Clear lines, advance levels
PokerStars has never shied away from special Spin & Go promotions, but the one the online poker room just announced is a little different. While it’s still just a Spin & Go promo with leader boards and what-not, this time PokerStars has teamed up with Tetris, arguably the greatest video game of all time.
The Tetris Spin & Gos begin today, February 15, and run through March 28. There are ten different buy-in levels, ranging from $0.25 to $500. The goal of the promotion is to clear lines, just like in a game of Tetris, but in this case, there are no falling blocks. Just poker.
We were never told there would be math
To earn “line clears,” all one has to do is play in one of the labeled Tetris Spin & Gos. Players earn line clears based on their finish, but every spot earns at least one line clear. The number of line clears depends not just on order of finish, but the multiplier, as well. 2x multiplier games earn four, three, and two line clears for first, second, and third place, respectively. At 3x multiplier games, the line clear count goes down by one. And at any multiplier above that, the line clears are two, one, and one.
For every five line clears, a player’s level goes up. The importance of this is that the higher the level, the more leader board points a player earns. The formula for points is relatively simple. One line clear awards 40 points times one more than the player’s level. So for Level 0, it’s 40 x (0 + 1), or 40 points.
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Two line clears awards 100 x (n + 1), with n representing the player’s level. For three line clears, the formula is 300 x (n + 1) and for four line clears, it’s 1,200 x (n + 1). Thus, advancing levels is important.
Game over, man, game over!
And because this promo is loosely based on a video game, there is a chance for that “GAME OVER” message to flash on the screen. What game over means in this case is that one’s opportunity to earn any more points on a daily leader board is done and the player will have to wait for the next day to try again.
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The “Playing Field” also consists of 20 levels, with each player starting at zero. Based on one’s placement in a Tetris Spin & Go, the one’s level can go up or down. The probability of an up, down, or no move at all changes based on the level and finishing position. Winning a Spin & Go guarantees one’s level will at least stay the same. Losing guarantees it won’t go up. It can never get worse at Level 0 or 1, but color coded playing field states (green, yellow, red) indicate how close one is to their game ending.
Players who finish in the top 100 places of the $0.25 through $5 leader boards will receive cash prizes. The top 50 places pay on the $10 and $25 leader boards and top 20 for the $50 and $100 leader boards. For the $250 leader board, only the top five places pay, and only the winner receives money for the $500 board.
Table Of Contents
Tetris® combines with Spin & Go tournaments at PokerStars in a fun promotion that sees $1.5 million paid out between February 15 and March 28.
Head to the Spin & Go lobby in the PokerStars client and you’ll see there are Tetris® Spin & Go games with buy-ins of $0.25, $1, $2, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, and $500. They all play out the exact same way as a traditional Spin & Go, meaning they’re three-handed hyper-turbo tournaments where the prize pool is randomly determined before the first hand is dealt.
It’s still possible to win up to $1 million in some of these game, but there are a few notable differences.
First, the virtual felt is made up of Tetris® blocks, which actually looks pretty cool. Also, the dealer button is now a Tetris® block too, and other blocks fall down the screen.
The Tetris® part of the promotion comes in the form of leaderboards. There’s a separate leaderboard for each Tetris® Spin & Go buy-in level, so 10 in total. You need to opt-in and then fire up some Tetris® Spin & Go tournaments.
Play your tournaments as you would ordinarily, but do so knowing the aim of the game is to clear lines, just like in Tetris®. The number of lines you clear depends on your Spin & Go multiplier and your finishing position in the tournament.
Your level increases each time you clear five lines. This results in you earning even more points so you can climb up your leaderboard faster.
How Many Lines Do I Clear?
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| 2x | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 3x | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Over 3x | 2 | 1 | 1 |
As you can see from the table above, finishing in 1st place in a Tetris® Spin & Go that has a 2x multiplier clears four lines. Just playing a tournament earns you points.
How Do You Earn Points?
The number of leaderboard points you earn is based on your finishing position and your current level. You start off earning 40 points for clearing one line when you’re at Level 0, but this increases to 840 points if you manage to climb to Level 20, which is the highest level you can achieve.
