About Duneburst
Duneburst is a free online sand physics puzzle you play straight in your browser, with no downloads and no ads. Pieces fall like a normal block puzzle, but the moment one lands it bursts into hundreds of individual coloured grains that flow, slump and settle under a real granular simulation. There are no lines to clear. Instead you clear by building an unbroken same-colour path from the left wall to the right wall, which detonates every grain connected to it and collapses the whole board into a cascade. What makes Duneburst different from every other sand puzzle on the web is the relic draft: every third clear the game pauses and offers you three of fifteen relics that permanently rewrite the run. Heavy Grains stack steeper. Loose Sand flattens into wide banks. Winnower stitch a span across a gap. Solvent Grain eats its neighbours. Deep Cut pays far more for thick slabs, and Chain Reactor turns cascades into the whole strategy. Runs last four to eight minutes, no two runs play the same, and every run is scored on a global leaderboard that shows not just your score but the build you used to get it. Fully playable on mobile with large touch controls, colour-blind safe with a non-colour grain texture channel, and completely free.
How to Play Duneburst
Drag to move the falling piece, tap to rotate, swipe down to drop. When a piece lands it shatters into hundreds of sand grains that flow and pile up. Build an unbroken path of one colour from the left edge to the right edge and every connected grain of that colour detonates. Every third clear, draft one of three relics that change the physics or the scoring. The run ends when the pile reaches the top.
Duneburst Tips and Strategy
- A thin thread across the board clears instantly but is worth almost nothing - bank a thick slab before you connect it
- Sand slumps at about 34 degrees, so one piece spreads roughly 22 columns wide on flat ground
- Layer a second colour behind the one you are about to clear; removing the front slab drops the back one into a cascade
- Heavy Grains and Loose Sand cancel each other out - pick a lane on your first draft and commit
- Skipping a draft is often correct: it banks a reroll for the draft where an Epic shows up
Duneburst FAQ
Is Duneburst free to play?
Yes. Duneburst is 100% free with no ads, no in-app purchases and no downloads. Every relic, both modes and all leaderboards are available to everyone. Signing in is optional and only adds leaderboard placement and cross-device saves.
How do I clear sand in Duneburst?
You need an unbroken path of a single colour that touches the left edge and the right edge of the board at the same time. When that happens, every grain connected to that path detonates, not just the path itself. That is why banking a thick slab of one colour before you connect it is worth far more than clearing a thin thread.
What are relics?
Relics are permanent run modifiers. Every third clear the game pauses and offers three of fifteen relics. Some change the physics, like making grains heavier or looser or adding gusts of wind. Some change the scoring, like paying more for thick slabs or deeper cascades. You can hold up to eight in one run, and the combination is what makes each run different.
Does Duneburst work on mobile?
Yes, it is designed mobile-first. Drag to steer the piece, tap to rotate and swipe down to drop, or use the large on-screen buttons if you prefer. Every control has a button as well as a gesture, so you never need a keyboard.
Is Duneburst colour-blind friendly?
Yes, and it was designed that way from the start because matching colours is the core mechanic. The five grain colours use a colour-blind safe palette, they are separated on a luminance ladder so they stay distinguishable in greyscale, and each colour carries its own grain texture pattern and its own symbol. There is a Grain Texture setting to make the patterns stronger.
How is the score calculated?
Score is driven by the number of grains you detonate, multiplied by how thick the span was, how deep the cascade chain went, how long your same-colour streak is, and your relic multipliers. A weak run scores a few thousand. A strong run scores a few hundred thousand.
