When does a new puzzle unlock?
A new set of puzzles — one Easy, one Medium, one Hard — unlocks every day at midnight Eastern Time (America/New_York). The site uses Eastern Time for everyone, regardless of where you are, so that a "daily puzzle" means the same thing globally. If you live in Europe or Asia, your puzzle changes mid-morning or mid-afternoon local time.
Does everyone get the same puzzle?
Yes. The puzzle is deterministic — same date, same seed, same silhouette, same queue of pieces. You can compare your score and your time directly with a friend playing the same day.
Do I need to make an account?
No. Stax does not have accounts, logins, or passwords. Your daily completion status and streak are stored locally in your browser. If you clear your browser data or play in a private window, your local history will not be saved.
Will my streak survive if I switch devices?
Currently no — because everything is stored locally, playing on your phone and your laptop creates two independent streaks. We are considering optional cloud sync; if that matters to you, tell us.
How is the score calculated?
Two stats: match percentage (how much of the target silhouette you filled) and overflow (how many squares you filled outside the target). A win requires 100% match and zero overflow. See the how-to-play page for full details.
Does the timer pause if I tab away?
The timer keeps running while the puzzle is active. It pauses only when the How to Play overlay is open. Switching browser tabs does not pause the puzzle — treat the timer the way you would treat a stopwatch.
What happens if I lose?
You can retry the same puzzle as many times as you want. The result modal offers two options: continue (keeps your time, lets you try again) or move to the next puzzle. Retrying does not reset your time; it accumulates.
Can I play yesterday's puzzle?
Today and yesterday are free to replay. Older puzzles will be part of a paid archive in a future update — they will not be hidden, but they will require a small one-time unlock. Archive plays will not count toward your daily streak.
Does Stax work on mobile?
Yes. The site is responsive and includes on-screen touch controls for phones and tablets. Landscape orientation gives you a bigger play area; portrait works too.
Is Stax related to Tetris?
No. Stax is an independent puzzle game inspired by the broad genre of block-stacking puzzles. Tetris is a trademark of The Tetris Company and we are not affiliated with them in any way. The mechanics of Stax — fixed queue, target silhouette, match percentage scoring, no falling gravity timer — are different from Tetris.
Why are there ads?
Stax is free to play and we want to keep it that way. Ads cover the hosting and development costs. We try to keep them unobtrusive — no interstitials, no autoplaying video. See the Privacy Policy for how ad data is handled and how to opt out of personalized ads.
I found a bug. What now?
Email us via the contact page. Including the puzzle number, your difficulty, and your browser helps us reproduce the issue quickly.
Can I suggest a feature?
Please do. Some of the most-requested features so far — touch controls, a how-to-play modal, an undo button — came from player email. We read everything.