How Spaceblox's color rules work

Spaceblox looks like a coloring exercise: an empty grid, a few tiles already placed, and a handful of colors to choose from. What makes it a puzzle is that each color behaves a little differently. Here are the rules in the order the game teaches them, and why each one exists.

Two colors, two rules

The heart of Spaceblox uses only yellow and blue, and two rules.

Rule of Two. You may never have three of the same color next to each other in a row or column. Two yellows side by side are fine. A third is not.

Equal Balance. When a row or column is full, it must contain the same number of yellow and blue tiles.

On their own, each rule is easy. Together they produce a surprising amount of deduction. If two blues sit side by side, both neighbours must be yellow. If a six-cell row already has three yellows, everything left in it must be blue. Most early levels can be solved with just these two observations, and the game marks any broken rule in red as soon as it happens, so you learn the patterns by doing.

Green: one tile, two colors

Equal Balance only works on lines with an even number of cells. Green solves that, and adds a twist:

• For the Rule of Two, green counts as both yellow and blue. Yellow–green–yellow is three in a row.
• For Equal Balance, green counts as neither. It fills the cell without changing the count.
• Rule of One: a row or column can hold at most one green.

That combination is what makes odd-length lines solvable. On a five-cell line, one cell must be something other than yellow or blue, and with only one green allowed, "where does the green go?" often becomes the key to the whole board.

Purple: tiles that move

Purple tiles sit between two linked cells with an arrow. Tapping one hops it to the other cell, leaving its old cell empty. Like green, purple fills a cell without counting toward Equal Balance. Two purples can compete for the same cell, so if one is already there, the other is blocked until you move the first. Some levels give a star for using only a limited number of hops, so planning matters.

Locks and links

The board can also carry extra information:

• a lock marks a fixed tile you can't change;
• an = between two cells means they must be the same color;
• an × means they must be different.

Links are also what hints use. Instead of filling a cell for you, a hint reveals a helpful = or × clue, so you still make the deduction yourself.

Why teach it one rule at a time?

Each rule gets its own small tutorial board with a highlighted cell to practise on before the next one appears. The full guide, with valid and invalid examples, is one tap away during any level. The goal is that you never lose a level because you forgot a rule, only because a puzzle made you think.

Try the rules yourself: Get Spaceblox free on Google Play (or play in your browser)