Block Master Frequently Asked Questions
These answers describe the current product, including its local storage, published formulas, independent identity, and analyzer limits.
Is Block Master free to play?
Yes. The complete browser game, board analyzer, daily challenge, practice library, and strategy guides are free and require no account.
Do I need to download the game?
No. Block Master runs in a modern phone, tablet, or desktop browser. The current release does not claim verified offline support.
How do 3x3 box clears work?
All nine cells inside one outlined 3x3 box clear when the box becomes full. Rows, columns, and boxes completed by the same placement are detected together.
Does the analyzer guarantee the best move?
No. It ranks legal placements with a published flexibility heuristic. Future random pieces and every strategic objective are not exhaustively solved.
Where is my best score stored?
The best score is stored in local browser storage under a Block Master key. It is not attached to an account or sent to a public leaderboard.
How does scoring work?
Placed cells add one point each, completed units add 18 each, multi-clears add a quadratic bonus, and consecutive clearing turns add a visible streak bonus.
Is the daily puzzle the same for everyone?
Yes. The UTC date becomes the seed, so players using the same date receive the same deterministic piece order.
Can I rotate pieces?
No. Each piece must be played in the orientation shown in the tray. This makes orientation part of the visible planning constraint.
Is Block Master affiliated with another puzzle game?
No. It is an original independent browser project with its own code, visuals, rules presentation, scoring, analyzer, and authored positions.
Does playing improve cognition?
Block Master makes no medical, therapeutic, intelligence, or cognitive-improvement claim. It is a puzzle and learning tool for entertainment.
Are advertisements active now?
No publisher ID is included in the source. Advertising is activated only after configuration, review preparation, and any required consent controls.
How do I report a problem?
Use the Contact page to open a pre-addressed email with the page, device, and behavior you observed. Do not include sensitive personal information.
How the tools fit together
Use Play for a complete run, Analyzer for one recreated board, Daily for a shared UTC-seeded sequence, and Practice for repeated authored positions. All four surfaces share the same placement, clear, scoring, and health functions. A result should therefore mean the same thing wherever it appears.
The guides explain individual decisions in more depth. Rules cover legal placement and simultaneous clears. Strategy pages cover center control, holes, shape constraints, combos, and game phases. Methodology pages publish the score and health formulas with limitations, so a surprising result can be checked rather than accepted as a black box.
Accessibility and controls
Controls use text labels and keyboard focus styles, while board cells expose row and column descriptions. Status messages announce valid or rejected placements and completed units. Visual fill is not the only source of meaning because piece names, numbers, labels, and written explanations remain available.
Worked scoring example
A single cell completing one row on the first consecutive clear scores 1 placement point, 18 clear points, and a 5-point streak bonus, for 24 total. The scoring guide shows multi-clear examples.
Storage example
When your score exceeds the existing local best, the browser updates blockmaster-best. Clearing site data can remove it. No account exists to recover it from another device.
Analyzer-limit example
A move can rank first for current flexibility but produce fewer points than another move. The tool exposes that tradeoff instead of calling one move universally correct. Read how the health score works.
For a question not covered here, use the contact route.