QUB3D

QUB3D (pronounced "cubed") is an arcade minigame in the HD Universe appearing in Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony and Grand Theft Auto V, however, it is non-interactive in the latter, with the exception of Grand Theft Auto Online, where it becomes available for purchase in the Arcades as of the Los Santos Summer Special update. In the HD Universe, it is developed by Pixtro.

Description
The primary goal of the game is to match up coloured blocks into groups of four or more before they fill up the box, similar to Puyo Puyo, except the blocks actually "tumble" down when positioned vertically, akin to a Slinky; as the player acquires a specific amount of points, the game moves up a level.

Initially, the game begins with only blue, green and red blocks. As the player progresses up the levels, however, the game slightly increases the falling speed of new blocks, as well as including more block colors:


 * Yellow blocks are introduced from level 5 onwards;
 * Purple blocks are introduced from level 10 onwards; and
 * Orange blocks are introduced from level 15 onwards.

To counter the increasing difficulty of the game, the player is given the option of acquiring special abilities by stacking 4 blocks of the same color to form the shape of a square-shaped grouping (2 blocks by 2 blocks); note such groups will not remove any neighboring blocks of the same color. By stacking four such groups, the "Power" bar will be filled, granting the player the ability to choose one of four "Special" tricks that aid gameplay. Each "Special" is marked by a different color and is triggered by a specific command:


 * The red "Special" removes the lowest four rows of blocks.
 * The green "Special" removes the middle two columns of blocks.
 * The blue "Special" allows the player to remove all blocks of any selected color in the box. The player must press the same button or key that activated this ability again to select a color.
 * The yellow "Special" momentarily stops the any new blocks from falling on its own, allowing the player to control its descent on their own accord.

A minor drawback to this feature is that the player can only hold a maximum of 3 choices of special abilities at a time.

Beating the developer's high score of 10,950 points earns the "King of QUB3D" achievement. The player must complete this for 100% completion.

Influences
The game itself appears to be based on classic arcade game Tetris, with of its emphasis on stacking blocks on top of previously placed ones. It also appears to be based on Puyo Puyo, with of its emphasis on stacking blocks of four.

Locations

 * Liberty City
 * Homebrew Cafe, Broker.
 * A back room in Perestroika, Broker.
 * Modo clothing store, Algonquin.
 * Yusuf's Penthouse, Algonquin. (Inaccessible, only seen in cutscenes.)
 * The Triangle Club, Northern Gardens, Bohan.
 * St. Mary's Community Project, Bohan. (Inaccessible, only seen in cutscenes.)


 * Alderney
 * The Lost MC Clubhouse (only in The Lost and Damned).

San Andreas
 * Unable to be played
 * Hung Drawn & Quarters, Del Perro Pier, Del Perro Beach.
 * Hookies, North Chumash.
 * Lifeinvader Office, Boulevard Del Perro, Dorset Drive.
 * Tequi-la-la.


 * Playable
 * Arcades (GTA Online: Optional purchase.)

Trivia

 * QUB3D shamelessly declares itself "THE PUZZLE GAME YOU'VE PLAYED BEFORE" in its main menu, alluding to the fact that puzzle games of the visual matching variety are all very similar.
 * Another possible reason for the tagline may be because of the potentially addictive nature of the game, implying that its players might end up playing it a lot.
 * During Mafiya Work in GTA IV's multiplayer, players may be tasked to destroy QUB3D arcade cabinets.
 * If you open the High Scores table, you can see some crude names such as "TIT", "ASS" and "COK".
 * One of the initials on the high scores scoring 10900 is LIJ, which would be the initials for Little Jacob. This is very likely because the Homebrew Café is one of his favorite hangouts.
 * You can hear the song of the game when passing in front of Videogeddon.
 * The game is actually rendered within the game's world: with high enough render distances, Liberty City can be seen in the background as the game takes place in the sky. The grid and blocks are also physics objects that can be spawned with trainers. The blocks are the size of a car's wheel.
 * The melody of the track has employed the Roland CR-68 drum machine.
 * The music can also be heard in Funland during the mission Departure Time.