Match Three Swap is a browser match-three game played entirely by swapping neighbours. The board is 7 columns by 9 rows — 63 cells — holding 6 kinds of tile, and every kind has both its own ink and its own silhouette: disc, bar, square, triangle, cross, rhombus. They stay apart in a greyscale screenshot, so nothing here depends on telling two colours apart. You do one thing: swap two adjacent tiles so that three or more of a kind line up in a row or a column. Those clear, the tiles above fall in to fill the gap, and anything that lines up again on the way down is a chain — paying more each level for the first 5, capped after the fifth. Line up 4 or more in a single move and every tile past 3 pays extra, but only for the line you made yourself; a line the falling tiles happened to make does not count. Each level gives you a move budget and a quota: clear the counts shown in the HUD and the level is done, with the moves you did not spend converted at 30 points each and the stars decided by how many you saved. A swap that fails to make a line costs no move and no points at all, so trying things is free; hold a tile, drag away and drag back, and lifting cancels without submitting anything. When no swap anywhere on the board can make a line, the board reshuffles itself, and after a reshuffle there is always a move.

The computer room between classes, and whoever got there first got the chair. The mouse mat frayed at the edge, seven columns of cells glowing on the screen, and a half-circle of people behind you pointing: swap those two — no, not that one, the one underneath. What kept you there was not the score. It was the moment you saw a line of four before anyone else said it: no reflexes, no luck, you just saw it.

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【电】 School and home computers · 1993–2003 →

1. 01

   Tap the board and you are playing — there is no start screen and no tutorial. Two tiles are pulsing when you arrive; drag one onto the other for your first move.

2. 02

   Read the HUD first: it shows which kinds of tile are targets and how many of each are still to go. Drive every target to 0 and the level is done. Clearing other kinds scores points but does not reduce the quota.

3. 03

   Hold a tile and drag it towards the neighbour you want, and lifting is what submits. Change your mind halfway, drag back where you started and lift: the move does not happen and no move is spent.

4. 04

   You can tap instead of dragging: tap one tile to pick it up, then tap the neighbour to swap. Tapping the same tile puts it down; tapping a distant one picks that up instead.

5. 05

   The swap only stands if it leaves one of the two tiles in a line of 3 or more of a kind. If it does not, the pair springs back, the board and the move count are untouched, and the receipt line tells you there was no line.

6. 06

   Go long for points: line up 4 in one move and the extra tile pays another 20; an L that lines up a row and a column at once pays the bonus for each line separately.

7. 07

   On a desktop the arrow keys move the cursor, Enter or Space picks a tile up, and an arrow key after that swaps in that direction. With a tile held, Esc puts it down; with nothing held, Esc or P pauses.

Read the quota before the board: only the tiles in the HUD count towards finishing, so clearing other kinds scores but does not progress the level. When moves are tight, be selective. Longer beats more: for the same single move, 4 in a row pays double what 3 does — 60 against 30 — and the move you saved converts at another 30 on the clear. Work from the bottom up. Clearing low cells drops the whole column and is far more likely to set off a chain; clearing from the top only fills the gap back in and wastes the chance. Prefer L and T shapes: both lines pay their own long-run bonus, more cells clear, and the collapse covers more of the board. Guessing is free. A swap that makes no line costs neither a move nor a point, so when you are unsure, just drag it and see whether it springs back — it is faster than working it out.

How do you play match three, and what are the rules?

The board is 7 columns by 9 rows, with 6 kinds of tile. Swap two neighbouring tiles so three or more of a kind line up in a row or a column; those clear and the tiles above fall in to replace them. A swap that makes no line does not stand and the pair springs back. Clear the level's target counts and the level is done.

What happens in match three when a swap does not work — do I lose a move?

No. When the swap makes no line the two tiles spring back, the move count and the score are both untouched, and the receipt line says so. Trying things here is genuinely free. Holding a tile, dragging away and dragging back to where you started also cancels on lift, with nothing submitted.

How do you score well at match three — long lines or chains?

Favour the long line you made yourself. Four in one move scores 60 where three scores 30, and on a level clear every move you saved converts at another 30. An L or a T lines up a row and a column at once: both clear, the shared tile counts once, and each line pays its own bonus of 20 for every tile past 3. Chains pay no long-run bonus, because the falling tiles made those lines, not you.

What happens in match three when there are no moves left on the board?

The board reshuffles itself and there is always at least one move afterwards. That guarantee is unconditional: you never have to ask for it, and it costs you no moves and no score. A reshuffle only moves tiles around — the kinds on the board and how many of each stay exactly as they were, so how far you are from the level target is the same before and after. The new board never comes out with a line already made, so it never hands you a free clear, and it can never drop you from one dead board into another.

What happens in match three if you run out of moves before finishing?

The run ends there. If the last move happens to clear the final target the level still counts as cleared, because the quota is judged before the move count. Only a swap that makes a line spends a move, so the swaps that spring back cost you nothing. There is no timer either, so the time you spend looking for the next move is never charged to you.

How are match three stars calculated?

Stars only measure the moves you saved. Moves left at a quarter of the level's budget earns 3 stars, an eighth earns 2, and meeting the target at all earns at least 1. Each star is worth another 100 points, and the moves left convert at 30 each. So a level is worth replaying with the goal of taking 3 stars in fewer moves.

Do match three tiles differ only by colour — is it playable with colour blindness?

Not only by colour. Each of the 6 tiles has its own silhouette — disc, bar, square, triangle, cross, rhombus — and the 6 inks are deliberately spaced into a greyscale ladder with the most dissimilar silhouettes on neighbouring rungs, so they stay apart in a greyscale screenshot. The shape channel is on by default and cannot be switched off. There is also a low-flash switch on the control bar, which changes the clear highlight to a stroke instead of a brightness jump.

How do match three chains work, and how is the multiplier worked out?

A chain is made by the refill rather than by you: tiles drop into the cleared cells and line up again on the way down. The multiplier climbs level by level from 1 to 5 and then holds at 5. A cell cleared in chain level k is worth its 10 base points times k, still counted at 5 once k passes 5. A line the falling tiles made pays no long-run bonus, because you did not make it.