How to play Fair Square
Short answer
Drag your three pieces onto the 8×8 board and fill rows or columns to clear them. Pieces can’t be rotated, and the game ends when none of your pieces fit anywhere.
The rules
- You’re dealt a tray of three pieces.
- Drag a piece onto empty cells. Every cell of the piece must fit, and it can’t be rotated.
- Any full row or column clears. Rows and columns clear at the same time.
- When all three pieces are placed, a new tray arrives.
- The game ends when nothing in your tray or hold slot can be placed.
The hold slot
Drag a tray piece to the hold slot to save it, and drag it back onto the board at any time. If the slot is full, dropping another piece on it swaps the two. You can use it as often as you like.
The four modes
| Mode | Best for | Rules | Next-tray preview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chill | Relaxing | Endless, no power-ups, every tray can be fully placed | No |
| Blast | Excitement | Endless, with gems, same-colour bonuses, Fever and the Golden Round | Yes |
| Daily board | Competing | Blast rules, same pieces for everyone, up to 20 trays, one counted attempt, no revive | Yes |
| Journey | Goals and collecting | 163 levels across 10 worlds, each win paints part of a masterpiece | Yes |
Scoring
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Placing a piece | 1 per cell |
| Clearing 1 line | 100 |
| Clearing 2 lines at once | 300 |
| Clearing 3 lines at once | 600 |
| Clearing 4 lines at once | 1,000, then 500 more for each extra line |
| Combo | Each clearing move raises it. Clear points multiply by up to ×4 |
| Perfect Clear (empty board) | 2,000 |
| Same-colour line (Blast) | That line’s points ×3 |
| Cell cleared by a gem (Blast) | 20 per cell |
| Golden Round (Blast) | Next 3 placements score ×2 |
A combo resets after three placements in a row that don’t clear anything.
Gems and Fever in Blast
Each piece has a 12% chance of carrying a gem. A gem fires when its cell is cleared, and gems can set off other gems.
| Gem | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bomb | Clears the 3×3 area around it |
| Line | Clears its full row and column |
| Sweeper | Clears the two fullest lines on the board |
| Finisher | Completes the fullest line, which counts as a real line clear |
Clearing lines also fills the Fever meter. At 8 it fires a Fever Blast, which clears the 5×5 area around your piece and scores 300 extra points. Emptying the whole board starts a Golden Round.
Tips
- Keep big pieces in mind. Leave a 3×3 space open for as long as you can.
- Use the hold slot for pieces that don’t fit your plan, not as a last resort.
- In Blast and Daily board, check the next tray before you place your last piece.
Want to know how pieces are chosen? Read how fair play works.
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