TATEYOKO - draw to clear panels!


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日本語

Introduction

Your goal is to eliminate all falling panels by drawing the same shapes in 3x3 matrix area.  Panels come in a variety of shapes and colors.  You get higher score if you manage to consecutively eliminate the panels of the same color and/or shape.

There are 5 levels in the game where each level has 9 stages.  So you have a total of 45 stages to play.  To start a stage, tap on the corresponding button in stage selection screen.  Locked stages cannot be played until you have cleared all preceding stages.

How to play

As you start a stage, you will see panels falling from the top of the screen.  You are to eliminate them before they touch the ground by drawing the same shape in 3x3 matrix area located at the bottom of the screen.  Upon releasing your finger from the 3x3 matrix area, the game will try to find a panel that matches what you have just drawn.  If a match is found, it will be eliminated and you will get some points for that.  If more than one match is found, the one that is the closest to the ground will be eliminated, unless you have pre-selected a panel, in which case the selected one will take precedence.  To select a panel, you simply tap on it.  (and tap on it again to deselect it.)

The 3x3 matrix area is automatically cleared when a panel is eliminated.  If you want to explicitly clear the area, you can do so by tapping on the "C" (clear) button.

The last eliminated panel is shown above the "C" button.  There is also a small preview panel at top left indicating which panel will appear next.

Point calculation

How much points you get for each elimination is calculated as follows:
Points = 10 x “extra common factor” x “consecutive count”

Extra-common-factor will be either 1, 2, or 3.  It will be 3 if the eliminated panel has the same shape, orientation, and color as the last eliminated panel.  It will be 2 if the eliminated panel has the same shape and orientation but different color as the last eliminated panel, or the eliminated panel has the same color and shape but different orientation as the last eliminated panel.  For all other cases, it will be 1.

Consecutive-count is 1 if it is the first elimination in the stage or if eliminated panel has nothing in common with the last eliminated panel.  It will be increased by 1 otherwise, i.e., if the eliminated panel has something (color and/or shape) in common with the last eliminated panel.

As you can see from above rules, you want to try to eliminate a panel that matches the last eliminated panel (in some way) as much as possible to get a good score.

Clearing stage

A stage will only be considered “cleared” when you have successfully eliminated all panels AND get a score that is the same as or better than the “Clear score”.  The “Clear score” is shown at the top right hand corner of the screen.  At the end of a stage, you have a choice of either retrying the same stage or going back to the stage selection screen.

Hint Pack

From the options screen, you can purchase our Hint Pack.  The Hint Pack is OPTIONAL and you do not need it at all to play this game and clear all stages.  In fact, it might spoil the fun.  But if you want it any way, just press the purchase button.

For each of all 45 stages, the hint pack will show you (when “Show Hints” is checked) one of many possible ways to get a reasonably high score for the stage. You will be shown which panel to eliminate next with a circle indicator, and while you successfully eliminate panels as indicated, you will continue to be shown hints.

FAQ

Q1. What is “TATEYOKO”, what does it mean?
TATEYOKO is a made up word consisting of TATE (vertical) and YOKO (horizontal) in Japanese.

Q2. Can you really get the “Clear score” or better?  I don’t seem to be able to get such high scores.
Yes, the clear scores (normal or extended) are all tested to be clearable.

Q3. Can I eliminate the panel that is NOT the closest to the ground, when I have more than one panels of the same shape matching what I've just drawn?
Yes.  But you need to select the panel you want to eliminate first by tapping on it, and then draw the shape.

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