How to play Blocks

Blocks is the odd one out on this site: not a logic puzzle with one answer, but a block puzzle you play for a score. There's no clock and no falling — take as long as you like over every move.

The rules

• The board is 9×9, divided into nine 3×3 boxes like a Sudoku grid.
• You're given three pieces at a time. Drag each one onto any empty space where it fits.
• Pieces can't be rotated or flipped. Each one goes on the board the way it's shown.
• When a row, a column or a 3×3 box is completely filled, it clears and those cells are free again.
• Once you've placed all three pieces, you get three new ones.
• The run ends when none of the pieces you're holding fits anywhere on the board.

Scoring

• Every cell you place is worth 1 point.
• Each clear is worth much more, and clearing several at once is worth more again: one row, column or box scores 10, two at once score 40, three at once 90. It's ten times the square of how many cleared.
• Clear on several moves in a row and you build a streak: each clearing move after the first in a streak earns 10 extra points per move already in it. Any move that clears nothing ends the streak.

Points for cells add up slowly. The big scores come from clearing, and especially from clearing several things at once. The strategy guide covers how to set those up.

Placing pieces here

• Drag a piece from the tray onto the board. A blue preview shows where it will land; red means it doesn't fit there.
• Or tap a piece, then tap the cell for its top-left corner.
• On a keyboard: 1–3 pick a piece, arrow keys move, Enter places it.

There's no undo in Blocks and no hints. Every placement is final, which is what makes a high score mean something.

Today's run

Each day there's one shared run: everyone gets the same pieces in the same order, so scores compare fairly between friends. Your first run of the day is your score for the day. After that you can start as many new runs as you like, each with a fresh sequence of pieces, just for the fun of it.