drops per
minute while DPM is the number of deletes per minute. If all
your deletes are 4 squares, then the two numbers will be
equal. But you probably noticed that sometimes a delete is 3
or 2 or even 1 square. So your DrPM is usually less than
your DPM score. There are many different ways to measure
this rate. On each level, blocks drop at two different
rates. One is the ?native? rate, the other is the ?drop?
rate. I think the ?drop? rate is constant throughout all
levels. The ?native? rate changes from level-to-level.
Finally, there is a personal drop rate which is the number
of blocks you can drop in a minute at your normal play
speed. The three metrics are important because they really
govern how far you can get in the game.
To progress in the game, your DrPM must be higher than the
Native Rate for the skin. For example, if your average drop
rate is 50 blocks per minute, but you come to a skin where
the native drop rate is 60 blocks per minute, you will soon
find the screen filled with random blocks. You will do fine
on skins where the native rate is say 30 or even 40 blocks
per minute. (Stats on the native drop rate are covered in
detail in section 7.1 Game Speed.)
As a general rule, if you can pass a level easily then
Native Rate < DrPM < DPM < Max Drop Rate
That is, for you to pass a level, your Drop Rate is higher
than the native drop rate. Therefore you can get combos and
your DPM is even higher than your DrPM. For the most
advanced players, I believe it is possible for the DPM to be
greater than the Max Drop Rate. But this is only true
because of something I call Drop Efficiency (DrE).
I find that the best way to measure your drop rate is the 60
sec Time Attack mode. Simply count the number of drops you
make in a fake game. There are two ways to do it.
Typical Drop Rate (TDR)
This is best to do with a friend, or video camera. Play a
normal 60 sec Time Attack game. Your friend must keep track
of how many blocks you drop during the game. Or check your
video to count them.
Max Drop Rate (MDR)
Don?t worry too much about deletes or combos. Simply focus
on counting the drops. You should spread the blocks around a
little bit like your normal game. This will give you a
higher number, but it is a good measure of your current
reflexes. I?ve found this is the easiest
9. Improve Your Skills
9.1.1. Drop Efficiency
DrE = DPM / DrPM
Drop Efficiency is an interesting metric which tells you the
average number of deletes you get from a single drop. Now
you might think if you keep the screen mostly clean your
drop rate would be the same as your delete rate. That is,
Typical Assumption: DrPM = DPM
But the fact of the matter is that deletes can be 1, 2, 3,
or 4 squares. Drops are always 4 squares. SO we have to
introduce an efficiency. Think about it this way, when you
play, the number of squares on the board stays nearly
constant. That is you may have 40 squares on the board.
During a minute you may drop 20 blocks (20 blocks * 4
squares/block = 80 squares) During the same minute, you may
get 40 deletes. When all is done, you may be left with 20
squares.
DPM = DrE * DrPM
9.1.2. Speed Slide Accuracy
When you slide blocks, you have probably noticed that they
slide faster if you pause half a second. For a long time, I
simply pressed left or right many times to line up the
block.
This game is fun, and a little tricky. You get to practice
sliding to a specific point in the field. The play field is
16 squares wide by 10 squares high. I?ll say there are 16
columns and 10 rows. Counting from the left, blocks are
automatically centered over column 8 and 9. For this game,
you practice trying to slide blocks to column 2 and then
dropping them. Then slide to column 14 and dropping them.
The Game:
Alternate dropping blocks over columns 2,3 and 14,15.
1. Slide a block to columns 2 and 3 as fast as you can and
drop as fast as you can.
2. Slide a block to columns 14 and 15 as fast as you can and
drop as fast as you can.
3. Repeat 1 and 2 until you have dropped 8 blocks (4 blocks
on each column)
4. Pause. You get two statistics from this exercise.
SAS ? Slide Accuracy Score
SDS ? Slide Drop Score
Scoring:
SAS ? Slide Accuracy Score = # of squares that hit the
correct column
SDS ? Slide Drop Score = Time required to stack 4 blocks
over columns 2 and 3
SAS is a score between 0 and 32 which indicates your
accuracy when doing a slide-drop. Simply count the number of
squares that land on target (column 2,3 or columns 14,15).
If the block is on the right columns you get 4 points
because all for squares are on the columns. If you are off
by 1 column, you get 2 points because two squares are on the
right column, and two squares are not. Otherwise you get 0
points. When you first start playing, you may have to pause
part way through the game if you get any deletes. After you
play a few times, your accuracy improves and you don?t have
to worry so much about deletes.
SDS is a score in seconds which tells how long it takes you
to slide and drop 8 blocks. (i.e. 10 sec) You can turn this
into a Drop per Minute score with this formula
DrPM = 60 * Drops / SDS = 240 / SDS
Do not confuse this with DPM (Deletes per Minute). DrPM
(Drops per minute) is related to DPM, but they are
different.
