Entry delay
The pause between one piece locking and the next piece appearing.
Entry delay, also called ARE, appearance delay, or spawn delay, is the time between one piece locking and the next one appearing. Some accounts count the extra pause after a line clear as part of it1.
- Screen redrawTetris (NES) (1989). Set by the time to redraw the well.2,3,4
- AnimationDr. Mario (NES) (1990). In one-player games each pill waits for Mario's throw, which runs at half speed on Low.5
#How it works
on lock:
write the piece into the well
wait ENTRY_DELAY frames # may depend on height, level, or clears
if lines were cleared: play the clear and wait LINE_CLEAR_DELAY frames
spawn the next pieceA game can fix the delay, shorten it with the level, or let it fall out of other work, such as redrawing the screen.
#Implementations
#Tetris (NES) (1989)
Tetris for the NES sets no delay of its own: the delay is the time the game takes to redraw the well2. It copies the well to the screen 4 rows a frame. A lock waits for the copy from 2 rows above the piece to the floor; the row check then restarts the copy at the top, and the next piece waits for the whole well2. The delay is therefore 10 to 18 frames2, longer the higher the piece locks2.
A line clear adds 17 to 20 frames3. Its animation blanks two columns of each cleared row every 4th frame, in 5 steps, and its first step waits for the global frame counter, so the same clear can take four different times3.
The first piece of each game hangs for 96 frames4 before it falls, and pressing Down ends the wait4.
#Dr. Mario (1990)
In a one-player game of Dr. Mario, the delay is an animation. Each new pill waits for Mario’s throw, which steps it through 215 positions, once a frame at Med and Hi and every other frame at Low. A two-player game has no throw5.
#Name and history
“ARE” is not an acronym. It comes from あれ (“are”, “that”), the word Japanese players used for the pause6. The Tetris Wiki associates entry delay with Japanese games, most of them influenced by Sega’s 1988 arcade Tetris7.
Games
| Game | Year | How | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tetris (NES) | 1989 | Screen redraw | set by the time to redraw the well |
| Dr. Mario (NES) | 1990 | Animation | in one-player games each pill waits for Mario's throw, which runs at half speed on Low |
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (6)
References
- ^Entry delay, also called ARE, appearance delay, or spawn delay, is the time between one piece locking and the next appearing; some accounts include the extra delay after a line clear.WikiTetris Wiki, “ARE”
How we know
ARE, also called entry delay, appearance delay, or spawn delay, is the period of time between the lockdown of one tetromino and the appearance of the next tetromino. … Some but not all analyses generalize ARE to include the extra delay after a line clear.
lead · archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abcdeThe next piece spawns 10 frames after a lock with the piece's center on row 18 or 19, and 2 frames later for every 4 rows higher, up to 18 frames.VerifiedCelestialAmber/TetrisNESDisasm · Tetris Wiki, “Tetris (NES, Nintendo)”
How we know
2484@playStateNotDisplayLineClearingAnimation: 2485 lda player1_vramRow 2486 sta vramRow 2487 lda #>playfield 2488 sta playfieldAddr+1 2489 jsr copyPlayfieldRowToVRAM 2490 jsr copyPlayfieldRowToVRAM 2491 jsr copyPlayfieldRowToVRAM 2492 jsr copyPlayfieldRowToVRAM
main.asm lines 2484–2492 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 3532updatePlayfield: 3533 ldx tetriminoY 3534 dex 3535 dex ⋮ 3542 sta vramRow
main.asm lines 3532–3542 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 3074@notGameOver: 3075 lda vramRow 3076 cmp #$20 3077 bmi @ret
main.asm lines 3074–3077 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 3263 lda #$00 3264 sta vramRow
main.asm lines 3263–3264 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 2896playState_spawnNextTetrimino: 2897 lda vramRow 2898 cmp #$20 2899 bmi @ret
main.asm lines 2896–2899 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ pieces that lock in the bottom two rows are followed by 10 frames of entry delay, and each group of 4 rows above that has an entry delay 2 frames longer than the last.
Details · archived copy ↗ Measured by a script in MesenCE 2.2.1 (build 4b8a196), on . It fails if the result disagrees with the claim.
The numbers come from the run; its author, an AI model, checked the script measures what the claim says, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abcA line clear adds 17 to 20 frames to the entry delay, for the animation that blanks two columns of each cleared row every 4th frame, in 5 steps.VerifiedCelestialAmber/TetrisNESDisasm · Tetris Wiki, “Tetris (NES, Nintendo)”
How we know
2757updateLineClearingAnimation: 2758 lda frameCounter 2759 and #$03 2760 bne @ret
main.asm lines 2757–2760 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 2821 inc rowY 2822 lda rowY 2823 cmp #$05 2824 bmi @ret 2825 inc playState
main.asm lines 2821–2825 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ line clear delay is an additional 17~20 frames depending on the frame that the piece locks; the animation has 5 steps that advance when the global frame counter modulo 4 equals 0.
