Double Perimeter Defense Formation(4x4)

A DPDF drill to practice the final 1024 before 65536

Double Perimeter Defense Formation, or DPDF, is one of the oldest non-snake formations that is played. Traditionally, it is played with 3 small tiles forming one "perimeter", with a 2x3 block of larger tiles under, and the tiles on the outside forming the second perimeter.

Traditional DPDF (Minsker Formation)

Named after ptminsker, the Minsker Formation starts immediately before a merge to two main tiles in the DPDF space. An example for a 32k endgame is:

4   2   2   _
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16

From here (assuming all 2 spawns), the player can go LLRLUUULUDULURD to set up a very clean formation for the final 128:

4   4   2   _
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16

8   2   2   _
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16

2   _   8   4
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16

2   8   4   2
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16

2   8   4   2
256 64  32  16
2k  1k  512 16
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   2
256 64  32  32
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   2
256 64  32  32
2k  1k  512 4
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   2
256 64  64  2
2k  1k  512 4
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   4
256 64  64  4
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   2
256 64  64  _
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  4

2   8   4   2
256 64  64  8
2k  1k  512 4
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   2
256 128 8   2
2k  1k  512 4
16k 8k  4k  2

2   8   4   4
256 128 8   4
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  2

2   2   8   8
256 128 8   4
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  2

2   2   2   _
256 128 16  8
2k  1k  512 4
16k 8k  4k  4

Some key variations with 4 spawns include:

2   8   4   4
256 64  32  8
2k  1k  512 8
16k 8k  4k  16 |  RRDLL

2   8   4   4
256 64  64  4
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  4  |  LULD

2   8   4   4
256 128 8   4
2k  1k  512 2
16k 8k  4k  4  |  LLRRDLD

Minsker formation loses about 1.5% accuracy over optimal play. However, it is a very straightforward and intuitive setup without loads of different variations that the player must learn, so it is still often taught to players who are new to learning DPDF.

Modern DPDF (Eners Merge)

[TODO]

DPDF in variants

[TODO]

See also

Gap, a superior , snake-like formation where the player builds into the 1x2 gap next to the main DPDF block.