Unblock: rules, scoring and a few habits
Unblock is a sliding-block puzzle on a small square yard. Wooden blocks lie across it, some long and flat, some tall and narrow, and a red block sits trapped in the middle row. Your job is to slide that red block out through the gap in the right-hand wall. Each block can only travel along its own length: a flat one goes left and right, a tall one goes up and down, and nothing can jump over anything else.
Moves, par and the clock
Drag a block and it glides as far as you take it. One continuous slide counts as a single move, whether it travels one square or four. The clock starts with your first touch, and you have three minutes.
Every daily board comes with a par, the smallest number of slides that clears it. Par is six from Monday to Wednesday and seven from Thursday to Sunday, so the second half of the week asks for a little more planning. Ranking goes by moves first and time second, and if two players tie on both, whoever finished first goes ahead. Undo and Reset are always there, but each one adds to your move count, so they're a safety net rather than an eraser.
Clearing the way
- Start from the exit and work backwards. Ask which block stands between the red one and the gap, then what is stopping that block from moving.
- A tall block in the red row has to go up or down, never sideways. Check whether it has room in either direction before anything else.
- Don't shuffle blocks around to see what happens. A slide that frees nothing is a wasted move and pushes you past par.
- Every slide can be reversed, so there are no dead ends, only longer routes.
Everyone gets the same yard on the same day, and the board changes at midnight Pacific time. Matching par is a perfect result, and it's always within reach because par comes from a real shortest solution. Free Play deals you a fresh, unranked yard whenever you want one more, which is a relaxed way to learn how the long blocks lock each other in. Unblock is free in the browser and plays well with a finger on a phone or with a mouse on a desktop. It's a tidy few minutes of planning before your day gets busy.