Block Stack

Rotate, drop and clear the lines

Block Stack is a falling block puzzle played in a well ten cells wide and twenty cells deep. Pieces made of four squares drift down from the top in seven different shapes, and your job is to rotate and slide each one into place so that it completes a horizontal row. Fill a row from wall to wall and it vanishes, everything above it drops by one, and the space you were about to run out of comes back. The round ends when a new piece has nowhere to appear.

Scoring deliberately rewards patience. Clearing one row is worth a hundred points multiplied by your level, but clearing four at once is worth eight hundred, eight times as much, so the game quietly teaches you to build up rather than cash in early. Every ten rows pushes you up a level and pieces fall faster, from a gentle eight hundred milliseconds per row down to a brisk ninety. A soft drop earns one point per row of travel and a hard drop earns two, so decisive placement pays as well.

The next piece is always visible in the panel on the left, which is what turns this from a reaction game into a planning game, and a faint ghost outline shows exactly where the current piece would land if you dropped it now. On a desktop, use the arrow keys or WASD to move and rotate, Space to slam a piece home, and P to pause. On a phone or tablet, the buttons down the right hand side cover the same moves, and the whole thing fits a landscape screen without zooming.

Everything runs in a single self contained page with no download, no account and no upload. Your best score is kept in your own browser storage on this device and shown again whenever you beat it or fall short. There is no timer counting down and no opponent, so you can play a two minute round or settle in for a long one at whatever pace suits you.

How to play

Pieces fall one at a time into a well ten cells wide and twenty cells deep.
Move each piece sideways and rotate it so it settles into the gaps left by earlier pieces.
Complete a horizontal row from wall to wall and it clears, dropping everything above it down by one.
Every ten rows cleared raises the level, and pieces fall faster.
The round ends when a new piece has no room to appear at the top.

Controls

Arrow keys or A and D: move the piece left and right
Up arrow, W or X: rotate clockwise; Z rotates counter clockwise
Down arrow or S: soft drop, worth one point per row
Space: hard drop straight to the landing spot, worth two points per row
P or Escape: pause and resume; on touch devices use the buttons on the right

Tips

Four rows at once scores eight times a single row. Leave one column empty and save the long piece to cash it in.
Watch the next piece in the left panel before you commit. The current piece is rarely your best option on its own.
Avoid leaving holes. A single empty cell with blocks on top of it is very hard to fill later and will cost you the round.
A hard drop scores two points per row and removes all doubt about where the piece lands, so use it once you are sure.

Frequently asked questions

Is Block Stack free to play?

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser with no cost, no account and nothing to download.

How does the scoring work?

Clearing one row scores a hundred points times your level, two rows three hundred, three rows five hundred and four rows eight hundred. Soft drops add one point per row of travel and hard drops add two.

Can I play on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Turn your device sideways and use the on screen buttons to the right of the well to move, rotate, soft drop and hard drop. The board, scoring and speed progression are identical to the desktop version.

What makes the pieces speed up?

Every ten rows you clear raises your level by one, and each level shortens the interval between automatic drops. It starts at eight hundred milliseconds per row and bottoms out at ninety, so it never becomes impossible.