How to Play Block Puzzle
Three shapes are offered under a 10 × 10 grid. Place each one on empty cells — they are never rotated and nothing ever falls — and any row or column you complete clears immediately. Score one point per cell and 5n(n+1) for clearing n lines at once. When all three shapes have been used, three more arrive. The game ends when no shape still on offer fits anywhere on the board.
The rules, step by step
- 1Look at the three shapesThree shapes are offered under the grid. You may place them in any order you like, and a slot stays empty once its shape is used.
- 2Place a shape on empty cellsDrag it onto the grid, or tap it and then tap the target. Every cell of the shape must land inside the grid on a square that is empty; shapes are never rotated or flipped.
- 3Full rows and columns clearThe moment a placement completes a row or a column it clears, and every completed line goes at the same time — a row and a column crossing each other both count.
- 4Score cells, then linesOne point per cell placed, plus 5n(n+1) for clearing n lines with a single placement: 10, 30, 60, 100, 150, 210. Emptying the board pays a further 100.
- 5Three more only when all three are goneThe tray refills only after every one of its shapes has been placed, so the third shape is never a fresh start — check it still fits before you commit the other two.
- 6The game ends when nothing fitsIf no shape still on offer has a single legal position anywhere on the board, the game is over and your score is final. Par is 600 points.
Try it — the rules above, running
New board deals a fresh numbered board, Undo takes back your last placement, and Hint picks out the strongest placement on offer and says why — it costs nothing. The three-dot menu holds Replay this board, which runs the identical sequence of shapes again, and today’s shared board.
Your statistics
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
- Best score
- 0
A game counts as a win at 600 points. Your best score counts every game, win or not, and all of it stays on this device.
This board
- Cells filled
- 0 of 100
- Lines one away
- 0
- Shapes on offer
- 3
- Biggest combo
- 0
27 shapes can be dealt and none of them rotates, so every orientation is its own shape in the bag.
Keyboard
- 1 2 3
- Pick up that shape
- Arrows
- Aim at a square
- Enter
- Place the shape there
- Esc
- Put the shape back
- U
- Undo the last placement
- H
- Hint
- F
- Full screen
What are the rules of block puzzle?
- 1Pick one of the three shapesOrder is entirely yours. Nothing is forced, nothing expires, and a shape you skip is still there next turn.
- 2Find a place where every cell fitsAll of the shape's cells must land inside the grid on empty squares. A shape that overlaps anything, or hangs over an edge, simply will not go down.
- 3Watch for completed linesAny row or column that is full after the shape lands clears at once, and several clearing together is worth more than the same lines clearing one by one.
- 4Use all three before the tray refillsThree more shapes arrive only when the tray is empty, so the last shape has to fit on the board the first two have left you.
- 5Play on until nothing fitsThere is no other end condition — no timer, no lives, no target you must hit. Par is 600 points, and the board is over when no remaining shape has a legal square anywhere.
How do you place a shape with a mouse, a finger or the keyboard?
| Action | Mouse or finger | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a shape | Tap it in the tray | 1, 2 or 3 |
| Aim it | Drag over the grid | Arrow keys |
| Place it | Let go, or tap the square | Enter or Space |
| Change your mind | Release off the board | Escape |
| Take a placement back | Undo on the bar | U |
| Ask for a suggestion | Hint on the bar | H |
The square you point at is the shape's top-left corner, so the shape grows down and to the right of your finger rather than hiding underneath it. Aim near the right or bottom edge and the preview slides back inside the grid rather than refusing — what the preview shows is always exactly what lands.
How does the scoring work, line by line?
- Cells — one point each, so a five-long line pays 5 and the big square pays 9.
- One line — 10 points, whether it is a row or a column.
- Two at once — 30, which is worth three separate single clears.
- Three at once — 60. Four — 100. Five — 150. Six — 210, the most any one placement can pay for lines.
- Emptying the grid — 100 more on top, which with a nine-cell square clearing six lines makes 319, the biggest single move in the game.
What do you do when the board starts to fill up?
Stop thinking about points and start thinking about the widest gap you own. The shapes that kill a board are the long ones and the big square, and both need a clean straight run — so the question at 70% full is not "where does this fit" but "what will still fit after it". Clearing a line you could have saved for later is almost never a mistake at this stage; leaving a five-cell channel intact almost always is.
If you genuinely cannot see a move, the hint will find the best one on offer: it clears the most lines it can, and failing that it takes the placement that seals off the fewest single squares and packs tightest against what is already there. It never lies about the board, and it takes nothing off your score.
How do you win more often?
- Keep a clear row and a clear column as your drainThe grid has 20 clearable lines and you only ever need one of them to survive a bad tray. A board with an untouched row and an untouched column always has somewhere for a five-long line to go; a board that is evenly half-full in every direction frequently has nowhere at all.
- Play the nine-cell square the moment it appearsIt shows up in about one tray in nine and it needs a clean 3 × 3 gap. On an empty board it has 64 legal homes. The first time a board is half full that number is down to a median of 4, and on 23 boards in 200 it is already zero — the tray that kills you is usually the one that offered the big square when you had nowhere left to put it.
- Never seal off a single squareA one-cell hole with four filled sides can only ever be filled by the single block, which is one shape out of 27 — and only 6,386 of 60,000 measured trays held one, 10.6%. That square is effectively dead, and it takes a row and a column down with it.
- Set up crossings, not linesTwo separate single clears pay 20. The same two lines cleared together pay 30, and three together pay 60 rather than 30. Aim to leave the last gap of a row and the last gap of a column on the same square, then fill it with one block.
- Count the whole tray before you place the first shapeShapes only refill when all three are used, so the third one has to fit on the board the first two leave behind. Placing a five-long line across the one row that was going to hold the other five-long line is the commonest way to lose a board that was not in trouble.
- Build from the edges inA shape packed against the rim or against existing blocks wastes no space behind it. Loose pieces dropped in the middle cut the open area into pockets, and pockets are what turn a board that is 60% empty into a board where the big square has no home.
Common questions about block puzzle
- Do the shapes fall from the top in block puzzle?
- No. Nothing falls and nothing moves once placed. You put each shape exactly where you want it and it stays there until the row or column it is in clears.
- Can you place shapes in any order?
- Yes, any of the three at any time. The tray only refills once all three have gone, which is what makes the order worth thinking about: the third shape has to fit on whatever the first two leave.
- Is block puzzle solvable forever?
- No. Shapes are dealt at random from a bag of 27, so a run of awkward trays can finish any board eventually. Good play is about how long you last and how many lines you clear on the way, not about surviving indefinitely.
- Does the hint cost anything in block puzzle?
- No. It suggests the strongest placement it can find among the shapes on offer and costs you nothing at all — the score you finish with is the score you played for.
Ready to stop reading? Play block puzzle on the full board, with controls and statistics tailored to that game.