Magic Blocks

Welcome to Magic Blocks, the first game of arcade mode!
Unlike other games, Magic Blocks is an audio game.

Game goal and generals

Magic Blocks is played in a 5x5 grid numbered as usual from A1 on the bottom-left to E5 on the top-right.

Your objective is to place three or more pieces of the same type one next to each other, so that they explode and make room for other coming pieces.
When there is no more place to put incoming pieces, or otherwise said when the grid is completely full, the game is over.

Pieces are falling down into the grid in the same way as in connect four, meaning that they always fall towards the bottom as far as possible in the columns (from A to E) where they have been dropped.
When a group of identical adjacent pieces explode, those on top of them fall down in the squares that have been left free.

Score and level

Each piece that explodes make you increase your score.
The more pieces exploding at the same time or with consecutive drops, the more points you get.
It's indeed possible to make more than three pieces explode at the same time, by forming combos. This is exactly how goes the whole art of the game.

As your score increase, the difficulty of the game goes up as well. The number of different pieces increase, and the allocated time to drop a piece decreases (before automatic drop).
At level 0, there are only two different pieces, and you have 30 secondes to drop them. There can be up to 8 or 9 different pieces and the time to drop them progressively decrease down to 2 seconds at level 10.
By the way, the highest the level is, the more points you get as well.

Bonuses

When you realize combos that make more than three pieces explode at the same time, you can win bonuses that will help you later in the game.
The more complex the realized combo is, the more chances you have to obtain a bonus, and additionally, an interesting bonus.

The following bonuses exist:

Ambiance and game modes

There exist three game modes:

You can also choose among several ambiances. This is only an aesthetic choice, in the sense that the working of the game itself doesn't change. Only sounds and music are different.

Mode battle royal

In this special mode, which is the only multiplayer mode at present, your objectif is to be the last player still in game, i.e. who hasn't yet lost.

By realizing combos in your own grid, you can send spells, which will ruin grids of other players. The spells sent and the target player are random, but the more complex your combo is, the more annoying the calamity is as well.
By the way, players globally in good situation have more probability to attract hasards.

Unlike in solo modes, classement of best players on battle royal mode isn't based on your highest score, but works differently.
The more you finish a game in good position and with many players, the more points you get. Those points add themselves up to form your general classement.

Here is the number of points won depending on your finish position and the number of players in the game:

Players who quit a game before its end, be it desired or not, don't get their points, but still count as having participated for other players.

Game controls

Different control configurations are supported in Magic Blocks. You can use which ever you prefer. The following table shows which key is associated with which action in which configuration.
For keys related to bonuses, a short press (less than half a second) activates the bonus, while a long press (more than half a second) tells you how many of it you have.

Action Keyboard Alternative keyboard XBox gamepad PlayStation gamepad
Move in the grid Arrow keys I, J, K, L Directional pad Directional pad
Move in menus Arrow keys I, J, K, L Directional pad Directional pad
Validate in menus Enter - A Cross
Cancel/back in menus Escape - B Circle
Drop a piece Spacebar F A Cross
Bonus 1: bomb B - B Circle
Bonus 2: switch X - X Square
Bonus 3: exchanger Z/Y/W - Y Triangle
Tell the piece to drop Ctrl C RB R1
Tell score S - LB L1
Tell current level V - - -
Start game Enter - Start Start
Quit game Escape - Back Select