Halloween Match 3 or Match 2? Why Our Game Matches Pairs.

When is the best time to release a Halloween game if not in September-October? We always dreamt of having our own Halloween game and now we have it. We created a Halloween Match game and are extremely happy about it.

In the game the player needs to remove items from the chimney by putting two same items next to each other. Why match two and not match three? When people hear “match game” they often think about match three games. We dedicated the whole previous blog to the match three games but also mentioned that they are part of a bigger “family” of “match games”.

In short, a match game is a game where the player has a board full of different objects and moves them until two or more identical objects are next to each other and then they disappear.

We like playing such games - because that’s the most classic game in the genre. When we started making Halloween Match we decided that we wanted to make it a match two game. So that the player would need only two matching characters to make them disappear.

How the chimney works

The main idea of Halloween Match is very simple. The player sees the crypt filled with Halloween bubble-characters that kind of hang in the air. There are pumpkins, ghosts, bats, mummies, rats and many others. The main goal is to let them out through the chimney. The player can “unlock” them one bubble at a time by just clicking/tapping on that bubble. After clicking, any bubble will start floating upwards. And if nothing stands in its path, it will travel up the chimney.

But items can only disappear out of the chimney in pairs. If only one element goes to the chimney, it will be stuck there until the player gives it another matching element. And the neck of the chimney is only one character wide with only up to four slots. When two identical characters become neighbours, they match and disappear. This means that the characters form a line in case they don’t disappear. But if they are not identical then they will get stuck in the chimney and may cause a problem later. If the chimney overflows, the level is failed.

At first these rules sound easier than match three. And we made the first levels quite easy. But as you progress in Halloween Match - the game becomes harder and harder and it’s starting to really matter - which items to send up first.

So, it is a matching game, but also a planning game.

Easy tap, harder plan

The controls are also super easy. It only takes one mouse click or one tap on the phone or tablet to launch a bubble. However, it really matters which bubble you tap. So it’s very easy to make the move. But the board can become surprisingly difficult. Not as difficult as our Hexagonal Minesweeper, for example, but still.

For example, sometimes the item that you need is sitting under two or three other characters. You can see the pair you want, but you cannot reach it yet. And if you just click on it, it will be launched upwards and will be stuck under other bubbles. But then if you click on the bubbles that are blocking it without thinking strategically - all the bubbles will start going upwards - towards the bottle neck and if there are no matching bubbles then the risk is very high that they will get stacked against each other and will overfill the bottleneck.

This is why we think Halloween Match is not only about searching for the matching pairs. It is also about planning a few moves ahead.

What to call it

So, also referring to our previous post - which category does the game belong to? In our opinion it’s fair to call it a Halloween matching game, a match two game, a match puzzle or even just a Halloween puzzle game.

So, if you like any of these genres or if you just want to calmly match items while listening to Halloween music, you can try Halloween Match on YesPuzzles.

It is free to play and there is nothing to download.

Let us know what you think about it in our Discord channel!