How the Zone Mechanic Works in Tetris Effect: Connected

Tetris Effect: Connected is now available to gamers on Xbox One, Series X | S, and Windows 10 PC. With so many gamers flocking to check out what many consider to be one of the best Tetris games of all time, there are bound to be questions about how the game works.

One common question is in reference to the Zone mechanic, what it does, what it’s for, and what things like a “Decahexatris” and “Perfectris” are in Tetris Effect: Connected. 

How the Zone Mechanic Works in Tetris Effect: Connected

The “Zone” mechanic is directly tied to your Zone Meter in Tetris Effect: Connected. To fill your Zone Meter, you’ll need to clear lines and score points. You can do this a number of ways from Tetris Line Clears all the way to stylish T-Spins. 

Once you see your Zone Meter full at the left side of your screen (shown in the red circle in the above image), you’ll be able to activate the Zone mechanic. When playing on Xbox, you can do this by squeezing the right trigger, RT.

With the Zone mechanic activated, time will slow down and the Tetriminos will be held at the top of your Tetris Matrix so you won’t have to worry about the stress of them falling on their own. You have complete control to direct where you want each piece to go. 

When Zone has been activated, you’ll have a limited amount of time to clear as many lines as you can. While you’re doing this, the game will gradually reduce the play area available to you, making it harder to clear lines in multiples, eventually forcing you to clear one and/or two lines at a time.

The more lines you clear before the Zone mechanic time limit runs out (and before you top out), the better your score will be and the better your score name will be. 

In Tetris Effect: Connected, there are a number of unique names for the number of lines you’re able to clear while Zone is activated like Octotris, or 8 Line Clear. A great benchmark to aim for is the Decahexatris, or 16 Line Clear. 

There’s also the Perfectris, which is an 18 Line Clear. Finally, the max number of lines you can clear while Zone is activated is 20 which is referred to as an Ultimatris.

We’ve included a video below from a pro Tetris player Wumbotize showing what each one of these looks like while Zone is activated.

You can activate Zone while playing Journey Mode, and in some of the multiplayer modes as well, so you’ll have ample opportunity to practice and work your way up to an Ultimatris while playing Tetris Effect: Connected.

Tetris Effect: Connected is available now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, and Windows 10 PC. It’s also available through Xbox Game Pass.