About the game
Hextris throws a fresh shape at the classic falling-blocks formula: instead of a flat grid, blocks drop toward a hexagon you can spin. Each piece is one, two, or three hexagons, and they only merge cleanly when they land on a matching color. Land on the wrong color and the piece explodes — clearing the area but costing you tempo.
The result is a game that's half reflexes, half spatial planning. Your eyes track the spinning wheel of colors while your brain plots which way to turn before the piece lands. Rounds are fast, combos stack hard, and the screen slowly floods with color the way a Tetris screen floods with blocks. It's tense in a genuinely good way.
How to play
- Click inside the game window so it can read your keys, then press Enter to start.
- Blocks of one to three hexes fall from the top toward the big hexagon.
- Rotate the hexagon to steer the falling piece onto a matching color. Matches merge, clear, and score; mismatches explode.
- Keep the stack below the top of the screen. When the color wheel fills up, it's game over.
Controls
| Rotate left | ← or A |
| Rotate right | → or D |
| Speed drop (hold) | ↓ or S |
| Pause | P or Space |
| Start / continue | Enter |
| Touch screens | Tap the left or right half of the screen |
Five beginner tips players wish they knew
1. Treat mismatches as expensive
Explosions clear space, but they eat your rhythm and can shove loose pieces around. Prefer steering a piece onto a matching color over scrambling the board — it nearly always scores more.
2. The three-hex pieces are the real points
Bundles of three merging in one sit earn the fat combo multipliers. Don't waste them on a single row; line up a triplet with three matching landing spots.
3. Spin ahead, not at the last second
The wheel turns fast. Learn the feel of one full rotation so you can slam the piece home the moment it's about to land, instead of nervously tapping.
4. Use the speed drop as a sniper tool
Holding ↓ to rush a piece is great when your target is clear. Over it burns you: you lose the chance to adjust and the piece slams in before you re-aim.
5. Pause to plan
The stack only moves while the game runs. Hit P mid-fall, read where the safe colors are, then resume with a plan. That's not cheating — that's strategy.
Why you'll like it
It's the puzzle-skill satisfaction of Tetris with a whole new spatial puzzle on top. The circular board changes how you think about stacking, the combo system rewards bravery, and each round is short enough to chase "one more go" for a full break.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to click inside the game first?
Yes — keyboard games can't read keys until the game window has focus. One click inside and the arrow keys work.
Is Hextris free to use?
Yes. Hextris is open source (GPL-3.0) by the Hextris contributors. We host it unmodified; source is at github.com/Hextris/hextris.
Does it save my best score?
Hextris keeps your scores locally in your browser's storage via cookies. Nothing leaves your device.
Is it playable on a phone?
Yes — tap the left or right side of the screen to rotate the hexagon, and use the on-screen pause button.
Game credit: Hextris by the Hextris contributors, open source under the GNU GPL v3. License text ships with the game.