Margaret Fore

Block Blast has around 12 million downloads and 5 million active users worldwide.

Sometimes airplane rides call for a distraction.

For Director of Counseling Amy Poag, that distraction is a trending game called Block Blast.

“I play it on an airplane because it doesn’t require WiFi,” Poag said. “I play it sometimes when watching a movie, particularly a scary movie, or one that’s very intense because it’s mindless and also satisfying to see those blocks fall into place.” 

Block Blast is a game where players put together colorful blocks in hopes of clearing rows and columns to earn points. Hungry Studios, a leading game developer based in Hong Kong, created the game in April of 2022, and it has reached over 12 million downloads and five million active users. From the looks of it, many of those downloads are by St. Mary’s students. 

According to a poll sent out to students, to which 88 students responded, around 72.7% of students at St. Mary’s play Block Blast, with 62% of players playing at least every day. Senior Holden Taylor, an avid Block Blast user, values the satisfaction the game brings her. 

“Putting the little pieces together, like a puzzle, and then getting it and clearing the board, that just brings me some kind of joy,” Taylor said. 

This dedication has led to high scores like sophomore Helen Garrett’s 14,720, sophomore Martha Mitchell’s 9,000 and senior Holden Taylor’s 24,392. 

But the highest recorded score at St. Mary’s of the students who responded to the poll is that of senior Ashlynn Ostner, with a score of 42,583.

“I don’t really know what happened. My score just kept going up and all of the sudden I was in the 10,000s,” Ostner said. 

For Taylor, the push to get a higher score is one reason she plays Block Blast so often. 

“[Block Blast] makes me feel smart sometimes when I make a good combo and clear the board, but it’s really more about [getting] the better score for me,” Taylor said.

Along with the drive for a new high score and the lack of pop-up advertisements, Block Blast offers a more relaxed pace for Director of Studies Kate Stakem. 

“I like that it’s not timed because I can think through my next move better, unlike Tetris, which moves really quickly,” Stakem said. “I like this one because I can plan.” 

While many students enjoy the game, Mrs. Jana Smigielski, upper school mind and body wellness teacher, said she thinks there are some downsides to the game. 

“I wish [students] would put a time limit on [Block Blast], or decide not to do it until they’re done with something,” Smigielski said. “My students have come in on their phone and said, ‘Mrs. Smigielski, I’m addicted.’” 

 Block by block, it looks like Block Blast is taking over.