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Swap
Arcade · plays in your browser, no download
Swap two neighbouring gems to make a line of three. They vanish, what is above them falls, and sometimes that falling makes another line by itself. Every match-three on every phone in the world is this, with something bolted on top.
Where it comes from
Swapping two neighbouring gems to line up three is a 2000 idea, and it started as a browser window game — something to open at the office between two things that had to be done. It began small and free, and ended up naming a whole genre.
What holds it up is not the swap: it is the cascade. Take three gems out and the ones above drop, and on the way down they can make three by themselves, with no help from you. The pleasure is not in the move. It is in what happens after the move.
How to play
| Swapping | Drag one gem onto a neighbour. The swap only happens if it makes a line. |
|---|---|
| Clearing | Three or more of a colour in a row or a column. |
| Falling | Everything above drops to fill the gap, and may line up by itself. |
| Chains | A clear caused by a fall is worth more than the one you made. |
Our version
No timer, no lives, nothing to buy. The board always has a legal move on it, and when it genuinely does not, it tells you.
Three things that help
Play from the bottom. A match low down makes everything above it fall, and falling is where chains come from. The same match at the top moves almost nothing.
Look for the swap that makes two lines. One gem can complete a row and a column at the same time, and that is worth several ordinary matches.
Do not take the first move you see. There is no clock here. Thirty seconds of looking is free, and the board usually has a better move two rows down.