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58-444: The Puzzle Quest games are a hybrid of a tile-matching puzzle game with role-playing game elements. In nearly all games, players play with an avatar character against a computer opponent using a shared board of colored gems, and alternate turns matching gems on the board. By swapping two adjacent gems to match at least three gems of the same color in a row, a player can clear those gems and gain some benefit, such as directly damaging

116-462: A Bejeweled -like tile-matching game, Puzzle Quest added elements of a computer role-playing game atop this. The player would take turns against a computer opponent, making matches on a common game board, with the types of tiles matched representing role-playing game elements like attacks, defense, and magic which the player used to battle their current enemy, the larger game component had the player improve their character and obtain gear that improved

174-600: A high fantasy setting, the player moves his or her character around the game's world and encounters monsters and other enemies to fight so as to gain experience and acquire treasure as in a typical role-playing game. Puzzle Quest was a surprise hit at release and received generally positive reviews for the fusion of the two distinct video game genres. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix was developed by Infinite Interactive for Microsoft Windows , Nintendo DS , Xbox 360 's Xbox Live Arcade , and PlayStation 3 's PlayStation Network service, and first released on February 24, 2009. It has

232-402: A broad range of design elements, mechanics and gameplay experiences. They include purely turn-based games but may also feature arcade -style action elements such as time pressure, shooting or hand-eye coordination . The tile matching mechanic is also a minor feature in some larger games. Video game researcher Jesper Juul therefore considers tile matching to be a game mechanic , rather than

290-495: A day prior, running on Nintendo Switch emulators . The article praised the game's performance on emulators (said to be better than on the Nintendo Switch itself), thanked " pirates , emulators , modders , and hackers ", and suggested readers emulate older or expensive games themselves. The article was criticized for promoting piracy, especially of newly released games, but was also noted to have sparked wider discussions about

348-670: A distinct genre of games. The mechanism of matching game pieces to make them disappear is a feature of many non-digital games, including Mahjong solitaire and Solitaire card games. Video game researcher Jesper Juul traces the history of tile-matching video games back to early puzzle Tetris and Chain Shot! (later known as SameGame ), published in 1984 and 1985, respectively. While both are puzzle games, they differ in important design points such as time pressure, tile manipulation, and solving criteria. While there may have been earlier video games with tile-matching mechanics, Juul stated that

406-448: A given point on the board. King , which had made similar tile-matching games for browser-based games, explored a different approach with its first mobile app, Bubble Witch Saga , which had puzzle-oriented gameplay like Puzzle Bobble , but applied finite restrictions on the number of moves the player could take and setting target goals such as score or clearing the board. This enabled them to create numerous levels that could be completed in

464-432: A great variety of puzzle game experiences. This section discusses a number of these mechanics. Early puzzle games like Tetris were timed – that is, new tiles are continuously added and the player is under pressure to make matches before the board fills up. The rate of tile addition often increased as to make for a more difficult challenge in longer games. Untimed (turn-based) games, in which new tiles are added only after

522-446: A greater number of similar tiles. In some tile games, when tiles are matched and removed, pieces above them fall to fill the space (as with Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga ). This creates the potential for additional matches and creating scoring combos, with all subsequent matches scored at higher point values. Some games drop tiles at random, others according to algorithms . In most tile-matching games, new tiles are randomly added to

580-479: A new type of tile-matching game based on creating games broken up into levels and establishing goals to reach within a limited number of moves. This "saga" approach also extended to other genres of mobile games. The second innovation in tile-matching games was the incorporation of their mechanic into other genres. One of the first such games was Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords released in 2008. While based on

638-580: A position at Bloomberg News . In May 2020, senior writer Harper Jay MacIntyre departed from Kotaku , similarly citing conflicts with management, and joined Double Fine Productions as their content and community manager. Kotaku UK closed on September 9, 2020. Totilo announced he was departing as editor in chief on February 5, 2021, though will remain in games journalism elsewhere. Riley MacLeod served as interim editor in chief following Totilo's departure, before Patricia Hernandez commenced her tenure as editor in chief from June 2, 2021. Jen Glennon

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696-469: A science fiction setting. Puzzle Quest 2 was developed by Infinite Interactive for the Nintendo DS , Xbox Live Arcade , iOS , Android , Windows Phone 7 , and Microsoft Windows . It was released on June 22, 2010. Marvel Puzzle Quest was developed by Demiurge Studios and released by D3 Publisher and Marvel Entertainment on October 3, 2013. Players gather a number of heroes and villains from

754-561: A seemingly chaotic board. Their origins lie in puzzle games from the 1980s such as Tetris , Chain Shot! ( SameGame ) and Puzznic . Tile-matching games were made popular in the 2000s, in the form of casual games distributed or played over the Internet, notably the Bejeweled series of games. They have remained popular since, with the game Candy Crush Saga becoming the most-played game on Facebook in 2013. Tile-matching games cover

812-424: A short time, making the game ideal for mobile players, and apply a microtransaction model to provide players temporary boosts and power-ups for more difficult levels. This approach proved highly successful and King reused it for the tile-matching game Candy Crush Saga in 2012, itself which was inspired by Bejeweled . Candy Crush Saga became one of the most financially successful mobile games , and established

