4D Building Blocks

4D Building Blocks is a game to interactively explore 4 dimensional space like a child with building blocks. The aim is to reassemble given pieces to the goal shape.

2026 — the successor: 4D Building Blocks lives on as Tesserian, a VR game for Meta Quest. It is a complete rewrite in another language and looks nothing like the game on this page, yet its 4D geometry builds directly on the 4DBB code. If you own a headset, start there; 4DBB remains here for anaglyph glasses and the magic-eye mode.

I added a quick-shot introductory movie, which shows how to play the game. You can find here the avi, the ogv variant as well as the text of the video.
Please give me feedback on youtube.

Have a look at some screenshots, see the documentation, about page or the change log for the actual version 1.2.1.

3 choices to start the game

Prerequisites

• Software: At least Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0.
• Viewing: Red-cyan anaglyph glasses are highly recommended. They are of negligible expense and you can use them to see the wealth of 3d anaglyph pictures out there in the web. Just google for red/cyan anaglyph stereo 3D glasses to find a seller in your area.
  Alternatively there is an autostereographic mode. To use this mode you have to be able to see those autostereograms/magic eye pictures and need no additional equipment.
• Knowledge: This 4D Visualization introduction is sufficient to start with the game. There is also a great educational movie Dimensions on 4-dimensionality, and of course Wikipedia is always your friend.

Related Links

• 4D Visualization Page - Learn about 4D visualization.
• Magic Cube 4D - A 4D version of the well-known Rubik's cube (By Don Hatch & Melinda Green et all)
• 4D Maze Game - Find your way through a 4 dimensional maze. (By John McIntosh)

Donation

You are encouraged to support further development by making a donation.