XTRIS(6)

📦 version 1.15, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💖 XTRIS(6) — the games manual, but make it a group chat 💖

okay so bestie, buckle up: this is xtris, from the Games Manual, section 6, and it's literally multiplayer Tetris for X and it's iconic. no cap. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

xtris — multiplayer tetris for X. that's it, that's the vibe. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

xtris [ -display machine:0 ] [ -help ] [ -k keys ] [ -s ] [ -bw ] [ -big
] [ -flashy ] [ -n name ] [ -norestart ] [ -nospeedup ] [ server.name [
port ] ]

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

  • -bw — draws the game in black & white, even if you've got a whole color display sitting right there. monochrome moment, we respect it. 🖤🤍
  • -big — makes xtris use larger graphics. big main character energy, literally. 👑
  • -display — tells xtris which X display to open a window on and play the game. by default it connects to whatever's in the environment variable DISPLAY.
  • -flashy — picks an alternate, flashier set of colors for the tetris bricks. yes it's louder. yes it ate. 🔥
  • -help — prints out a summary of all the command-line options xtris recognizes. your little cheat sheet, bestie.
  • -k — redefines the keys xtris uses. the argument has to be a 6-letter string, and those six keys are, in order: move to the left border, move one position to the left, rotate, move one position to the right, move to the right border, and drop the brick. the default keys are 'JjklL '.
  • -n — sets the nickname for the player. max nickname length is 14 characters, so keep it snappy. 💜
  • -norestart — passes the '-norestart' option to xtserv if xtris can't find a server running and starts one of its own. the effect: the server is told not to automatically restart a game after everyone save one player has lost.
  • -nospeedup — passes the '-nospeedup' option to xtserv if xtris can't find a server running and starts one of its own. the effect: the server is told not to automatically increase the game speed.
  • -s — starts the game in standalone mode. in this mode xtris will not connect to a server, will not be able to interact with other players, and will not be able to start bots. solo era, no witnesses. 🙈

🧚 ARGUMENTS 🧚

  • server.name — specifies the machine on which an xtris server (xtserv) runs. xtris will connect to that server, and add itself to the game.

if the server is not specified, xtris will attempt to connect to a server on localhost (127.0.0.1). if no server is running on localhost, xtris will start one (with the '-once' option so it will not stay after the client exits).

  • port — specifies the port to connect to, if the server was started on a port other than the default (19503).

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

xtris is a version of the classical game of Tetris for any number of players, under the X window system. yes, any number. bring the whole group chat. 🫶

Multi-player games are managed by the xtris server, xtserv; they are synchronous: all users play at the same level, start at the same time, and see each other's games. the game stops when only one player remains. last one standing, periodt. 💀

xtris keeps track of the number of lines each player has filled in the current game, and of the number of games each player has won.

Each player has a name, initially set to his login name, or the contents of the environment variables XTRISNAME or NETTRISNAME.

Whenever there is more than one player, players can type messages to each other, which appear on a special message area; players who have already lost can chat this way while the game continues. so even when you're out, you're still in the group chat. iconic.

to edit your name, move the mouse pointer to the small window at the bottom of the screen where it is displayed. the editing keys backspace and ^U are recognized, as well as iso-latin-1 characters entered with the help of the Meta (mod1) key. pressing Return propagates the name to all other players. ✨

there are two modes for the game:

  • normal — the game starts with an empty pit. whenever one user fills two or more rows at the same time, these lines appear at the bottom of some other user's screen.

at the beginning of the game, each player is set to send his lines to the next player, in the order of connection to the server. after sending some lines, the server chooses a next victim for the player, sequentially. girlypop is handing out consequences. 💅

  • fun — the game starts with some garbage at the bottom and the side of the pit. whenever one player fills a line, his victim gets an extra gray square at the highest point of his game. filling two lines simultaneously sends one line; filling three sends three, and filling four sends five. 🍓

💬 MESSAGES 💬

the message area is a zone under the tetris pits where users can chat by typing messages at each other. it is not displayed by default; to activate it, click on the "text" button, which appears as soon as there are two or more users.

if verbose mode is activated, the message zone also gets messages about the development of the game, users changing nicks, starting the game, sending each other lines, and so on. the lore, basically. 👑

when you put your mouse pointer in the message area, the text you type goes to the input line at the very bottom of the window. when you press Return, your line gets sent to all other players.

