Quadblockquiz is a tetrominoes-like game that is part tetrominoes and part question/answer quiz. The question/answer less about what you already know, and is more about educating on supply chain cybersecurity. This page is about the "power-ups" that you get awarded in the Question/Answer part of the game.
The purpose of the game is to learn more about supply chain cybersecurity in a fun way. See How to Play to get started.
The best strategy is to switch back and forth between the falling blocks part of the game and the question/answer part of the game. You switch from falling-blocks to question/answer by hitting the space bar. You switch back by hitting the 'continue' button. Note "pauses" is a misnomer as it only pauses the falling of the blocks. The game timer continues, and lawsuits and cyberattacks can still occur. Staying too long in either section will almost certainly result in unforseen bad things happening.
This page is about the powerups which you earn in question/answer part of the game, and you use in the falling blocks part of the game.
In addition to continue/quit/topics, hitting the space bar also shows you the powerups you have already earned, and allows you to use them.
Powerups are earned by answering questions correctly. Each question has one powerup associated with it. When you answer the question correctly, you get the points added to your score and the powerup added to the power bar. Note you can have more than one of any powerup.
You use the powerup by clicking on it.
The different types of powerups are described below:
Add block allows you to add one block in any open spot on the board. This is handy for completing a row. Note a row doesn't complete when you add the block, it completes when the next falling block hits the brickyard (the jumble of blocks at the bottom of the board). This allows you to complete multiple rows at one time for exponentially increasing amounts of points.
To use an add-block, click on it's icon and the game board will appear. Click on the spot where you want to add the block and it will place it there.
Move block allows you to pickup and move a block from one spot to another.
Delete block removes the block you select from the board. This is one way to get rid of vulnerabilities or licensing issues.
Fix vulnerability allows you to "fix" a vulnerability - ie change it from a block with a vulnerability back to a normal block. Recall if you get too many vulnerabilities, you will be cyber attacked.
Fix license allows you to "fix" a licensing issue - ie change it from a block with a licensing issue back to a normal block Recall if you get too many licensing issues, you will be sued.
Remove all vulnerabilities removes from the board (leaving a blank spot) all blocks with vulnerabilities.
Remove all licensing issues removes from the board (leaving a blank spot) all blocks with vulnerabilities.
The quadblocks part of the game operates most of the time at a reasonable pace. But if you find that is too fast, you can slow it down one speed notch with the slow-down powerup.
Where this powerup is particularly useful is during a cyberattack since cyberattack greatly speeds up the pace of the game.
Speed up is the opposite of slow down - it speeds up the pace of the game by one notch. This may be because you want to accumlate points faster (assuming you can keep up), but most likely is because you've been hit by a lawsuit whh slows the game down to a glacial pace.
Clear blocks totally empties the board - but keeps you point total. There are many situations where this is useful. Maybe you are accumulating too many vulnerabilitiea and are about to be cyberattacked. Or maybe you have been cyberattacked or are being sued in a lawwuit. Or may be you just have too many blocks in the brickyard.
Superpower is a powerup that you can trade if for another powerup - which ever one you need. This is the wild card of powerups and is very handy to have. Note it is a two-step process. Clicking on the superpower icon lets you pick which other powerup to add to list. THen you must actaully click on that new powerup to use it.