Block Drop

Tips for Block Drop

Block Drop rewards patience. A four-row clear scores eight hundred times your level, while four single rows add up to only four hundred, so it pays to build the stack flat and leave one column open at the side for the straight piece. When a straight piece arrives early, park it in the hold slot until the well is ready for it.

Use the tools the game gives you. The ghost outline shows exactly where a shape will land, so check it before every hard drop rather than guessing. Keep an eye on the next three shapes as well, and place the current one so the ones coming after it have a home. If a shape lands slightly wrong, the short grace period before it locks gives you time to slide it into place, and rotations near a wall nudge themselves clear, so you can turn pieces right up against the edge.

The common mistake is leaving holes under overhangs. Each one blocks a row until you dig it out, and the stack grows fast once the level rises every ten rows and the shapes start falling faster. If the hold slot has an awkward shape in it, use it while the stack is still low.

How to play Block Drop

In Block Drop you steer falling shapes into a well ten columns wide and twenty rows deep, and the aim is to score as many points as you can before the stack reaches the top. There are seven shapes, and they arrive one at a time. You move each one left or right, rotate it and choose where it lands. A soft drop speeds it up, and a hard drop sends it straight down to the spot the ghost outline shows.

When a row is filled all the way across, it disappears and everything above it moves down. One row scores 100, two rows 300, three rows 500 and four rows at once 800, and each score is multiplied by your level. Every ten rows you clear raise the level by one, and the shapes fall faster. The next three shapes are always on screen, and the hold slot lets you set one aside and bring it back later. A shape that lands has a short grace period before it locks, so you can still slide it. The game is over when the stack reaches the top of the well.

On a computer the arrow keys move and rotate, Space hard drops and C holds a piece. P pauses, M mutes and Space restarts after a game. On a phone or tablet you swipe to move, tap to rotate and swipe down to slam a shape, and there is an on-screen button row as well. Your best score is saved in your browser.

About Block Drop

Block Drop is a falling-blocks puzzle, one of the best-known formats in video games: shapes drop into a well one by one, and every row you complete is cleared. Kiloo's Block Drop is made by Kiloo and plays the way the arcade versions of the format do, with seven shapes, a ten-wide well and points that grow with your level.

It suits anyone who likes quick decisions and tidy planning. The rules take a minute to learn, and the rising speed keeps them interesting for much longer. The helpers make the game fair rather than easy: the ghost outline takes the guesswork out of a hard drop, the three-shape preview lets you plan ahead, the hold slot gives you a way out of an awkward shape, and the grace period and the forgiving rotation near walls mean a near miss can still be saved. The well shakes when you clear four rows at once, a game can last a few minutes or much longer, and it runs in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone with nothing to install.

Frequently asked questions