What is Lock Delay?
When a piece lands on the stack or the floor, it does not lock immediately. Instead, a 500ms timer starts. During this time, you can still move and rotate the piece.
Lock Delay Resets
Every time you successfully move or rotate a grounded piece, the lock delay timer resets back to 500ms. This gives you time to reposition pieces in tight situations.
However, there is a maximum of 15 resets per piece. After 15 resets, the piece locks on the next timer expiration regardless of input.
Hard Drop
Pressing Hard Drop bypasses lock delay entirely and locks the piece instantly.
Strategy
- Use lock delay to slide pieces under overhangs
- Rotate pieces on the ground to stall while thinking
- Be aware of the 15-reset limit in high-gravity situations
- At high levels (20G), lock delay management becomes critical since pieces land instantly