Easy to pick up, hard to put down.

DropOut is a block-dropping color-matching puzzle game available exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

DropOut for iPhone/iPod Touch (Free)

Screenshots

How to Play

The Basics

Slide the blocks by touching the rows and sliding your finger left or right. Blocks will disappear when four or more of the same color are touching. New blocks appear along the top and drop down to the game board.

Locks

Some blocks have a lock on them. Any row that contains a Lock cannot be moved. Locks are eliminated when matched with other blocks of the same color, and they are worth more points than regular blocks.

Falling Stars

Falling Star blocks are worth the most points. Match four or more just as you would any other color. But be careful! They are called Falling Stars because if they reach the bottom row, they will fall through it and be lost.

Combos

Whenever sets of matching blocks disappear, the blocks above them drop down to fill in the gaps. When falling blocks cause more matching sets to disappear, or if multiple sets of blocks are eliminated at the same time, you’ll get a combo bonus.

Game Over

You’re in danger when the height of the blocks reaches the top row and the new set has no room to fall. When this happens, the top row will flash red for five seconds, and if the next row down is not cleared by then, it’s game over!

Tips

Focus on eliminating locks.

The quickest way to get stuck is to leave too many locks on the board. Plan your moves carefully so you don’t find yourself without any movable rows.

Match lots of stars at once.

Falling Stars will get you 2000 points if you match four. But, they are worth 5000 if you match five, 12000 if you match six, and so on. It can be risky to keep stars around, since they are lost so easily, but a big match can also be very rewarding.

Match stars and locks during combos.

Another way to score big with Falling Stars and Locks is to time the match so that you get a combo multiplier bonus. Watch where the next row is going to fall and create a match. Combo chains last as long as blocks are still dropping – use this to your advantage.

Double-tap the top row to fill it up immediately.

If you don’t want to wait, DropOut lets you force the next set of pieces to drop immediately. Just tap the top row twice.

Keep things moving.

If you can’t find any matches, slide some rows around. This will keep the overall height low as blocks fall down to fill in gaps, and you may discover matches that you didn’t see before.