About Chained Block
Shade squares into numbered blocks and join them at their corners. A chain can bend across the board, but it cannot contain the same shape twice, even turned or reflected.
Choose from 96 original puzzles across four open shelves. Each has one answer and can be completed by deduction.
How to play
- Goal
- Shade numbered blocks into corner-touching chains with no repeated shape in a chain.
- How it ends
- A puzzle finishes when all shaded blocks have their numbered area and every chain obeys the corner and shape rules.
- Record
- The fastest first unaided solve of each puzzle is recorded.
- Every number is already shaded. Grow its block through squares sharing an edge until the block has exactly that many squares. Each block must contain exactly one number.
- Separate blocks meet only at corners. Follow those corner contacts to find a chain: each chain needs at least two blocks, and every block in that whole chain must have a different shape. Rotations and reflections count as the same shape.
- Different chains may repeat a shape. Shaded 2×2 squares are allowed, and unshaded squares need not connect. Pale notes are optional: the shaded pattern alone determines completion.
- Choose Shade, Pale note or Clear, then tap or drag squares. One drag is one undo step. The chart finishes automatically when every rule agrees. Completed charts reopen as practice.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Shade / Pale note / Clear, then tap or drag | Apply the selected tool; repeat a shade or note to remove it |
| Right-click a square | Toggle a pale note |
| Arrows + Enter / Space | Move the cursor and apply the tool |
| 1 / D · 2 / W · 3 / C · P | Choose Shade · Pale note · Clear · Pan |
| Delete / Backspace | Clear the focused square |
| Z / Y / R | Undo / Redo / open Restart confirmation |
| Escape | Cancel a gesture, close a dialog or return to the atlas |
Tips
- Compare whole shapes A long block and a bent block may have the same area but different shapes. Turn each shape in your mind before ruling it out.
- Trace every corner connection Two distant blocks can belong to the same chain through other blocks. Shape uniqueness applies to the whole chain.
Good to know
Progress saves in this browser. The first clock starts on chart selection and continues through menus and Restart. Reloads, clock changes or browser suspension make an attempt local only. Practice keeps the original finish. Music and Effects have separate switches.
Watch how to play
Questions
Must every blank square get a pale note?
No. Pale notes are optional; a correct shaded pattern finishes the puzzle.
Can a chain branch or have a loop?
Yes. A chain means all blocks joined transitively by corner contacts. It need not be a simple line.
May two separate chains use the same shape?
Yes. Only blocks within the same chain must differ.
