How to play Block Drop

A complete guide: the rules, the pieces, the controls on a phone and on a computer, how scoring works in this version, and the habits that keep the stack low.

The rules

1. Pieces fall on their own. Each piece drops one row at a time. You can move it left and right, rotate it, speed it up, or drop it straight to the bottom.
2. A piece that lands locks. When it rests on the floor or on the stack, it waits half a second - long enough to slide it into a gap - and then becomes part of the stack. Moving or rotating it restarts that wait a limited number of times.
3. Full rows clear. Any row with no gaps vanishes, and the rows above it move down. One piece can clear up to four rows at once.
4. The game ends at the top. If a piece locks above the well, or a new piece has no room to appear, the game is over.

The seven pieces

Every piece is made of four squares, and there are exactly seven ways to join them. Players usually name them by the letter they resemble:

• I - the long bar, four in a row. The only piece that clears four lines at once.
• O - the square. It does not change when rotated.
• T - three in a row with one in the middle below. The most flexible piece.
• J and L - three in a row with one hooked at either end; mirror images.
• S and Z - two offset pairs; mirror images, and the hardest to place flat.

Pieces arrive in shuffled sets of seven: every set contains each piece once. That means you never wait more than twelve pieces for a long bar, and you never get a long run of S and Z.

Controls

On a phone or tablet - gestures on the well

• Tap to rotate clockwise.
• Drag sideways to move: the piece follows your finger one column per cell.
• Drag down slowly to soft drop, one row at a time.
• Flick down to hard drop the piece to the bottom.
• Flick up to put the piece on hold.

On a phone or tablet - buttons

• Left thumb: ◀ ▼ ▶ move and soft drop. Holding ◀ or ▶ slides the piece across the well.
• Right thumb: the large button rotates clockwise.
• Top row: Hold, Drop (hard drop) and rotate anticlockwise.
• The side panel's pause button stops the game; tapping the Hold box also holds.

The buttons respond the moment you touch them, not when you lift your finger, and the whole layout sizes itself so the well and the buttons fit on one screen.

On a computer

Hold, next and ghost

• Next shows the three pieces that follow, so you can plan ahead.
• Hold puts the current piece aside and brings in the next one - or swaps it with the piece you held earlier. You can hold once per piece; the box dims until the next piece arrives.
• Ghost - the outlined copy at the bottom of the well - shows exactly where the piece will land.

Rotation and wall kicks

Pieces rotate the standard way, around a fixed centre, and with wall kicks: if a rotation would push the piece into a wall or into the stack, the game tries a few nearby positions and uses the first one that fits. That is why a piece against the wall still turns, and why a T can be twisted into a slot that looks too tight.

Difficulty levels, stages and points

The level sets how fast pieces fall at the start. Every ten lines you move up a stage and the fall speeds up by about fifteen percent, on every level.

Points are added the moment rows clear, so a game that ends still keeps everything it earned. Four lines with one bar are worth eight singles' worth of points for the price of four rows - the reason good players build for them.

Strategy

1. Keep the stack flat

A flat surface accepts every piece; a jagged one accepts only a few. Before placing a piece, look at what the surface will look like after it lands, not just whether the piece fits.

2. Leave one well for the long bar

Build up the other nine columns evenly and keep one column - usually at the edge - empty. When an I piece comes, drop it in for four lines at once. Glance at the next queue so you know when one is on its way.

3. Avoid covered holes

A gap with a block over it cannot be filled until the rows above it are cleared. One covered hole costs a lot more than a slightly uneven surface, so take the uneven surface.

4. Use hold as a spare

Hold is most useful when it contains a piece that fits almost anywhere - a T or an I. Park it there and swap it in when the next piece has nowhere good to go.

5. Hard drop when you are sure

Once the ghost is where you want the piece, drop it. Waiting for it to fall only uses up time you will need later, when the pieces are faster.

6. Use the lock delay

A piece that has landed can still slide sideways for half a second. That is how you tuck a piece under an overhang: soft drop it to the bottom, then slide it in before it locks.

Frequently asked questions

Is this game free?

Yes. Every level is free, with no account and no purchase. The site is paid for by the advertising described in our Privacy Policy.

Does it work on a phone?

That is what it was built for. Use gestures on the well or the on-screen buttons; the well and the buttons fit on one screen and the page does not scroll while you play.

Can I pause the game?

Yes - the pause button in the side panel, or P on a keyboard. The game also pauses by itself when you switch to another tab or app.

Is my progress saved?

Yes. The game in progress, your total points, games played, lines cleared and your best score on each level are kept in your browser's local storage. Close the tab and the game is waiting, paused, when you come back. Clearing your browser data or playing in private mode erases it.

Why did the piece turn and move sideways at the same time?

That is a wall kick: the plain rotation did not fit, so the game used the nearest position that did.

Is there an end?

No. The pieces keep coming and keep getting faster until the stack reaches the top. The score is a personal counter, not a ranking, and has no monetary value.

Further reading

• Block Drop: the 7-bag, hold and lock delay explained

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