Gem Match — a free match 3 game with twenty-five moves and no timer

Swap any two neighbouring gems to line up three or more of the same colour. The line clears, everything above it falls down to fill the gap, and if that fall creates another line it clears too — for more points than the first one did. A run is twenty-five moves. There is no clock, so you can take as long as you like over each one, and the whole game is deciding which swap is worth spending a move on.

A swap that makes no match is simply refused and costs you nothing, so you can never waste a move by accident. That means every point of difference between a low score and a high one comes from the swaps you chose, not from misclicks. Free, no download, and it plays with one thumb.

How to play

• Tap a gem, then tap a neighbour to swap them. Tapping the same gem again deselects it.
• Line up three or more horizontally or vertically to clear them.
• A swap that matches nothing is refused and does not use a move.
• Matches of 4 and 5 pay progressively more, and each step of a cascade multiplies the whole clear.
• You get 25 moves. Score as high as you can.

Where the points actually are — and it isn't matching quickly

Every match-three game hides most of its scoring in cascades, and this one is explicit about it: the first clear of a swap pays face value, the second pays double, the third triple, and so on. A single lucky chain of four is worth more than half a dozen plain three-matches. Since your moves are limited and your time is not, the entire skill of the game is refusing to take the obvious match while a better one is one swap away.

The practical rule that follows is play low, not high. When you clear gems near the bottom of the board, everything above them falls, and every falling gem is a fresh chance to line up by accident. Clear something near the top and only a few gems move, so almost nothing can chain. Two matches of identical size are not worth the same — the lower one is worth more, and it is worth more the deeper it is.

The second habit is to look at what a swap moves, not just what it makes. Every swap changes two squares, and the gem you drag away often sets up the next line as neatly as the one you drag in. Beginners scan the board for existing pairs; stronger players scan for a gem sitting one square out of place, because that single gem is usually part of two potential lines at once. And when nothing good is visible, the cheapest way to find something is to look along the rows rather than around the grid — human vision is far better at spotting a repeat in a line it is scanning than at spotting one in open space.

More games

More puzzles that reward planning: Mahjong Solitaire, Bubble Shooter, Block Puzzle, 2048, or Sudoku. Or browse all games.