Details · archived copy ↗ Measured by a script in MesenCE 2.2.1 (build 4b8a196), on . It fails if the result disagrees with the claim.
The numbers come from the run; its author, an AI model, checked the script measures what the claim says, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abcThe first piece of a game hangs at the top for 96 frames before gravity starts, because
autorepeatYstarts at$A0(−96) and gravity waits until it counts up to 0; pressing Down ends the wait.VerifiedCelestialAmber/TetrisNESDisasm · Birken, "Applying AI to Nintendo Tetris"How we know
94INITIAL_AUTOREPEAT_Y := $A0constants.asm line 94 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 1239 lda #INITIAL_AUTOREPEAT_Y 1240 sta player1_autorepeatY
main.asm lines 1239–1240 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ 1530drop_tetrimino: 1531 lda autorepeatY 1532 bpl @notBeginningOfGame 1533 lda newlyPressedButtons 1534 and #BUTTON_DOWN 1535 beq @incrementAutorepeatY
main.asm lines 1530–1537 at 94581c0 · upstream ↗ The first spawned piece has an opening entry delay of 96 frames. A soft drop will cancel it, but shifting and rotating won’t.
Gamepad Version · archived copy ↗ Measured by a script in MesenCE 2.2.1 (build 4b8a196), on . It fails if the result disagrees with the claim.
The numbers come from the run; its author, an AI model, checked the script measures what the claim says, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abcIn a one-player game each new pill waits for Mario's throw:
action_sendPillsteps the pill along a table of 21 positions, once a frame at Med and Hi and on every other frame at Low, and puts it in the bottle when the table ends. In a two-player game the pill goes straight to the bottle.CodeNostaljipi/dr-mario-disassemblyHow we know
3546 lda nbPlayers 3547 cmp #$01 3548 beq @checkFrame_pillThrown 3549 jmp @pillThrown_toField ⋮ 3551 lda currentP_speedSetting ⋮ 3560 lda frameCounter 3561 and #spr_mario_throw_speed_low ;On Low speed setting, pill rotates only every other frame 3562 beq @exit_action_sendPill
prg/drmario_prg_game_logic.asm lines 3546–3562 at ecb9899 · upstream ↗ 3564 inc pillThrownFrame ⋮ 3566 lda pillThrownAnim_XPos,X 3567 cmp #$FF ;This value ends the anim 3568 beq @pillThrown_toField 3569 and #$F0 ;These values mean we update Mario's sprite anim, not just the pill ⋮ 3573 lda pillThrownAnim_XPos,X ⋮ 3576 jmp @incFrame_pillThrown
prg/drmario_prg_game_logic.asm lines 3564–3576 at ecb9899 · upstream ↗ 482pillThrownAnim_XPos: 483.db $BE,$F1,$BE,$BC,$B8,$B4,$F2,$B0 484.db $AC,$A8,$A4,$A0,$9E,$98,$94,$90 485.db $8C,$88,$84,$80,$7C,$7A,$78,$F0 486.db $78 487.db $FF ;End of data
data/drmario_data_game.asm lines 482–487 at ecb9899 · upstream ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-21.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^"ARE" is not an acronym; it comes from あれ ("are", "that"), the word Japanese players used for the pause.WikiTetris Wiki, “ARE”revised
How we know
ARE is a word of Japanese origin, and though it looks like an acronym, it does not stand for anything. … Japanese players originally referred to this in-between time using the word "あれ" as there was no good word to describe it.
Word origin · archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^The Tetris Wiki associates entry delay with Japanese games, most of them influenced by Sega's 1988 arcade Tetris.WikiTetris Wiki, “ARE”
How we know
ARE is a feature often seen in Japanese games, most of them influenced by Sega's early 1988 arcade version.
lead · archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
Sources
Code
- (CelestialAmber), Amber Brault and contributors. 2024. “TetrisNESDisasm: a disassembly of Tetris (NES).” Commit 94581c0. CelestialAmber/TetrisNESDisasm @ 94581c0 · licence, all uses
- Nostaljipi. 2021. “Dr. Mario (NES) Disassembly.” Commit ecb9899. Nostaljipi/dr-mario-disassembly @ ecb9899 · licence, all uses
Secondary
- Tetris Wiki contributors. 2023. “ARE.” Tetris Wiki. original · archived · licence, all uses
- Tetris Wiki contributors. 2024. “Tetris (NES, Nintendo).” Tetris Wiki. original · archived · licence, all uses
- Birken, Michael. 2014. “Applying Artificial Intelligence to Nintendo Tetris.” original · archived · licence, all uses