The recent explosion of the mobile game Block Blast, has captivated students nationwide including an extreme craze among Kelly Walsh students. During September of 2022 the app hit the app store, however it only became super popular in 2024. It gained over 216 million downloads across all screens and was declared the most downloaded game in 2024. 

The game is a simple but intresting way to pass time, with two different modes one can spend hours playing. The classic is the first and most commonly played mode. The game gives one random different shaped and colored blocks, the point is to match the blocks in either columns or rows. The goal is to clear the board and earn the highest score. Eventually pushing people to beat their score each time. The second mode is more for adventurous players since it is called adventure. This is more of an evolution type mode, in the earlier levels the obstacles appear more simple but become difficult as one passes each level. 

“I like how the levels get harder each time, I feel like it gives me a challenge,” Ramya Green, a senior, said.

Green downloaded the app after she heard a few of her friends talking about it. Since then she has competed with them to reach the furthest level on adventure mode. 

The game may be a little too addictive, in fact most video games are made that way. According to the article  “Are video games screens another addiction?” by the Mayo Clinic Health System, “The reward center in the brain releases dopamine in response to a pleasurable experience or hyperarousal. If a person experiences hyperarousal while playing video games, the brain associates the activity with dopamine. The person develops a strong drive to seek out that same pleasure again and again.”  The “high” that students feel when playing this game leads them to continue to play it. 

“Block blast truly has gotten me through the past year of school, I do not know who I would be without it. It is so addicting and I think I actually have withdrawals when I do not have service and can not play,” said senior Kallie Warren. “I play Block Blast to relieve stress from the day, and to distract myself from boring lectures.”