How to Read the Solver's Answer: Board Health and Room-For Notes

• Best move found and a line like "This solution clears 1 line". That is the total for all three moves.
• Board: Healthy, Tight or Critical. A quick label for the board you will have after your three moves.
• A Room for note. It tells you which big pieces would still fit after your three moves.
• Every move is re-checked against the board it is played on. The solver checks each step again before it shows it to you.
• STEP 1/3, 2/3, 3/3. One move at a time, with the piece marked P1, P2 or P3 (left to right in your tray) and green cells showing where it goes.

The Board label and the Room for note both describe the board after all three moves, not the board you started with.

Here are those three things, one by one.

The biggest open rectangle is the largest box of empty cells that has no block inside it. It is counted in cells. A big open rectangle means big pieces still have a home.

Now the labels:

Critical is not game over. It is a warning about the board you will be left with. In our worked examples, a board that starts Critical is still solved with all three pieces placed.

The solver takes the board you will have after your three moves and tries three of the hardest shapes on it: the 3x3 square, the 1x5 bar lying flat, and the big L (three cells across the top and three down the left side).

If a shape has a place to go, it is listed after Room for. If it has none, you will see it in the would not fit part. For example: "Room for a 1×5, big L · a 3×3 would not fit."

Use it as a quick check. If all three fit, you have a lot of space left. If the 3x3 would not fit, that is a sign the middle of your board is getting crowded, so you may want to clear space soon. Read more about these pieces in our piece guide.

The check uses the flat 1x5 bar and one direction of the big L. Your game can give you other directions of these pieces, so treat the note as a guide to how open your board is, not as a promise about your next tray.

The answer can show two plans, Best and Keep Combo. For the streak side, see keeping your combo.

• Why this spot? Shows a short reason for the move, such as how many lines it clears or how it keeps space open.
• Tap an empty cell. Compare your own idea with the recommended spot, right on the board.
• Download step PNG. Saves a picture of the step, handy if you want to keep it next to your game.
• Previous and Next. Move between the three steps. View again starts the steps from the beginning.

A good habit: decide your own move first, then press Why this spot? and compare. It is one of the fastest ways to learn. We describe this in is using a solver cheating?.

After you play the three moves, the game gives you three new pieces. You do not need a new screenshot if you do not want one.

1. Play the three moves in your game.
2. Press Continue with this board under the answer.
3. The finished board is filled in for you in Manual Mode. Lines you cleared are already gone.
4. Choose the next three pieces from your game, then continue to the solver.

Use this only if you played the moves exactly as shown. If your board is different for any reason, take a fresh screenshot or fix the board in manual mode.

Before the solver shows a move, it checks again that the piece fits on the board and that the tray piece is the one you reviewed. If a move fails that check, the solver does not show it. You will see "Can't verify this move" with two buttons: Recalculate and New puzzle.

Most of the time, one wrong cell or piece shape is the reason. Fix it and solve again. If the solver says there is no legal move at all, read what to do when there are no moves left.