Block Out: How to Clear Levels 1–100 Without Deadlocks

To clear Levels 1 through 100 in Block Out without deadlocking, you must clear one column immediately to use as a temporary buffer, target the lowest trapped pieces instead of making easy surface matches, and hold off on assembling a color until you can finish the entire stack.

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Early Stage Mechanics Curve

The first 100 levels increase the number of competing colors and stack depths, reducing your room for error.

Levels 1–25: Introductory stages feature short stacks and two or three colors. Most moves allow direct pairing, letting you clear columns quickly to learn transit rules.
Levels 26–60: Stacks reach four blocks deep, and boards introduce four or more colors. Colors are staggered unevenly, requiring you to inspect bottom rows before moving surface tiles.
Levels 61–100: Stages provide fewer spare buffer columns and require extended sorting chains. A single misplaced block can clog your transit lane and cause an unrecoverable board lock.

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Managing Your Buffer Columns

An open column is your primary tool for maneuvering pieces across the board. If a level does not start with an empty column, look for the column holding the fewest blocks and clear it out first.

Progression Stage	Column Priority	Transit Rule
Levels 1–25	Consolidate visible pairs	Clear any short column to create open space
Levels 26–60	Empty a column with 1–2 blocks	Do not place mixed colors into your empty lane
Levels 61–100	Protect dedicated transit lanes	Only transfer blocks if the move reveals a bottom piece

Never treat an empty lane as long-term storage for mismatched pieces. Stashing an unaligned block in an empty slot cuts your available maneuvering space immediately. Use empty columns strictly as temporary pass-throughs: drop a block there only when doing so frees an underlying piece that directly completes a match elsewhere, then immediately return the temporary block to its matched stack.

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Peeling Upper Layers to Free Base Blocks

Surface matches often distract from the true bottlenecks at the bottom of each column. A base block remains locked until every tile above it is cleared, making the bottom row the primary factor in planning your moves.

Before making your first transfer:

Scan the bottom row to locate pinned colors.
Trace the column above each trapped block to see which layers must be peeled away.
Plan landing spots for those upper layers so they merge onto existing matching sets rather than consuming your open buffer lane.

Targeting deep pieces early triggers chain reactions that let you assemble multiple full columns in rapid succession.

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Preventing Mid-Stage Deadlocks After Level 50

From Level 51 onward, stages split colors across four or five separate stacks. Deadlocks happen when you commit pieces to a partial stack without having a clear route to deposit the rest of that color.

Apply these rules to avoid getting stuck:

Wait for full completion paths: Only start consolidating a color if you can move all four matching blocks into that column. Grouping two or three blocks together while the final block remains pinned behind unrelated colors ties up a lane and restricts your remaining moves.
Track transit capacity: If the board narrows down to a single open slot, stop moving random single tiles. Focus entirely on moves that complete a full four-block set, which permanently clears that color and restores maneuvering space.

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Step-by-Step Level Routine

Follow this routine at the start of every puzzle from Level 1 to 100:

Find your buffer lane: Check for an empty column or empty the column holding the fewest pieces.
Identify trapped base colors: Locate which colors sit on the bottom row and note the pieces blocking them.
Map the peel sequence: Shift upper blocks onto existing matches to expose the targeted bottom block.
Complete full stacks: Move all matching pieces into a single column to close out that color before opening a new set.