Block Puzzle rules: how to play and score
Block Puzzle is a one-player game on a 10×10 grid: you place pieces of different shapes on the grid, and every row or column you fill completely is cleared. The game ends when none of your pieces fits. This page covers placing pieces, clearing lines, exactly how points, combos and perfect clears are scored in EU Studio's Block Puzzle, and its five modes.
How a turn works
- 1.The grid starts empty, with three pieces waiting below it.
- 2.Drag one of the pieces onto the grid. It must lie entirely on empty squares inside the grid. Pieces cannot be rotated or flipped.
- 3.When a row or a column is completely filled, it is cleared and its squares become empty again. Several lines can clear at once, rows and columns together. A square where a full row and a full column cross is removed once, but both lines count.
- 4.Place all three pieces, in any order you like. Then you get three new ones.
The pieces
There are 48 shapes: single squares, dominoes, straight lines of three, four and five, short diagonals, 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 squares, 2 × 3 rectangles, corners, L, J, T, S and Z shapes, a plus, U shapes and a few large, awkward ones. Each shape comes in a fixed direction, so an L pointing left and an L pointing right are two different pieces.
Every new set of three is checked against the board before you get it. If none of the three would fit anywhere, the set is dealt again.
When the game ends
The game ends when none of the pieces you have left fits anywhere on the grid. You do not have to use them in order, so one piece that does not fit is not the end as long as another one does.
Scoring
Every placement is scored on its own, and the points add up:
- 1 point for each square of the piece you place.
- Points for the lines the placement clears:
| Lines cleared at once | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 250 |
| 3 | 500 |
| 4 | 1,000 |
| 5 or more | 1,000 plus 500 for each line above four |
- Combo: placements that clear at least one line, one after another, build a combo, shown as Combo x2 to Combo x5. The combo adds a bonus on top of the line points: +50 % at x2, +100 % at x3, +150 % at x4 and +200 % at x5 and beyond. A placement that clears nothing ends the combo.
- Perfect clear: if a clear leaves the grid completely empty, you get 2,000 points more. This bonus is not multiplied by the combo.
An example: a piece of three squares clears two lines, on the third clearing placement in a row (x3). That is 3 + 250 + 250 = 503 points.
Modes
- Classic: play until nothing fits. Counts towards your high score.
- Daily Challenge: every player starts from the same seed that day, which changes at your local midnight. It has no continue, and without Premium the game-over screen offers no Play again for it.
- Zen: no points and no game over. When nothing fits, you get three new pieces; if even they do not fit, the fullest row is emptied.
- Timed: three minutes on the clock. The game ends when the time runs out or nothing fits. The score does not count towards your high score.
- Hardcore: the same rules with harder pieces. Small, easy pieces come far less often, and awkward shapes more often. Counts towards your high score.
Once per game, except in the Daily Challenge, you can continue after the game has ended by watching an ad; with Premium there is no ad. Up to four of the fullest rows are emptied until a piece fits again. The emptied rows give no points.
Tips
- Keep the grid open. Avoid leaving single empty squares that only a single square can fill.
- Keep room for the big pieces: a 3 × 3 square and a line of five need space that is hard to make at short notice.
- Clear several lines at once when you can. Two lines at once pay 250, two lines one at a time 200.
- Keep a combo going. A clear on every placement multiplies the line points.
- Place the piece that is hardest to fit first, while there is still room for it.
Questions about the rules
- Can you rotate the pieces in Block Puzzle?
- No. Every piece is placed exactly as it is shown. Shapes that point in different directions are separate pieces.
- Do I have to place all three pieces before I get new ones?
- Yes. New pieces arrive only when all three have been placed, but you choose the order.
- What happens when a row and a column fill at the same time?
- Both clear, and both count as lines: two lines at once are worth 250 points. The square where they cross is removed once.
- How does the combo work?
- Every placement that clears a line right after another clearing placement raises the combo, from x2 up to x5. It adds 50 % to 200 % to the line points, and ends as soon as a placement clears nothing.
- What is a perfect clear?
- A clear that leaves the whole grid empty. In EU Studio's Block Puzzle it is worth 2,000 extra points.
