Block Shift: par, scoring, and clearing the exit

Block Shift is a 10-level sliding puzzle on a 6×6 board. Slide the other blocks out of the way so the target block, X, can exit through the right edge of its row.

How a level works

1. Press Start. Level 1 of 10 begins on the board. There is no timer.
2. X is a horizontal block, two cells long. It only moves left and right, and the level ends when it occupies the last two cells of its row.
3. Every other block is two or three cells long and keeps its orientation. Horizontal blocks move only sideways. Vertical blocks move only up and down. A block can travel only through empty cells.
4. Moves count cells traveled, not how many times you touch a block. Sliding a block two cells counts as 2 moves. A slide that ends where it started counts as 0.
5. On a keyboard, each arrow press moves the focused block one cell, and holding the key does not repeat. The arrow must match the block’s orientation.
6. On a phone, drag a block and release. The game counts the net number of cells from where that drag started. A second finger does not start another drag. If the drag is cancelled, the block returns and the move counts as 0.
7. Clearing a level opens Level Complete with your moves, that level’s par, and the level score. Next Level continues the run. On level 10 the button is See Results.
8. Restart Level puts only the current board back to its start and clears that level’s moves. Scores from levels you already cleared stay as they are.

Leaving the tab does not cancel the run, because the puzzle is not on a clock.

How scoring works

Each level shows a Par: the fewest cells you need to move to solve that layout. Your level score uses the moves m you actually used:

level score = max(50, 150 − 5 × max(0, m − par))

• At par, or in fewer cells than par, the level is worth 150.
• Each extra cell beyond par costs 5 points.
• The level score never drops below 50, even if you wander for a long time.

The run total is the sum of the ten level scores, from 500 to 1,500. That total is saved as your personal best only after you finish all 10 levels. A higher total is better. Refreshing or leaving before the result screen does not update the record.

Practical tips

• Clear the cells to the right of X before you slide it. A vertical block sitting on that row is a gate; moving X first usually wastes cells.
• Count cells, not gestures. One clean slide across an open gap costs the same as several one-cell taps, but extra backtracking is what pulls a 150 down toward 50.
• On later levels, decide which blocker has to move first. Pushing a piece into a new jam costs cells you can only undo by spending more cells, or by pressing Restart Level.
• Use Restart Level when a plan has clearly failed. It does not erase earlier levels, and the level is scored only from the attempt that actually clears it.
• Read the par before you start shuffling. If the board already shows a high par, expect several blockers to depend on each other. The early levels are there to teach the exit; the last three ask you to plan the order.

When you want a full run, open Block Shift and try to finish all 10 levels near par.