if you hold down the Shift key when pressing Return in the message area, the mouse pointer gets warped back to the main game. this lets you type in a message quickly during the game: press Tab to warp to the message area, and end your message with Shift+Return to warp back. speedrun those receipts bestie 🏃‍♀️💨

🤖 BOTS 🤖

bots, or robots, are automated players that connect to the xtris server and simulate a game of Tetris. clicking on the 'bot' button will start a bot and connect it to the same game. it is also possible to start bots from the command line, with xtbot.

to remove a bot from the game, click on its name at the bottom of the window. bye bot 👋

🎮 KEYS AND BUTTONS 🎮

these keys can be redefined with the -k option or with X resources:

  • J / leftBorderKey — Move to the left border.
  • j / leftKey — Move one position to the left.
  • k / rotateKey — Counter-clockwise rotation.
  • l / rightKey — Move one position to the right.
  • L / rightBorderKey — Move to the right border.
  • , / downKey — Move down one step.
  • Space / dropKey — Drop the brick.

alternatively, you can use the arrow keys to move the piece around one step, and the shifted arrow keys to move it all the way in each direction. the Up arrow key rotates. 🦋

these keys can be redefined only with X resources:

  • s / startKey — Start a game.
  • q / quitKey — Quit the game.
  • p / pauseKey — Pause/continue the game.
  • b / botKey — Start a bot on the same server.
  • n / modeKey — Change the game mode between normal and fun.
  • t / textKey — Open/close the message area.
  • Return / toggleNextKey — Toggle display of the next brick.
  • c / clearKey — Clear the message area.
  • v / verboseKey — Toggle displaying of server messages about the game in the message area.
  • z / zeroKey — Reset the game counters to 0.
  • Tab / warpKey — Warp the mouse pointer between the game area, the nick entry area, and the message area (if visible).
  • 0 - 9 / (no resource) — Set the level.

the buttons on the xtris screen are:

  • Start — Start a game (all players start at the same time).
  • Quit — Quit the game.
  • Pause — Pause or continue the game.
  • Bot — Start a bot on the same server.
  • 0 - 9 — Set the level.
  • Normal — Toggle normal and fun game mode.
  • Text — Display or hide the message area.
  • Zero — Reset the game counters to 0.
  • Verbose — Toggle displaying of server messages about the game in the message area.
  • Clear — Clear the message area.

clicking on the area where the Next brick is displayed also toggles displaying the Next. little hidden shortcut, iykyk. 💅

💜 RESOURCES 💜

xtris understands a number of X resources. the prefix for all of them is 'xtris.'.

in addition to the ones listed in the KEYS section, xtris understands these resources:

  • name — Specifies the player's nickname. the default is the login name.
  • big — Specifies whether xtris should use larger graphics or not. the default is "false".
  • flashy — Specifies whether xtris should use flashier colors or not. the default is "false".
  • bw — Specifies whether xtris should start up in black & white mode. the default is "false".
  • verbose — Specifies whether xtris should start up in verbose mode. the default is "false".
  • scrollLines — Specifies the size (in lines) of the message area. the default is 10, and the allowed values are from 3 to 30.
  • background — Specifies the color used for the background.
  • brick0 … brick6 — Specifies the color used for the i-th brick. (that's brick0, brick1, brick2, brick3, brick4, brick5, brick6, bestie 🎀)

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

the environment variable DISPLAY controls the default X display on which to open the xtris window.

the environment variables XTRISNAME and NETTRISNAME set the player's initial name.

⭐ EXAMPLE ⭐

the command

xtris -k 'Kkl;: ' -bw esane.net -display dedelamnio:0

starts an xtris on the display dedelamnio:0, connected to the server on esane.net, with the keys K, k, l, ;, : and space, and in black and white. she's got a whole custom loadout, obsessed. 🔥

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

xtserv(6), xtbot(6)

💀 BUGS 💀

the default colors are rather hideous. not me saying it, the manpage said it.

please report any other bugs to the author.

👑 AUTHOR 👑

xtris was written by Roger Espel Llima <roger.espel.llima@pobox.com>.

some bits of X11 code are based on xtet42 by Hugo Eide Gunnarsen of the Norwegian Institute of Technology. giving credit where it's due, always 🫶

okay that's the whole page bestie, no skips, no summaries, every flag accounted for. go forth and stack blocks 💖

Roger Espel Llima · Oct 13, 1996 · XTRIS(6) — that's a wrap on the games manual, mwah 💋✨🎀

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