Gem Match — Match 3

Match-3 is one of gaming's most enduring formulas: the Russian puzzle Shariki (1994) inspired Bejeweled (2001), which in turn spawned Candy Crush and a thousand imitators. The core loop has barely changed in thirty years — swap two adjacent pieces to line up three of a kind — because it is almost perfectly tuned to the human brain's love of pattern-spotting and chain reactions. This version runs entirely in your browser: no download, no app store, no account.

You play on an 8×8 board across 24 levels with two objective types. Most levels set a score target you must hit within a move limit; every third level instead asks you to clear a set number of gems of one colour. Match four in a line to create a line gem that wipes its entire row or column, and match five to earn a colour bomb — swap it into any gem and every gem of that colour vanishes. Finishing with moves to spare earns up to three stars, and your unlocked levels and best score are saved on your device.

The winning habit is to make matches low on the board. Clearing gems near the bottom forces everything above to fall, and those falls trigger cascades — free matches that cost no moves and stack combo bonuses. Scan the bottom rows first, save specials for colour-clear objectives, and use the hint button when you are stuck rather than burning moves on small three-matches near the top.