How do you place pieces in blast?
Drag a piece from the tray under the board and let go over the spot you want; it snaps to the nearest cells. On a phone the piece floats a little above your finger so you can see where it lands. A piece that does not fit slides back to its slot. On a keyboard, press 1, 2 or 3 to pick a piece, move it with the arrows, Enter places it and Escape puts it back.
How do you clear lines?
Fill every cell of a row or a column and it clears. Rows and columns clear at the same time, so one piece can finish several lines at once. A line that is about to clear glows while you hold a piece over the spot that would finish it.
How do combos work?
Every placement that clears at least one line adds one to the combo. Each step multiplies the clear by half again, so a combo of 3 doubles it. Three placements in a row without a clear reset the combo to zero.
What do bomb blocks do?
A bomb block looks like a normal block with a small bomb on it. When a line containing it clears, it also clears the 3 by 3 square around it, and any bomb caught in that square goes off too. Every extra cell a bomb destroys is worth 5 points before the combo.
What is a perfect clear?
If a clear leaves the board completely empty, you get a 300 point perfect bonus on top of the clear.
What are the grey rocks?
On hard the board starts with five rocks already on it. They have a pitted texture so you can tell them from blocks. Rocks count as filled cells, so they clear with any line that runs through them, and a bomb can break them too.
What changes between easy, medium and hard?
Easy deals mostly small pieces and guarantees every new hand has a piece that fits. Medium deals every shape with no guarantee. Hard deals big awkward pieces more often and starts with five rocks on the board. Bombs show up most on easy and least on hard.
How does the daily board work?
The daily board deals the same pieces in the same order to everyone for that UTC day and difficulty. Your first game each day is the one that counts for the daily leaderboard; play it again and it is marked as practice.
How is the score worked out?
Each piece scores 1 point per block. Clearing lines at once scores 100 for one, 300 for two, 600 for three and 1,000 for four, rising to 2,800 for seven or more. Add 5 for each extra cell a bomb destroys, then multiply by 1 plus half a point for each combo step after the first. A perfect clear adds 300.