The school bell rings, and students file out of classrooms. Unlike most days, many are buried in their phones. But these days, something new has caught the eye of the high school student. It’s not a new trendy video on YouTube. Not even a viral clip on TikTok. But it’s a simple game where you aim to click oddly shaped blocks into place, watching them satisfyingly disappear in one fell swoop. This game is Block Blast. Block Blast has popped up everywhere. Students play the game during their lunch hour, between classes or even during classes.
“It’s like Tetris but not Tetris,” senior Casey Chu said.
While Chu has never played Block Blast, he has watched his younger brother play.
“You put these blocks on a grid, and the objective [is to] clear lines. [When] they’re all filled in with blocks, you can get points for that. Then you can get higher scores [by] doing combos and clearing multiple lines in a row, and then you get extra points for getting total clears and stuff,” sophomore Ben Cutler said.
Though Block Blast was first released in April 2022, it began topping the charts in October and spreading quickly throughout the nation. The game became particularly widespread in high schools, with students competing to earn high scores.
“I saw it in the app store in May, but no one was playing it back then,” Cutler said.
Cutler believes Block Blast’s gain in popularity is because of the rise of conversations on TikTok.
“That’s how things like this get popular. Everyone was playing, and [I’d] seen this game before, so I just got it. I honestly have no idea how it got popular. It’s an anomaly,” Cutler said.
What makes Block Blast so captivating for high school students, and why do they find it irresistible during every free moment?
“It’s fun to keep beating [and] beating that score.” freshman Crosby Deutsch said. “Most games I play are against other people, and in Block Blast, I get to try to beat myself and get better.”
While many students find Block Blast captivating, not everyone shares this enthusiasm.
“It looks like it would get old very fast. It[‘s] quick to become stale,” Chu said.
While Block Blast is popular among students, questions arise about whether the time spent playing is healthy. Some students express concerns about its impact on their daily lives.
While it’s clear that Block Blast is not beneficial to students’ study sessions, what impact does Block Blast have on the general student body? Is it a beneficial pastime, or does it hinder academic success? Some students worry about its effects.
It’s probably hurting our learning environment,” Deutsch said. “I don’t think any games really help.”
“Yeah, people are studying less, working less. People like this game more than they like school,” Cutler said.
However, Chu thinks there could be some upsides to Block Blast.
“I think it might be good for younger children because a lot of our school work, especially in high school, is based upon looking for patterns, [and] trying to match [and] trying to find connections between different topics,” Chu said. “I don’t know if that equates to what you’re doing in block blast much, but I think those skills, especially for younger kids who are trying and developing those skills, might be helpful. [It’s also] a quick way for a student to relax after doing work.”
Despite the school’s efforts to enforce a new phone policy to prevent outbreaks like these, Block Blast remains pervasive in classrooms. This widespread popularity raises questions about its impact on students’ focus and learning.
“Everyone plays Block Blast during class, and it’s inevitable in a classroom that there’s at least one person on their phone playing Block Blast. Even with the new phone policy, a lot of teachers haven’t stuck with it,” Cutler said.
