A fast-paced puzzle game. Match blocks, build chains, and bury your opponent under a pile of garbage before your own stack reaches the top.
Crack Attack! was originally inspired by Tetris Attack, Nintendo's puzzle game for the Super Nintendo — itself the Western release of Japan's Panel de Pon. The core idea is the same: swap blocks in a stack that never stops rising, chain your clears, and send garbage to your opponent. Daniel Nelson created Crack Attack! as free software; this version is a complete rewrite in Rust.
Seven short lessons. Choose a lesson or use the arrows to browse. Each animated demo loops through several examples. Use the Pause button to stop it.
The board is six blocks wide. Your cursor selects two cells side by side. Move it around the board to swap the blocks in those cells.
You can also swap a block with an empty space: it slides over, and then falls if there is nothing under it.
Line up three or more blocks of the same color, horizontally or vertically, to clear them.
Clear four or more matching blocks at once, in one long line or connected lines, to send garbage to your opponent. The more blocks you clear, the more garbage you send. See the sizes.
When blocks vanish, everything above falls. If the falling blocks line up on their own, you get another clear — and a chain. A second clear makes it x2, a third x3, and so on.
Garbage arrives as a solid slab on top of your stack. You cannot swap it or clear it like ordinary blocks. Clear matching blocks directly next to it to make it break apart and release ordinary blocks.
The break spreads to other touching slabs of the same type. The released blocks can form new matches and help you recover.
The stack rises faster as the game goes on. The lights on both sides show its height. If it reaches the top, the rise stops and a seven-second countdown begins. Lower the stack before time runs out, or you lose.
Gray blocks appear occasionally. Match three or more in a line to clear them, just like colored blocks. Clearing them sends gray garbage across the full width of the board.
Gray garbage does not break when touching ordinary garbage breaks. Clear matching blocks directly next to it, or break another gray slab touching it.
In a duel, combos and chains send garbage to your opponent. Move the sliders to see how much. The sizes follow the game’s rules.
Each slab is one row high. Clearing four matching blocks sends a slab three blocks wide. Clears of seven or more are split into multiple slabs.
An xn chain sends one slab across the full width of the board, n − 1 rows high, up to a maximum of 11 rows. Longer chains send taller slabs.
Aim for the highest score you can before the stack reaches the top. Larger combos and longer chains earn more points, but your larger attacks return as garbage on your own board. Your best score is saved.
Play against the computer at one of three difficulty levels: easy, medium, or hard. Practice your chains before taking on another player.
Challenge someone on your local network, or connect directly by entering their network address. The last player still in the game wins the round.
Keyboard or gamepad. You can change the keys in the options.
| Action | Keyboard | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|
| Move the cursor | ← ↑ → ↓ | D-pad or left stick |
| Swap two blocks | Space | A / ✕ |
| Raise the stack | Enter | X / □ |
| Pause | P or Esc | Start |
Crack Attack! is a computer game: it is played with a keyboard or a gamepad.
The stack stops rising while blocks vanish. When you are in trouble, any clear buys you time.
Arrange blocks so that clearing one match makes others fall into place for the next. An x4 chain sends a slab three rows high across the full width of the board.
Garbage turns into blocks when it breaks. Clear next to it and let the fresh blocks fall into place.
A low, even stack gives you time to think. Act before the countdown starts.
No lines in sight? Hold Enter to bring up new blocks instead of waiting.
Breaking ordinary garbage will not break gray garbage beside it. Clear matching blocks directly next to the gray slab to break it.
Crack Attack! has appeared in magazines and on gaming websites since at least 2006. These excerpts refer to earlier versions of the game.
The graphics and gameplay are simple, but it’s so criminally addictive that you won’t care.
Two-player Crack Attack games are about as much fun as you can have with your Linux box.
If I can mention only one classic puzzle game, it has to be Crack-Attack.
An excellent, fast paced puzzle game… the game play is really addictive and polished.
Learning time is minimal, of course, but the fun is guaranteed.
Show the original text
Il tempo di apprendimento necessario è ovviamente minimo, ma il divertimento è assicurato
Original (Italian)
Crack-Attack, a free Tetris clone, and Neverball stand out for their cool sound and nice 3D graphics.
Show the original text
Crack-Attack, ein freier Tetris-Klon, und das Geschicklichkeitsspiel Neverball zeichnen sich durch coolen Sound und schicke 3D-Grafik aus
Original (German)
Linux Format had two unofficial-official games of choice… Unreal Tournament and the less resource-hungry Crack Attack.
These short excerpts include links to their sources. Most are shown in English. Italian and German excerpts are shown in their original language on the matching language page, and in English translation elsewhere. Use “Show the original text” to read the source text when a translation is shown.
Free and open source (GPL-3.0). Latest version — solo, versus the computer, and versus a friend on your network.
Crack Attack! is a computer game: download it on a Windows, macOS or Linux machine. There is no phone or tablet version.
Early releases may have rough edges. Release notes · Source code