Tricky Block is a Tricky Treat for Puzzle Fans

Imagine Tetris. Now imagine Tetris as a sliding block puzzle. Then apply rules written by mathematician Ian Malcolm: “Faster. Must go faster.”

Mix that all up together and what you’ve got is Tricky Block: All Mixed up!, a puzzle game from SkopWorks. Each level takes place on a blank grid. At the top of the screen, a conveyer belt churns and drops multi-colored puzzle pieces onto said grid. The pieces fall where they may, and it’s up to you to keep their descent from becoming totally chaotic (though the aforementioned Dr Malcolm would love to see that, no doubt).

When a piece drops, you have a very small window in which to slide it vertically or horizontally. The piece slips across the grid until it hits a wall or another piece. If two pieces of the same color collide, they’ll join and become a single entity. The more pieces that link up together, the more points you score.

The higher the level, the more quickly and frequently pieces drop from the conveyer belt. To make things easier — marginally — you can cover up an unwanted block with another one. However, your window to do so is very small, so reflexes count as much as forethought in Tricky Block.

Tricky Block: All Mixed Up! is indeed tricky, but its frantic pace offers a fun combination of twitch mechanics and strategy that forces you to think on your feet. You can grab it for free off the App Store.

Nadia Oxford

• 

In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.