Scoring and combos
The clear score grows with the square of the lines you take at once, and the combo multiplies all of it until you place something that clears nothing. Worked numbers.
Most players discover fairly quickly that their score does not track their effort. Two runs of similar length can differ by a factor of several, and it is not obvious why. The reason is that almost none of the score comes from the part of the game you spend your time on.
Below is the actual arithmetic, with worked examples. It is worth knowing exactly, because the difference between an average score and a good one is a handful of ordering decisions per hand.
Placing pieces pays almost nothing
When you place a piece, you score one point per cell placed. A single block is one point. A three-long bar is three. The three-by-three square, the largest piece in the game, is nine.
That is the whole of it. Over a long run, placement points add up to a modest number that is essentially a function of how many moves you survived. They are not a lever you can pull. If you are trying to improve your score, ignore them entirely.
The clear score is quadratic in lines
Here is the formula for what a clear pays: the number of lines cleared, multiplied by ten, multiplied by the number of lines again, multiplied by one plus half your combo. Written out: lines × 10 × lines × (1 + combo × 0.5).
The important part is that lines appears twice. Ignore the combo for a moment and set it to zero:
- One line at once: 1 × 10 × 1 = 10 points.
- Two lines at once: 2 × 10 × 2 = 40 points.
- Three lines at once: 3 × 10 × 3 = 90 points.
- Four lines at once: 4 × 10 × 4 = 160 points.
Two lines together pay four times what one line pays. Three pay nine times. This is the single most important fact about scoring in the game, and it means that the patience to set up a double is worth more than almost any other consideration.
Note that a row and a column clearing together counts as two lines, and the cell where they cross is only settled once. Since every cell you fill sits on both a row and a column, engineering a crossing clear is the most natural way to take two lines at a time.
The combo multiplies everything, and it is fragile
The combo counter rises by one on any placement that clears at least one line. It resets to zero the moment you place a piece that clears nothing. The value used in the score is the one after the increment, so the very first clear in a chain already carries a combo of one.
Each point of combo adds half again to the clear score. A combo of one means a multiplier of 1.5. A combo of two means 2.0. A combo of four means 3.0. There is no ceiling other than your ability to keep clearing on every single placement.
And that is the difficulty. The hand only refills when all three pieces are gone, so a chain of clears has to survive three placements at a time. One placement that clears nothing and the multiplier is back to zero.
A worked comparison
Take two ways of clearing four lines over four placements, and assume you start with a combo of zero in both cases.
First, one line on each of four consecutive placements. The combo goes to one, two, three, four as you go. The scores are 1 × 10 × 1 × 1.5 = 15, then × 2.0 = 20, then × 2.5 = 25, then × 3.0 = 30. Total: 90 points.
Second, a double clear on one placement, then a placement that clears nothing, then another double. The first double is 2 × 10 × 2 × 1.5 = 60. The dud placement resets the combo. The second double is 60 again. Total: 120 points.
Third, and this is the target: a double, then immediately another double, with nothing wasted in between. The first is 60, the second is 2 × 10 × 2 × 2.0 = 80. Total: 140 points, off the same four lines.
Same four lines, three different totals. Everything in that spread came from arrangement, not from luck.
This is why the order of the three pieces matters
You hold three pieces and choose the order. That choice is where scoring lives.
The question to ask is not "which of these three can clear a line" but "is there an ordering in which all three clear something". If there is, take it even when a different ordering would leave a tidier board. A broken combo costs more than an awkward corner does.
If no ordering keeps every placement clearing, the next question is where to spend the dud. Spend it first, while the combo is already zero, rather than in the middle of a chain. A dud placed first costs you nothing; the same placement made second costs you the multiplier on everything after it.
And if you are choosing between taking a single clear now or holding one move to set up a double, the numbers above say hold — as long as holding does not cost you a piece placement you cannot afford.
Energy, and when to spend it
Clears also fill an energy meter. The gain is the number of lines cleared multiplied by twelve, plus your combo multiplied by three. A placement that clears nothing gains no energy at all, and the meter is capped.
So a double clear at combo three gives 2 × 12 + 3 × 3 = 33. A single at combo zero gives 12. The same behaviour that scores well also banks energy quickly, which is convenient — you do not have to play two different games.
At full energy you can spend it once to wipe the entire board, including any ice. The important detail is that your combo counter survives the wipe. That makes the strongest possible sequence obvious: build a combo, and while it is still running, wipe. You come out with a completely empty board and a live multiplier, which is the best position the game offers.
The common error is saving energy for an emergency. By the time the board is genuinely desperate you have usually already lost the structure that would have let you convert an empty board into a long chain. Spend on congestion, not on panic.
What blast damage pays
Cells removed by a bomb, or by the full-board wipe, score a flat two points each. That is deliberately small. Those tools are for reclaiming space, not for scoring — the score comes back afterwards, from the clears the reclaimed space lets you make.
Frequently asked questions
How much more is a double clear worth than two singles?
At the same combo, a double is worth four times a single, because the line count is squared. Clearing two rows on one placement pays 40 base points against 10 for one row. Setting up a double is nearly always worth a move of patience.
What exactly breaks a combo?
Any placement that clears no line at all. It does not matter how large the piece was or how well it fitted — if nothing cleared, the counter drops to zero immediately. Because the hand refills only when all three pieces are gone, a chain has to survive in blocks of three placements.
Should I save my energy for an emergency?
Usually not. The better trigger is congestion rather than danger: use it when the board has gone patchy and no single clear will fix it, ideally while a combo is running, since the combo survives the wipe. Held too long, energy tends to be spent on a position that is already past saving.
Do points from placing pieces matter at all?
Barely. A placement pays one point per cell, so even the largest piece in the game is worth nine, against 40 for a routine double clear. Treat placement points as background noise and make every decision on the basis of clears.
Try it on a real board
Blockwood is a wood block puzzle on a nine-wide, twelve-tall board, with nothing falling and no dealt dead ends — every hand is checked against the board you actually have before it reaches you. Endless mode, timed mode, hand-built levels and a daily challenge. Free, offline, no ads and no account.