Arcade Whale
Arcade Whale OriginalMade in-house, free to play
Word Blast
- Developer
- Arcade Whale
- Genre
- Word
- Released
- Updated
- Platforms
- Browser (desktop, mobile, tablet)
- Orientation
- Portrait or landscape
- Players
- Single player
How to play
Drag a tray tile onto a board cell, or tap a tile then tap a cell · Z or ↶ undo last tile · R restart. Desktop and mobile.
About Word Blast
Word Blast crosses a word game with a tile-placement puzzle. You drag tiles onto a grid, and a row or column clears when it holds a complete word together with the emoji pictures that match it.
That pairing is what makes it different from a standard word game. It is not enough to know the word — you have to place the picture tiles that belong with it in the same line, which means reading each emoji as a clue about which word it wants to join. A picture of a leaf is not useful until you work out which of the words on offer it completes.
Space is the pressure. The grid is finite and tiles accumulate, so a tile placed in a convenient spot early can be exactly the tile blocking the line you need later. Good play means thinking about where a tile will still be useful in three moves, not just whether it fits now.
Because lines clear in both directions, the best placements do double duty. When one tile completes a clean row and a clean column at the same moment, both blast together and the cross counts as two lines toward the goal. Saving the word tile for the cell where two of its lines meet is the main skill shortcut on the bigger boards, and setting up those crossings is how the board stays open rather than slowly filling up.
You can drag a tile from the tray onto a cell, or tap the tile and then tap the cell, which works better on small screens. If a tile lands in the wrong spot, the undo button (or Z) puts your last tile back in the tray: one undo per level is free. It runs in the browser on desktop and mobile, with nothing to download. If you like word games without a clock, Word Connect is the more relaxed companion piece.
The levels do not run out. The early ones climb through four bands: Sprout uses a 4 by 4 grid, Bloom and Blaze use 5 by 5, and Inferno uses 6 by 6, so a line needs one word plus three, four or five pictures. The goal starts at three lines and climbs to eight, the number of themes in play grows from two to five, and from level 5 a few tiles are already on the board. One level in each band (levels 3, 11, 21 and 31) starts from a hand-built board with a crossing already set up, and its hint says which choice it is teaching. After the bands, every new level borrows the shape of a Blaze or Inferno level with its own set of words, a little harder than the one it came from, and the level number keeps counting up. There is always at least one theme fewer than the grid has rows, which leaves room to park awkward tiles.
Stars measure tidiness, not speed. Every goal needs a minimum number of tiles, one full line for each line in the goal, and the header shows how many tiles you have used and the limit for your current stars. Use no more than 30 percent extra for three stars and no more than 75 percent extra for two. Clears in a row build a combo: each popped word flies up off the board with its combo count, and a tile that clears nothing resets it. The tray always holds three tiles and never runs dry.
Frequently asked questions
How do I clear a line?
Fill a complete row or column with one word plus the emoji picture tiles that match it. When the line contains the word and its matching pictures, it blasts and clears the space.
How do I place tiles?
Drag a tile from the tray onto a board cell, or tap the tile first and then tap the cell you want it in. Both methods work on desktop and on touchscreens.
What happens if the board fills up?
The level ends, and the card tells you which word ran out of room and whose tiles were sitting in its best line. You can undo your last tile or start again. Clearing lines regularly, and placing tiles where they help both a row and a column, is what keeps the board open.
Do I need a large vocabulary?
Not especially. The words are everyday ones, and the emoji pictures act as clues about which word each tile belongs to, so the puzzle is about matching and placement. You never have to spell anything.
Does Word Blast run out of levels?
No. The level number keeps counting up. The early levels climb through four bands called Sprout, Bloom, Blaze and Inferno, where the grid grows from 4 by 4 to 6 by 6 and the goal from three lines to eight. After that each new level uses a 5 by 5 or 6 by 6 board with its own set of words. There is no level select: your best stars are saved and the game reopens on the level you reached.
How are stars awarded in Word Blast?
By how many tiles you place, not by time. Each level needs a minimum number of tiles to reach its goal. Finish within 30 percent extra for three stars, within 75 percent extra for two, and anything more earns one. Tiles already on the board at the start do not count against you.
What is a cross in Word Blast?
A cross happens when the tile you place completes a row and a column at the same time, both made of one theme and both holding a word. The two lines blast together and count as two lines toward the goal. The cell where two lines meet is the best place to keep a word tile for.
Why did my full line not clear?
A line only blasts when every cell holds tiles from the same theme and at least one of them is the word tile. A row of matching pictures with no word just sits there, and a single tile from another theme blocks the line until a crossing line clears it away.
Is there an undo in Word Blast?
Yes. The undo button next to restart (or the Z key) puts your last tile back in the tray. You get one free undo per level. Undo cannot bring back a line that has already cleared, and the undone tile still counts toward your star total, so stars still reward planning.
