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Block Puzzle Scoring and Combos
How Gridlight scores a placement: cells, line clears, a streak multiplier to ×5, and the 300-point perfect-board bonus.
By Precious Thundu Chindongo · Updated 2026-10-21
Cells first, then the lines
Every legal placement pays the number of cells in the piece. A three-cell corner is three points before anything clears. That base is why a tidy single-cell fill still moves the score, and why a long bar is not only a line tool.
If the placement finishes one or more full rows or columns, the line bonus is 10 × (number of lines)², then multiplied by the current streak multiplier. One line is 10. Two lines are 40. Three are 90. The square is the reason a double clear is worth more than two singles on different turns, even before the streak grows.
The streak, the grace, and ×5
A clear raises the streak by one. The multiplier for that clear is 1 + 0.5 × (streak − 1), and it never goes above 5. Streak 1 is ×1. Streak 2 is ×1.5. Streak 9 and after is ×5. The first clear in a run is always ×1; you cannot open on a ×5.
Three placements with no clear spend the grace and reset the streak to zero. After a clear you have three dry placements before the multiplier dies. A single quiet placement does not panic the board. Parking a piece to keep a lane open is often correct even if the callout goes dark.
Perfect clears and the words on screen
If a clear leaves the 8×8 board empty, Gridlight adds 300 × the same multiplier. That is the perfect-board bonus. It is separate from the word Perfect!, which only means the placement cleared two or more lines. A single line stays quiet. Do not chase an empty board if it seals the only parking bay.
Sweet! is the callout on streak 2. Later clears say Combo 3! through Combo 10!, then Combo 11+!. Those words track consecutive clears, not the point multiplier, though both climb together until the multiplier caps. A resumed board keeps its saved streak; the session’s best combo only updates when a later clear raises it.
How to spend a streak without wrecking the board
The expensive mistake is burning a ×4 on a single line that splits the last open region. Picture the board after the clear. Prefer the move that still accepts two of the pieces left in the tray. The ghost preview shows the landing and the lines; use it before you commit.
Daily Light is twenty trays, then the score locks. Early trays should open a bay. Middle trays are where a double clear pays, because more pieces are coming. The last trays are for survival. Classic has no tray cap, so a long streak is a bonus, not a quota. Zen replaces a tray that cannot fit, which makes it a safe place to test a risky clear and see the score you would have died on.
Questions
How does Gridlight score a move?
You score the cells you just placed, plus 10 × lines² × the current multiplier if you cleared any lines. An empty board after that clear adds 300 × the same multiplier.
When does the multiplier reach ×5?
The first clear is ×1. Each later clear in the streak adds 0.5, and the value caps at ×5 from streak 9. Three placements with no clear drop the streak to zero.
What does Perfect! mean?
Perfect! is the callout when one placement clears two or more lines. It is not the empty-board bonus. Sweet! appears on the second clear in a streak.