Top out

A top out (also called Tetris Death, or Topped Out) occurs when:
 * a tetromino cannot be placed at least partially within the play zone.
 * garbage pieces are sent, pushing the top pieces above the spawn zone.

Top outs usually result in a game over. However, in Tetris Blitz, top outs result in a 3-second penalty and removal of line 16 upwards.

Loss condition
There are several variations of what constitutes a top out:
 * Block out: a piece is spawned overlapping at least one block in the playfield
 * Lock out: a piece locks when it is entirely out of bounds (that is, in the vanish zone above the ceiling)
 * Partial lock out: a piece locks when it is partially out of bounds, even if it would clear a line. This is not used in the Tetris Guideline as of 2009.
 * Garbage out: After lines are cleared and garbage is added, a block remains out of bounds.
 * Line 41+ garbage out is the version used in the Tetris Guideline.

Different games have used different combinations of these conditions:
 * This list is incomplete.


 * Tetris (NES, Nintendo): a piece locks overlapping at least one block, but in some cases it is possible to move or rotate out of such a situation
 * Tetris (Game Boy): a piece locks on its starting position (regardless of rotation) twice in a row. Similar to NES Tetris, it is possible to move the piece out from existing blocks.
 * Dr. Mario, Tetris and Dr. Mario, Puyo Puyo, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Kirby's Star Stacker: block out
 * Dr. Mario 64 (Marathon mode): block out or garbage out. The latter condition is checked only when a new virus line is added to the field.
 * Columns: block out or garbage out
 * Lumines: lock out; the game tries to move the piece one space downleft or downright before ending the game
 * Bombliss: garbage out
 * Tetris (Atari), Tetris (NES, Tengen), The New Tetris, and Tetris DS (push mode): partial lock out or garbage out
 * Tetris Attack: garbage out; in multiplayer mode, evaluation is delayed by a split second
 * Guideline games: block out or lock out (either of the conditions is a Tetris Death)
 * note: in tetrisimplementation pieces spawn above any blocks that could be placed without causing a lock out, therefore block out is impossible
 * Hatetris: partial lock out