Ninefold

About this game

Ninefold is a block puzzle with no timer, no falling pieces and nowhere to hide. You are offered three shapes at a time and you drag them anywhere they fit on a nine-by-nine grid. Complete a full row, a full column or one of the nine three-by-three squares and it clears away, making room for what comes next. Place all three and three more arrive. The run ends when none of the shapes you are holding can go anywhere — and because pieces never rotate and never fall, that moment is always the consequence of where you put things twenty moves ago. What makes it tense is that clearing space and using space are the same action. Every piece you place fills the board a little more, so the only way to survive is to place them where they finish lines rather than merely fit, and the difference between a short run and a long one is almost entirely about the awkward gaps you did or did not leave behind. Clearing more than one line at once is worth far more than clearing them one at a time, and clearing on consecutive turns builds a streak that multiplies everything after it, so the strongest play is usually to set up a big turn rather than take a small one now. The hand you are dealt is always fully placeable — the game checks before offering it — so a run that ends is a run you lost, not one the shuffle took from you. A fresh seeded run arrives every day with a streak to keep, and your best score is remembered. One finger, any screen, nothing to install.

Controls

Drag a shape from the tray onto the grid and let go to place it.

• The shape lifts above your finger while you drag so you can see the squares underneath.
• A preview shows exactly where it will land and which lines it would clear.

How to play

Three shapes sit in the tray below the board. Drag any of them onto the grid — they can go anywhere they fit, and they never rotate.

Clearing

• Filling every square of a row, a column or one of the nine three-by-three boxes clears it.
• When all three shapes have been used, three more appear.
• The run ends when none of the shapes in the tray can be placed anywhere on the board.

Scoring well

• Clearing several lines with one placement is worth much more than clearing them one at a time, and clearing on consecutive placements builds a streak multiplier.
• Watch the tray: a shape that has nowhere left to go is dimmed, which is your warning that the board is closing up.

Read the full Ninefold rules and strategy →