It is possible to earn up to 25,200 points per Tetris® Spin & Go tournament, as you can see in this table.
| Level | Points for 1 Line | Points for 2 Lines | Points for 3 Lines | Points four 4 Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 40 | 100 | 300 | 1,200 |
| 1 | 80 | 200 | 600 | 2,400 |
| 2 | 120 | 300 | 900 | 3,600 |
| 3 | 160 | 400 | 1,200 | 4,800 |
| n | =40*(n+1) | =100*(n+1) | =300*(n+1) | =1,200*(n+1) |
| 20 | 840 | 2,100 | 6,300 | 25,200 |
Tetris® Spin & Go Payout Table
The leaderboards payout $33,000 every day throughout the promotion making for a combined total of $1,500,000 just for playing Tetris® Spin & Go tournaments.
The $0.25, $1, $2, and $5 leaderboard payout the top 100 points earners, so you have a decent chance of walking away with a cash prize. The prizes don’t have any restrictions on them meaning you’re free to do with them as you wish.
| $0.25 | $1 | $2 | $5 | $10 | $25 | $50 | $100 | $250 | $500 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50 | $150 | $250 | $400 | $500 | $500 | $750 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| 2 | $40 | $100 | $200 | $300 | $400 | $400 | $600 | $800 | $1,000 | |
| 3 | $30 | $75 | $150 | $250 | $350 | $350 | $500 | $600 | $750 | |
| 4 | $20 | $50 | $100 | $200 | $300 | $300 | $400 | $500 | $500 | |
| 5 | $15 | $25 | $50 | $150 | $250 | $250 | $300 | $400 | $500 | |
| 6-10 | $10 | $20 | $40 | $100 | $150 | $150 | $150 | $200 | ||
| 11-20 | $5 | $10 | $20 | $50 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | ||
| 21-50 | $5 | $5 | $10 | $25 | $50 | $50 | ||||
| 51-100 | $5 | $5 | $5 | $10 |
The Tetris® Playing Field – Avoid Hitting Game Over
There’s an extra element to this promotion that you have to be aware of at all times. PokerStars calls it the Playing Field.
Party Poker Spin N Go
Just like in a game of Tetris® where it is Game Over when the blocks reach the top of the screen, it can be game over for you if you go on a streak of out of the money finishes!
Finishing in first place either improves your Playing Field status or makes zero change to it. Finish in second place, however, and your Playing Field status either stays the same or actually worsens, which is also the case when you finish in third place.
Your table, or playing field, is green in color when your Playing Field is in a good state. It turns amber when it is worsening and turns red when you’re in big trouble. Failing to win when your playing field is red could see you reach Game Over which means you cannot earn any more leaderboard points until the next day!
The changes to your playing field status depend on your current level.
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Improve | No Change | No Chance | Worsen | No Change | Worsen |
| 0-1 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| 2-5 | 80% | 20% | 80% | 20% | 50% | 50% |
| 6-9 | 60% | 40% | 60% | 40% | 40% | 60% |
| 10-13 | 40% | 60% | 40% | 60% | 30% | 70% |
| 14-17 | 20% | 80% | 20% | 80% | 200% | 80% |
| 18-20 | 20% | 80% | 20% | 80% | 10% | 90% |
Get Involved in the Tetris® Spin & Go Promotion
With $33,000 waiting to be won every day until March 28 there’s no time to waste if you want to win some free cash.
Pokerstars Spin N Go Odds
Download PokerStars via PokerNews, enter the bonus code “STARS600” when making your first deposit and PokerStars will match your deposit 100% up to $600. In fact, your first three deposits in a 90-day window are matched 100% up to a combined maximum of $600.
Spin N Go Poker
All you need to do then is opt-in and fire up some Tetris® Spin & Go tournaments and see if you can pad your bankroll with some of the $1.5 million that’s guaranteed to be won. That and try not to spend the rest of the day humming the famous Tetris® tune!
The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in Oddschecker Global Media, the parent company of PokerNews.
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