How to play Blocker Rush: rules, solving tips and daily strategy

The nine pieces

You always get the same nine pieces. Learning them is the first step to solving faster.

• Dot: a single square.
• Twin: two squares in a row.
• Line: three in a row.
• Kite: three squares in an L.
• Long Line: four in a row.
• Square: a 2×2 block.
• Spire: four squares in an L.
• Fork: four squares in a T.
• Shift: four squares in an S or Z.

That's 1 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 × 5 = 29 squares, exactly the space on the board. Every piece can be rotated and flipped. On a phone, drag pieces onto the board and use the Rotate and Flip buttons; with a keyboard, D and S rotate and F flips.

How difficulty works

Every board has been checked with a solver, so every puzzle has at least one solution. Difficulty is measured by how many different solutions a board has: the fewer there are, the harder it is to find one.

• Easy: 51 or more solutions. Sunday and Monday.
• Medium: 11 to 50 solutions. Tuesday and Wednesday.
• Hard: 4 to 10 solutions. Thursday and Friday.
• Insane: only 1 to 3 solutions. Saturday.

So the week ramps up like a crossword: a gentle start, a tough Friday and a brutal Saturday.

A way to solve any board

Blocker Rush rewards a bit of method. Here's an order of attack that works on most boards:

1. Look for the tight spots first. Corners, edges next to a blocker, and single squares boxed in on three sides can only be filled by a few pieces. Fill those before the open space.
2. Find squares only the Dot can fill. A square with blockers or edges on all four sides can only take the Dot. If you see one, you've placed your first piece. If you see two, something else must be wrong.
3. Place the awkward pieces early. The Long Line, Square, Shift and Fork need a lot of room in a particular shape. The Dot, Twin and Kite are flexible fillers. Save the flexible ones for last.
4. Count the gaps. After each placement, look at every empty region. A region of 2 squares needs the Twin; a region of 3 needs the Line or the Kite. A region of a size no remaining pieces can add up to is a dead end, so undo straight away.
5. Undo freely. Pick a piece back up the moment you see a dead end. The timer is the only cost.

Stuck? The Hint button suggests your next placement from the board as it is, or tells you which piece to take back if you've gone down a dead end. Hints are counted in your result, so you can be honest about it when you share.

The daily puzzle, streaks and sharing

The daily puzzle unlocks at midnight in your own time zone. Solve it to keep your streak going. Your moves and time are saved as you go, so you can close the tab and come back later.

When you finish, share your result as text: the day, the difficulty, your time, moves and hints, without giving away the solution. Missed a day? The daily archive has every past puzzle. Archive puzzles have their own timer and don't change your streak.

If you sign in with a free Thorstein Games account, your streak and history follow you to your other devices. Without one, a transfer link moves your progress from one device to another.

Racing friends in multiplayer

Multiplayer is a race. Up to eight players join a room, and everyone gets the same boards at the same time. The host picks one to three rounds and a difficulty for each one.

Players are ranked by how many rounds they finished, then by how fast. You can see where everyone else is as you race. Try a first round on easy to warm up, then a hard one to separate the field.

Casual mode is the place to practise: pick a difficulty and play as many puzzles as you like. Each casual puzzle has its own link, so you can send a friend the exact board you just beat.

Questions