Sand Tetris Scoring, Combos and Modes Explained

Sand Tetris has a score counter at the top and a bar under it that fills towards a target. Most people only notice the score going up now and then. This guide explains where the points come from, how the double-points combo works, and what changes between Classic and Speeding Up. The numbers come from the game's own settings.

Where points come from

There are two sources. Sand that lands scores a small amount, about one twentieth of the grains involved. Clearing a band is where the real points are: a clear is worth a quarter of the grains in the band. A wide, thick band across the whole well can be worth several hundred points on its own. A thin ribbon that barely connects scores much less.

So bigger bands are better. It is often worth leaving a band one drop short of the far wall while you thicken it with more of the same colour, then finishing it with one well-placed shape.

The 15-second combo

After a clear, a 15-second timer starts. If another clear happens before it runs out, that clear scores double, and an x2 marker pops up over the well. Each clear restarts the timer, so a run of clears in quick succession keeps doubling each one.

The easiest way to set up a combo is to build two colours side by side and finish them one after the other. Another way is to let a clear do the work: when a band vanishes, the sand above it falls. If that sand is one colour and is already touching both walls, it can land as a new complete band and clear on its own, inside the combo window.

The score bar

The bar under the score fills towards a target shown at its end, such as 100 at the start and 800 a little later. When you pass the target, a new, higher one appears. It is a way of pacing the game and showing progress. The trophy in the top-left corner shows your best score, which is saved in the browser.

Classic and Speeding Up

• Classic gives you unlimited time. The shape sits at the top until you drop it. This is the mode for big, planned bands and long combos.
• Speeding Up drops each shape by itself shortly after it appears. The first shapes drift down slowly. Each one after that falls a little faster, up to nearly three times the starting speed. Scoring is the same, but there is less time to line up colours.

Skip, Clear and continuing

Skip replaces the current shape with the next one and has a short cooldown. The Clear button removes every grain of one colour, picked at random from the colours in the well — a rescue when the heap is close to the line. When the sand reaches the red line, the game-over screen shows your score, a restart button and a button to continue the same game. On the original site these extras sat behind short video ads. Here, no ad plays, and they work straight away.

Want to test it? Play Sand Tetris, and read how the sand works first.