How to play Gumblox
Gumblox is a free block puzzle game. You drop pieces made of gummy blocks onto an 8×8 board. Fill a whole row or column and it pops, which makes room for the next pieces. It plays in your browser, on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
Your first game starts with a one-minute tutorial on a real board. To play it again, open Settings, or How to play in the game menu.
One more block in the yellow row and it pops.
The rules
- You get three pieces at a time. Put them on the board in any order you like.
- Pieces can't be turned. Each one goes on the board the way it comes.
- Once all three are down, you get three new pieces.
- Fill a row or a column from edge to edge and it pops. Rows and columns that fill with the same piece pop together.
- The game ends when none of your pieces fits anywhere on the board.
- Pieces come from the game's seed and never look at your board or your score, in every way to play. The rescue is the one exception: it deals pieces that fit.
Placing pieces
- Drag a piece from the tray onto the board and let go where you want it.
- Or tap a piece to pick it, tap the board to see where it would go, and tap again to place it. With a mouse, the piece follows the pointer and a click places it.
- On a computer the keys play too: 1 2 3 pick a piece (the first one is on the left of the tray, or at the top when the tray stands beside the board), the arrow keys move it, Enter or Space places it and Esc puts it back. With no piece picked, Esc opens the game menu.
Scoring
Every block you place is worth 1 point. Popping lines is worth much more:
| Lines popped at once | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 30 |
| 3 | 60 |
| 4 | 100 |
Combos
Each move that pops something raises your combo by one, and line points are multiplied by it. Two lines on a x3 combo are worth 90 points. The combo survives two moves that pop nothing; the third quiet move in a row ends it. Next to the score, the flame shows your combo and a dot for each move you have left to keep it, and the board glows while it lasts.
Clearing the board
Pop the last blocks on the board and you get 300 bonus points.
Undo, rescue and hints
- Classic games give you one undo, for the move you regret most. On a computer, Ctrl Z (⌘ Z on a Mac) does the same.
- Once per classic game or challenge, when nothing fits, you can take a rescue. It clears the three fullest rows next to each other and deals pieces that fit.
- With Hints when stuck turned on in Settings, a soft outline shows a place where a piece fits.
Ways to play
Classic
Play until nothing fits and try to beat your best score. Play a classic game.
Daily puzzle
A new puzzle every day at midnight, the same for everyone. It starts on a drawn board, such as a heart, stairs or a little house, and gives you 24 pieces. The game ends when they're all placed or none fits, and there's no undo or rescue. Your first finished game is your score on the day's leaderboard; after that you can practice it as often as you like.
While you play, the earlier runs of friends and of players who usually place near you move along with you, so you can see who you pass. To play without them, turn off Race other players' runs in Settings.
Play every day to build a streak. Every 7 days in a row earns a streak freeze, and the candy shop has them too. A freeze covers one missed day so your streak keeps going, and you can hold 2.
See today's puzzle, or see today's leaderboard.
Adventure
A path of numbered levels through worlds of ten. Each level has one goal: reach a score, clear a number of lines, collect the gems or clear all the jelly. Use as few pieces as you can for three stars. The pieces come in the same order every time you try a level, so you can plan ahead, and a bot plays every level before you see it, so each one can be won.
- Gummy Meadow teaches the goals. Pop a line through a gem to collect it.
- Frosty Peaks brings frozen blocks, which need two pops to clear.
- Jelly Lagoon brings jelly. Pop a line over a jelly cell to clear it off the board.
- Caramel Canyon gives every level a set number of pieces, so you have to reach the goal before they run out. Many levels from Frosty Peaks on have a piece limit too.
- From Starry Sky on, the worlds mix it all.
The eight worlds hold 80 levels. After level 80 new levels keep coming, and they get slowly harder.
Win every level in a world to open its chest. Chests hold candies, and some also hold a block style or a board theme. Open the Adventure map.
Play together
Everything with other people is under Play together on the home screen. Make a room and share its code or link. Everyone in the room gets the same pieces, and the host picks a round of 1, 2 or 3 minutes. If you get stuck during a match, your board clears and you keep playing, so the highest score when the clock runs out wins. Friends can join in their browser at gumblox.com without installing anything, and the room can go on a TV or laptop so everyone sees the boards. Make a room with friends, or read how party mode puts it on the big screen.
World match and ranked
The World match is always on: 90-second rounds start by themselves, and you can jump in with everyone online at any time.
Ranked matches put you in 90-second rounds against players near your rating. Finish above someone and your rating goes up, below them and it goes down, as you climb from Rookie through Bronze, Silver and Gold to Diamond. Ranked opens once you've finished three games. When nobody near your rating is searching, you can race recorded runs from earlier ranked rounds instead, with clearly labeled Gumbots in any empty places. Only your rating moves in those races. More about ranked.
Challenges
After a classic game, tap Challenge a friend. You can send it to all your friends at once, and it waits on their Friends screen under Your turn, or share a link with anyone. They play the same pieces you had and race your run as they go. Their best try counts, and the challenge page shows everyone's scores.
Friends
Your friend code is on the Friends screen. Share it or your friend link, or type a friend's code, and you're friends with each other straight away. In a private room or on a challenge page you can also tap a player's name to send a friend request. The Friends screen shows challenges waiting for you, your friends' results, and your challenge record against each friend.
Candies and the candy shop
Candies come only from playing: the three daily missions (finish all three for a bonus), adventure levels and the stars you earn on them, world chests and each new player level. Spend them in the candy shop on block styles, board themes (the sky and board in a game) and streak freezes. A few styles come another way: Pixel, Neon and Gold at player levels 5, 10 and 20, Pumpkin and Frost during their seasonal events, and some in world chests. Nothing in Gumblox costs money.
Tips
- Look at all three pieces before you place the first one.
- Keep a 3×3 space and a clear five-block line free for the big pieces.
- Pop several lines with one piece when you can: four lines at once score 100, four separate lines only 40.
- Keep the combo going by popping something at least every third move.
- Avoid leaving single empty holes; only the smallest piece can fill them.
- Fill the edges and corners first and keep the middle open.
Questions
Is Gumblox free?
Yes. There are no ads, and nothing costs money.
Do I need an account?
No. The game makes a profile the first time you play, with a random name you can change. It never asks for your email. Your progress is saved online as you play, and a recovery code from Settings brings it to another phone or browser.
Can I play offline?
Classic games and adventure levels keep working without a connection in a browser tab that's already open, but the page needs a connection to load. The daily puzzle, leaderboards, rooms and matches need the internet.
Is Gumblox all right for kids?
There's no chat and no ads, and kid-safe mode hides other players' names. What families should know.
Can friends on different phones play together?
Yes. Everyone plays in the same rooms from a browser, on an iPhone, an Android phone, a tablet or a computer.
Which languages does it speak?
English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Hindi.
Anything else? The support page answers more questions.