Fair Warning: this post is about 4 years old, so some of the information might be a bit dated. On the other hand, this post was last modified about 4 years ago, so maybe it's up-to-date after all. In any case, please keep all this in mind while reading. Thanks for understanding!
A Quick Diversion:  

The Actual News:

Every so often, Tetris 99 for the Nintendo Switch holds a “Maximus Cup” event. Sometimes you can win money if you rank high enough, but most of the time you can earn a gameplay theme based on another game that’s being promoted. And so the prize for this 17th Maximus Cup will be the latter: with The Crown Tundra—the second DLC for Pokémon Sword/Shield—being released in just a few days (October 22, 2020!! HUZZAH!!), Tetris 99 is giving out a Pokémon-themed… uh… theme. Take a look!

But, you can’t just GET the theme just by logging in… you have to earn it! And you earn it by simply earning 50 event points while playing in Tetris 99 mode. Eazy-peazy, lemon squeezy, right?

OK but, what if you suck at Tetris? How hard is it to actually get 50 points? I mean, unless you’re REALLY AWFUL at Tetris—but even then—it shouldn’t take that much effort to pull off. The thing is, the amount of points you earn is based on how you place in the final ranking. Specifically:

  • 1st: 100 pts
  • 2nd: 50 pts
  • 3rd: 30 pts
  • 4th – 10th: 20 pts
  • 11th – 30th: 15 pts
  • 31nd – 50th: 10 pts
  • 51rd – 90th: 5 pts
  • 91th – 99th: 1 pts

See? So even if you really ARE extremely terrible at Tetris, you only need to play at most 50 games in order to get your theme. And seeing as you have all weekend to get the 50 points—specifically four days between 10/16 12:00 am PST and 10/19 11:59 pm PST—that should take no time at all. I mean… that’s, what… 96 hours? All you need to do is play—and suck at—one game every 1.92 hours (that’s 1 hour 55 mins for you metric folk), and you’re home free!

And better yet, after 50 points, that’s it! You don’t really need to play it anymore, because there is nothing left to win after 50 points. Er, other than bragging rights. But hey, I’m above such egocentric gloating… my 130 points is just way too awesome that it speaks for me.

OK but, what if you don’t really want the theme, but you want to see what happens when someone earns the necessary 50 points to earn the theme? Fret not, your Good Ol’ Uncle Nick15 is here to help you out; I managed to get the theme in a single first place win. Take a look!

Er… here’s part two. Dagnabbid 30 second limit on video captures on the Switch… I need to set up a proper Twitch account soon.

And finally, if you want to see the theme in action, like how it utilizes all the various Pokémon music and sound effects, I got another 30 second clip of gameplay action below.

And that’s all there is to it! Get 50 points, get a Pokémon theme. I mean, not that I needed an excuse to play Tetris anyways, but having a new theme (and a Pokémon one to boot) to customize my Tetris 99 gameplay is always nice to add. And I guess if/when I set up my Twitch account and stream my Tetris 99 gameplay, I’ll use the Pokémon theme… I mean, just in case you forget what channel you’re actually watching (psst, it’s Pokémon Aaah!, remember??)