Model RB-01

Retro Blocks

A falling-block puzzle game for iPhone, built as a grey handheld console with a green-grey monochrome LCD. Seven classic shapes, twenty levels, and a D-pad you can actually feel.

Coming soon to the App Store What's in it

Not published yet — this page goes live ahead of the app. No release date is promised.

Retro Blocks running on an iPhone: a grey handheld with a green LCD showing stacked blocks, a score of 000016, level 02, and a NEXT window.

What's in it

A complete, honest falling-block game. No ads, no accounts, no tracking, no in-app purchases — and nothing that phones home.

Seven classic shapes

I, O, T, S, Z, J and L, dealt from a seven-bag so no shape goes missing for long. Rotation both ways, with wall kicks so pieces still turn against a wall.

Twenty levels

The difficulty is spread evenly: every level is about 11% faster than the one before, from a gentle 1.0 second per row down to 0.12. No level is a sudden cliff — and the top of the ladder is close enough to actually reach.

NEXT window

The two shapes queued up behind the falling one are always on screen, so you can plan a stack instead of reacting to it.

Clear lines, keep score

Full rows clear and everything above drops down. One point per block placed, ten per row cleared, shown on a little segment display under the screen.

High scores on your device

Put your name in and the top ten stay on your iPhone. Game Center can be linked if you want to — entirely optional, and off until you ask for it.

Sound you can switch off

Every beep is generated by the app from square and triangle waves — no recordings, nothing borrowed. Sound and vibration are separate switches, right on the start screen.

Screenshots

Straight from the app on an iPhone 17 Pro. The scores shown are demo data.

The Retro Blocks start menu: a player name field, switches for sound and vibration, a Game Center link, and a local high-score table.
Start menu Name, sound, vibration, Game Center and your high scores.
Gameplay: a green LCD with a stack of dark blocks, a line piece falling, and score, level and NEXT readouts below.
The handheld A big LCD, a square D-pad, and round A and B buttons.
The game-over panel: player name, score, level and lines, with the local high-score table underneath.
Game over Your run, your rank, and the table it landed in.

How to play

Every control answers a tap and keeps going while you hold it. The repeat speed is tuned per button: sliding sideways is eager, rotation is calmer, and hard drop is deliberately lazy so holding it does not slam several pieces in a row.

Controls
ControlWhat it does
◀ ▶Move the piece sideways
Soft drop — one row down, locks on contact
Hard drop — slam to the floor and lock
ARotate clockwise
BRotate counter-clockwise
MENUBack to the start screen
PAUSEPause and resume
NEW GAMEStart over
SETTINGSSound, vibration and level pacing

Your data stays on your iPhone

Retro Blocks has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no third-party SDKs. The app makes no network requests of its own. Your name, your settings and your high scores are written to your device and never leave it.

The one exception is entirely up to you: if you link Game Center, that sign-in is handled by Apple and Apple's privacy policy applies to it.

Questions

When is it out?

There is no release date. This page exists ahead of the app; when there is an App Store listing, the button at the top will link to it.

What does it cost?

Pricing has not been decided. What is decided: no advertising and no in-app purchases.

Is this Tetris?

No. Retro Blocks is an original game in the falling-block genre. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The Tetris Company or any other publisher, and it contains no assets, audio or code from any commercial title. The shapes, sounds and artwork were all made for this app.

Which iPhones does it run on?

iPhone running iOS 17 or newer, in portrait. iPad and landscape are not supported.

Read the full FAQ →