Advanced Game:
You can play this game with any column. I generally double
up the game during a single Time Attack game. For example:
Hit 2,3 and 14,15 then hit 5,6 and 11,12, stop and count.
Sometimes I miss a lot and have to stop early. Also,
sometimes I get deletes. This is not a problem, but I
usually pause and record which column the deletes happen in.
At first, this game seems impossibly hard. You will probably
start with your normal left-left-left-left-left-left-drop
sequence. After a while it becomes more intuitive and you
can do left-hold-drop. You will be amazed at how much faster
you get after just a few dozen games.
9.2. Upcoming drops
Basically, you are trying to improve your awareness of
upcoming blocks. You can play this game without touching the
controls, but it is best to hold your PSP as you would
during a normal game. Look at the center of the screen and
use your peripheral vision to see which blocks are coming
next. Do not worry about making deletes at first. Simply pay
attention to the upcoming blocks.
I am not really satisfied with my technique for measuring
this skill, but here it is. Drop a block in the center and
look at it. For the next 4 blocks call out what you think
the block is. (Blank, one, two, etc. or 0, 1, 2, etc.
whatever you are comfortable with calling the blocks). If
you are right, you get a point, if not you get nothing. You
will get a score between 0 and 4 which is your Upcoming Drop
Proficiency score.
9.3. Planning your next move
This game is the flipside of the previous game. Instead of
looking at the field, look only at the blocks. You have to
?know? where the blocks are on the field, and plan where you
want the upcoming blocks to fall. Then (and here is the
tricky part) slide and drop them WITHOUT LOOKING. This is a
much more advanced skill than the Upcoming Drops skill. It
also requires that you are pretty good with your Speed Slide
accuracy. So you may want to wait a while before trying this
exercise.
9.4. Play Faster
This has been a recurring theme of this guide: Practice. The
only way to play faster is to practice until all the
Game speed is governed by five activities. You go through
this entire list each time you drop a block. The order of
the last three may be a little different, but all these
activities happen.
1. Recognize the block
2. Decide what to do with it
3. Slide the block
4. Rotate the block
5. Drop the block
Hopefully you recognize that each of these activities has
been covered in great detail earlier in this guide. This is
the final stop where we bring it all together. These five
activities work together to determine your DPM rate.
I break these activities down into two categories:
Predictive and Reactive. Predictive activities are Recognize
and Decide. The process is mostly mental where you figure
out what you will do with the block. The Reactive activities
are slide, rotate, and drop the block. They are primarily
physical, and the speed is based on your reflexes. Rotation
strategy can play a role, but your speed here still boils
down to reflexes.
10. Know your habits
10.1. Identify your habits
OK, this section may be hard for some to take. I know it was
tough for me to recognize at first. Lets start with the
basics: You have habits which limit your ability to get
large combos.
Yes you. The shining star Lumines player, you too have
habits that limit you. I found that most of my habits caused
me to get many single deletes and miss out on combos. For
instance, if I got a 1 or 3, I would look for a lone block
to make a delete. This kept me from stacking up the blocks
next to the lone block in a U or J shape. Eventually I
learned how to make those structures, and they became a
habit.
10.2. Break your habits
The best way to break your habits is to first recognize
them, and then to deliberately NOT follow them when they
come up. For instance, I typically use an infinite combo to
deal with a [3] block when I see one. I?ve gotten into the
habit of forming vertical columns of light and dark blocks.
So when I get a [3] or [1], I look for a column and either
drop it 2 columns away to setup the next slice, or I slice
it through the column to get the 2X delete.
10.3. For Lumines Sake ? Know your habits
The best way to learn about your habits is to record
yourself and watch the video. Pause it after each drop and
try to think of other ways you could have dropped the block.
Do you find yourself following a pattern? Is it a good
pattern? Do you want to change something?
10.3.1. Practice patterns
One good thing to do is forcibly practice some of the
patterns. Practice building L and U columns.
10.3.2. Practice again
10.3.3. Practice skills
11. Credits
In building this guide I sought guidance from many people.
Most of the people were forum members at gamefaqs.com. I
have already mentioned the wonderful Lumines FAQs on the
site.
Thanks to For contributing
Stan64 Infinite Tower strategy
itsmeoreo Data to help develop the metrics
Lord Grahf Data to help develop the metrics
MaSTeR C 3223 Data to help develop the metrics
Tighting Previous work on Bar speeds
12. Copyright
This guide is completely my work. Do not copy it without my
permission. If you want to use any portion of this guide,
send email to faq @ rovingbar . com. I will probably give
you permission. If you don?t hear from me it is because the
spammers found me before you did. Try posting to the Lumines
board at gamefaqs.com if you can?t get me through email.
Copyright 2005 by Jeff Hebert
13. Version History
9/1/05 Rev 0.0 Began working on the guide
12/2/05 Rev 1.0 Completed enough to publish first draft
