Purl is a match 3 game you play by removing gems
Some time ago we wrote about what a match 3 game is, and whether our Clean! hex puzzle belongs to this family. Finally we have another game to add to the match 3 collection. It is without a doubt a match 3 game. It is called Purl - sounding as you would normally say pearl. The game has a square board filled with pearls, flowers, leaves, little colored gems and other colorful elements.
The core rule of the game is very simple and it’s the same as in any match 3 game. Three elements of the same color in a row or a column disappear. In Purl you make your move by removing one gem from the board by clicking on it. Everything above it in that column falls down and the new arrangement can make (or not make) a match.
So the first thing to look for is a little different from a classic swapping puzzle. Which gem should you take away to bring the others together?
More details on gameplay
Every move starts with one tap - if you play on mobile or tablet. Or one click if you play from your laptop or desktop. The gem that you tap on breaks and disappears. The gems above it fall into the gap and new ones enter from the top. If this makes a horizontal or vertical line of three or more matching gems, they disappear too. Then more gems fall from above and sometimes another match three happens even without the player needing to do any additional move.
For example, imagine four gems in a column, from top to bottom: a pink Rose, another Rose, a green Mint and one more Rose. The Mint is separating the pink gems. Remove it, and the two Roses above fall down to meet the one below. Now there are three matching tiles together and they will disappear.
Of course, the same move can change a horizontal line as well. A gem falling into the space between two matching neighbors can create three matching elements in a row. So it helps to look across the board as well as up the column you are about to change.
There is also always a hint about which gem is going to drop next. Above each column you can see its next incoming gem. This is quite a small detail, but it gives you one more thing to think about before tapping. A new pearl entering at the top might help finish a match, or become part of the next move you want to make.
And a move does not have to create a match immediately. Sometimes you need to remove something first so that a useful gem can fall into place on the following turn. There is a move limit per level, though, so it matters how many taps you spend setting things up.
Also, each level has a goal: either to remove some amount of gems or to remove some amount of particular gems. The gem you destroy by clicking also counts toward the collection goals. If you only need one more Rose, for example, removing a single Rose without matching three tiles can be enough to finish the level goal.
This is also where Purl differs from Clean!. In Clean! you are trying to clear the board completely. Purl keeps filling the empty spaces so the board is always full and the level is won by completing the goals shown above the board.
Also, there are some bonus styles that a player can get by playing some great matches. A straight line of four or more creates a Ribbon Tile that can clear its row or column. Two intersecting match-3s create a Flower Tile that clears a three-by-three area off the board.
The first level of Purl is Pearl Garden and then as the player progresses through the game there are different backgrounds and of course more gems are added. There are soft sounds for the gems and their matches and you can adjust the sound and animation settings to suit how you like to play. And for the background, instead of music, we decided to add a nice sound of a thriving garden.
There is no countdown timer. You can stop and think about the next move for as long as you need. There is also an Undo button that lets you take the move back.
If you already play Clean!, we would be interested to hear how Purl feels to you. Tell us in our Discord server.
Written by
Ana