The standard opening perfect clear

The standard opening perfect clear from an empty board: build both sides with six pieces, keep the I and fill the last 16 cells, with solver-measured odds.

October 5, 2026

Starting from the empty board at the very beginning of a game, you fill exactly four rows with the first ten pieces and clear them all. That is the opening perfect clear. Thanks to 7-bag, the first seven pieces are always one of each kind, so you can make a plan: “stack a fixed shape, then fill the rest with the next three pieces”. This page takes the most widely used standard shape and explains it together with numbers measured with this site’s solver. For the ideas behind perfect clears themselves, read “Perfect Clear basics” first.

The standard shape: build up both sides with six pieces

The shape after stacking six pieces of the first bag: L, O and J on the left, S, Z and T on the right. The I is not placed yet.

Of the seven pieces in the first bag, the six other than the I build up the left and right sides.

The three left columns: L, O and J make a rectangle three cells wide and four high.
The right side: S, Z and T make a staircase at the right edge.
I: Do not place it; keep it. Ideally, keep it in hold.

The gap left in the middle is 16 cells. Fill it with the I and three pieces from the next bag, four pieces in all, and you have a perfect clear.

There are two ways to stack the left rectangle

Stacking A: lay the J flat on the floor, put the O on it, and cap it with the L. Place them in the order J → O → L.

Stacking B: lay the L flat on the floor, put the O on it, and cap it with the J. Place them in the order L → O → J.

Both give the same rectangle. Remember it as whichever of J and L arrives first goes on the bottom. Place the O after the bottom piece and before the cap piece.

The right side goes Z → T → S. Lay the Z flat on the floor, stand the T upright at the right edge, and finally put the S on top.

How often can you build it, and how often does it succeed?

These are the results of counting every case with this site’s solver.

What was checked	Result
Share of the orders of the first seven pieces (5040 in all) in which this shape or its mirror image can be built	About 60%
PC success rate when the shape is built and the I is kept	About 85%
Success rate when the shape is built but the I has already been stood upright next to the left rectangle	About 61%

The success rate is the share of the orders in which the seven pieces of the next bag can arrive (5040 in all) that can be turned into a perfect clear with the best placements. The share in which the shape “can be built” comes from checking, for every order, whether the shape can be stacked with the help of hold (assuming the I is kept and not placed).

Two things follow from this.

In four orders out of ten, this shape cannot be built. Do not force it. Look at the “Verdict” and the recommended placement in the practice mode and choose a different placement, or give up on the perfect clear.
Keep the I until the end. Placing the I early lowers the success rate by more than 20 percentage points. Decide where the I goes once you can see the next three pieces.

Filling the remaining 16 cells

Once the six pieces are stacked, fill the 16 cells in the middle with the pieces of the next bag shown in the next preview and the I you kept. How you fill them depends on the next three pieces, but the order in which you think it through is always the same.

Decide where the I goes. There are two candidates: upright next to the left rectangle, or flat on the floor of the gap.
Decide which piece fills the cell at the right end of the bottom row. It sits under the overhanging cell of the Z, so nothing drops into it from straight above. Lower a piece to the floor and slide it sideways, or spin it in.
Check the placing order. Pieces that end up underneath go first. If that does not match the order they arrive in, swap them with hold.

Example 1: the next three pieces are J, S and T

The first three pieces of the next bag. The I is in hold.

Lower the J to the floor and slide it one cell to the right, under the Z’s overhang. Stand the I upright next to the left rectangle, stand the S upright, and finally drop the T in from above. The placing order is J → S → T; the I can go at any time after the J.

Example 2: the next three pieces are O, J and T

The first three pieces of the next bag. The I is in hold.

Lower the I upright next to the left rectangle all the way down, then rotate it clockwise at the bottom so that it lies flat (it slips under the Z’s overhang, and one row clears here). Put the O on top, stand the J upright, and finally drop the T in.

The same 16 cells call for a different I placement depending on the pieces that arrive. That is the reason to “keep the I until the end”. For example, when the next three pieces are O, S and T, you can always get the perfect clear if you kept the I, but if you have already stood the I upright, no placement gives a perfect clear.

When it does not work

The order of the six pieces does not fit. Try the mirror image as well (S, Z and T on the left; L, O and J on the right). If that does not fit either, do not insist on this shape.
The I arrives early and hold is taken. Once you hold the I, you can no longer put off any other piece. If the remaining pieces do not arrive in the order you need, settle for the version where the I is placed first (success rate about 61%).
The next three pieces do not fill the gap. The success rate is about 85%, so one time in seven the gap cannot be filled even with the best play. That is just bad luck, so do not worry about it and move on.

In Perfect Clear Mode, the “Opening PC” drill shows a verdict on whether a perfect clear is possible with the visible piece order, along with one possible placement. Start by stacking the standard shape from this article yourself, and check as you go that the verdict stays at “PC possible”.

Practice this