Block Blast, the game where players attempt to fill out lines of blocks to earn points and increase their high score, has spread throughout schools and homes around America. Developed by Hungry Studio in Hong Kong, Block Blast made its debut in April of 2022. The game takes inspiration from the 80’s game, Tetris. In 2024 alone, Block Blast accumulated a total of 216 million downloads according to an article written by Neil Long.
Eli Nathan, a junior, and Samantha Haas, a senior, are both students at Blue Valley North who play Block Blast and similarly to other recent trends, Block Blast spread because people saw their friends playing the game.
“I downloaded Block Blast after I saw my friends playing it about two months ago,” Haas said.
For some, competition motivated people to download the game. Nathan downloaded Block Blast to beat his friends and see who could get the highest score.
“All my friends at lunch were playing, and I thought their high scores were low, so I thought, ‘I’ve gotta download it to beat them,’ because I’m really competitive,” Nathan said.
Many strategies can be used to rack up as many points as possible in Block Blast; however, Nathan shares his focus is on one thing while playing the game.
“I don’t have a specific strategy, just keep the streak alive,” Nathan said. “That’s all that matters. Just do whatever you can, even if it’s a bad move.”
Like Nathan, Haas also tries her best to keep a combo going and continue to advance her high score.
“The more breaks you get in a row, the more multipliers you get. The more multipliers you get the more points you get. So you just gotta keep getting back-to-back breaks,” Hass said.
Nathan has a high score of 152,000 on block blast. While Haas’s score isn’t as high as Nathan’s, she still has spent plenty of time playing the game.
“I’ve spent around three hours on block blast this week, which is better than it has been. I’ve cut down,” Haas said.
There are many different reasons why Block Blast has so many people hooked. For some, it’s because of the thrill they get from seeing a new number in the top left corner, where their old high score used to be.
“I’m always just trying to chase my high score. That’s really it. That’s why I keep playing,” Nathan said.
For others, it’s the familiarity of a game they used to play. Block Blast puts a modern spin on the classic game, which can hold nostalgia. This spin may be just enough to keep people hooked.
“In middle school, I was really into Tetris, so I guess I just like puzzle games in general,” Haas said.
Nathan and Haas said that Block Blast doesn’t currently affect their productivity level. However, Haas said that the game may have been a distraction at one point.
“The game probably affected my productivity level at one point, like when I needed to do something, but I was too busy moving blocks around,” Haas said.
