How to play Blockbout
Blockbout is a head-to-head block puzzle. You and your opponent get the same pieces in the same order on separate 8×8 boards, and one shared 90-second clock. Fill lines to clear them and score; when the clock runs out, the higher score takes the bout.
The rules
- Drag pieces from your tray of three onto your 8×8 board. Pieces place exactly as dealt — they never rotate.
- Fill a complete row or a complete column to clear it and score. Clearing several lines with one drop scores each of them.
- When all three tray pieces are placed, three new ones are dealt. Both players draw from the same shuffled sequence, so luck is even.
- If none of your remaining pieces fits anywhere, you are busted: your score freezes and you spectate while your opponent plays to the clock. A single bust never ends the bout early — your frozen score can still win. Only if both players bust does the bout end at once, since nothing can change the result.
Scoring and combos
Every cleared line pays points, multiplied by your combo. The combo grows with every clear and never resets during a bout — placing a piece without clearing is just a gap, and your next clear still chains. So every clear you bank early raises what every later clear pays.
The pieces
There are 31 piece shapes: single blocks, bars from two to five cells long (in both directions), the 2×2 and 3×3 squares, corners, L-, S- and T-shapes with their mirrored twins, the diagonal two- and three-cell pieces, and the upside-down and rotated variants of the corners, tees, S/Z and Ls. Diagonal pieces can never complete a line by themselves — plan around them. Both players always draw from the same shape set, so a bout is never uneven.
Tips for your first bouts
- Keep a lane open for the long bars. A 5-cell bar with no room is the most common way to bust.
- Columns clear too. New players fixate on rows and paint themselves into vertical corners.
- Watch the mini-board. If your opponent is one line from busting, safe play beats greedy play.
- Speed matters more than perfection: 90 seconds rewards constant clearing, not the perfect setup.
Ways to play
Press PLAY for a quick match against another player, or create a private room and share the five-letter code or invite link to play a friend. It runs in any modern browser at play.blockbout.com and on Android via the direct APK — free, no ads, no account.