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How to play Nest Blocks

Nest Blocks asks one thing of you over and over: where does this piece fit? You are given three odd little shapes and a woven straw nest with room for sixty-four squares, and you carry on until no piece fits. Nothing drops from above and nothing is timed.

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The nest and the tray of three

The nest is a square of eight rows and eight columns. Below it is a tray holding three pieces. Pieces range from a single egg to a line of five, a corner, a block of six or a hay bale of nine. Pieces do not turn: a corner pointing the other way is a different piece.

You may place the three pieces in any order, in any gap where they fit. When all three are down, three new ones arrive.

Dragging a piece into place

Drag a piece from the tray into the nest. On a touch screen it rides above your finger so that you can see where it will land, and it snaps to the nearest place where it fits, with a preview of any line it would complete. Let go to put it down. If there is nowhere it fits, it flies back to the tray.

Colours are only for looks, and any piece goes anywhere it fits. Each colour also has a small mark. On a keyboard, press 1, 2 or 3 to pick up a piece, use the arrow keys to move it, press Enter or the space bar to put it down, and press Escape to put it back.

Bursting rows and columns

When every square in a row or a column is filled, that line bursts into feathers and the squares empty out. Rows and columns count together, so one piece can complete both a row and a column at once. Nothing falls afterwards, so the squares around a cleared line stay put.

How points are counted

  • Each square you place scores 1 point.
  • Clearing lines scores 10 points for one, 30 for two at once, 60 for three and 100 for four. Five or more keep climbing the same way.
  • Emptying the whole nest scores another 300.

Chaining clears into a combo

Every time a piece clears a line, a combo counter goes up by one, and the points for those lines are multiplied by the counter. So a first clear is worth its normal score, the next one is doubled, then tripled, and so on. After a clear, the combo survives two placements that clear nothing. If the third placement in a row also clears nothing, it drops back to the start. In other words, you have three placements to clear again.

The endless nest and the nest of the day

There are two ways to play from the start screen.

  • The endless nest goes on until no piece fits. Early trays are small and kind, and as your score climbs the pieces become bigger and awkward. Your best score is kept, and you are told when you beat it.
  • Today's nest is one fixed game, the same for everyone. It has fifteen trays, forty-five pieces in all, and it has been checked so that every piece can be placed. Your first go is the one that counts. Playing it again afterwards is practice only.

A lesson of three moves runs the first time you play.

When nothing fits

The game ends when none of the pieces left in your tray can go anywhere in the nest. At that point you get to choose. Once per game, Tiny the duck will shoo some straw aside from the fullest lines until the pieces left in the tray fit, and the game continues. The game may ask you to watch a short advert first. Or you can take your score as it stands.

Keeping the daily nest streak alive

Playing the nest of the day keeps a streak of days in a row. Every seven days in a row earns a freeze, up to two held at a time, and each freeze covers one missed day. You can share a result showing how each tray went, or post your score to the day's board.

Keeping the nest roomy

  • Look at all three pieces first. The order can decide whether a line completes.
  • Leave long straight gaps for the long pieces; scattered single holes take only the smallest.
  • Be careful with holes that are only one square wide. Only the single egg, or a long piece lying the right way, can fill one.
  • Remember that the combo only lasts three placements, so set up a second line before you finish the first.

Nest Blocks questions answered

Can I turn a piece around?

No. Pieces always stay as they are drawn. The set includes each corner and long shape in its separate directions.

Is there a time limit?

No. Nothing moves until you place a piece.

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