870-512: A story about rumored upcoming features on the PlayStation 3 , and Sony responded by temporarily blacklisting the website. In 2015, Kotaku claimed that they had been blacklisted by major video game companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft . Because of this blacklist, Kotaku opted not to be a jury member in The Game Awards when invited by Geoff Keighley in 2019. In 2023, Kotaku

928-589: A survey referred to by Juul, tile-matching games were the second most popular game type in 2004 and by far the most popular in 2005. After that, their popularity declined: they were the fourth most popular of several genres in 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 a games publisher referred to them as a "niche" genre. But as they became well known and therefore assumed to be immediately playable by many people, tile-matching games migrated to other, more ubiquitous distribution channels such as cell phones and smartphones. Despite their commercial popularity, tile-matching games are among

986-424: A traditional video gaming ethos that demands games be challenging and with complex mechanics. Match-three games are NP-hard when generalized to an n × n {\displaystyle n\times n} playfield and played such that the player knows in advance all the tiles that will appear, with no random chance involved. Kotaku Kotaku is a video game website and blog that

1044-422: Is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the same type so that they adjoin each other. That number is often three, and these games are called match-three games . The core challenge of tile-matching games is the identification of patterns on

1102-576: Is having the player shoot the tiles onto the board, such as in Plotting and its descendants including Zuma . The first method, which allows only moves that create a match, results in a more strategic, thoughtful style of play, whereas the second method requires hand-eye coordination in addition to pattern recognition skills, and makes for a more hectic style of play. In most tile-matching games, players obtain points for each match. Higher scores are awarded for more difficult matches, such as those involving

1160-433: Is to match two, three, or more tiles of the same type, which merges those matched tiles into a single tile with a different value that then can be matched further. For example, in 2048 , players are given random blocks with numbers 2 or 4 on them, and much match two blocks of the same number as to generate new blocks with values in the multiples of 2, with the goal to try to get a block with the value 2048 (2 ) or higher. While

1218-508: The Game Boy version of Tetris with the Game Boy handheld system upon its North American and European releases in 1989. The game helped to sell the handheld system, making it a killer application , and sold over 35 million copies over the Game Boy's lifetime. As it drew in players that normally did not play video games, Tetris is considered one of the first casual games . The popularity of

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1276-475: The Marvel Universe as they play, using in-game rewards to boost each character's abilities and overall power. Players select three characters to bring into matches, matching gems to trigger individual character's powers to damage their opponents. Adventure Time Puzzle Quest was developed and published by D3Publisher and released for mobile platforms on July 23, 2015. Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest

1334-578: The Australian media company Nine Entertainment , acquired Kotaku Australia . . The transition to G/O Media led to several departures from the site, as well as from other sister sites under the former Gawker Media label due to conflicts with G/O Media's management. Cecilia D'Anastasio left Kotaku in December 2019 to become a journalist for Wired . Joshua Rivera and Gita Jackson left in January 2020 stating it

1392-466: The Gamergate community. Its creator attempted to shut it down in 2018, claiming that it had become "infested with racism and sexism", but it was reinstated by a Reddit administrator due to the site's guidelines. In March 2024, the narrative development studio Sweet Baby Inc. became the target of claims from online users who said that it promoted a " woke agenda ". Kotaku editor Alyssa Mercante became

1450-501: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest , and Adventure Time Puzzle Quest "free-to-play games that are hollow licensed shells, lacking the depth of story and strategy established in the original". Fahey called the series "one of those rare instances where going back to the first game in a relatively long-running series isn’t a matter of rolling back years of innovation and improvement". Tile-matching video game A tile-matching video game

1508-527: The Japanese otaku (obsessive fan) and the prefix "ko-" (small in size). In 2009, Business Insider reported that Hearst Corporation sought to buy Kotaku from Gawker Media. Stephen Totilo replaced Brian Crecente as the editor in chief in 2012. Totilo had previously joined Kotaku in 2009 as deputy editor. In April 2014, Gawker Media partnered with Future plc to launch Kotaku UK , and with Allure Media to launch Kotaku Australia . Kotaku

1566-466: The board continuously, either turn by turn or in real time. This may continue indefinitely or for a given period of time or number of turns. The player must continuously remove the newly added tiles through matching. The game may end with a loss when the board is filled with tiles or if there are no more possible matches. It may end with a victory when the player clears the board or reaches a given score. Among downloadable casual video games, according to

1624-539: The board. Mike Fahey of Kotaku praised the first Puzzle Quest in its Nintendo Switch re-release as Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns , saying that the series "fell off a cliff" after that installment. He stated that "2010’s Puzzle Quest 2 added a layer of complexity with attack and defense and statistics that, while not entirely unwelcome, muddled the successful formula of its predecessor". Calling 2009's sci-fi Puzzle Quest: Galactrix "super-challenging and incredibly dense", he also called Marvel Puzzle Quest , Magic

1682-405: The commercial success of both Tetris and Chain Shot! established the popularity of puzzle games, leading to a second generation of influential games – Puzznic , Columns , Dr. Mario and Plotting – which were published in 1989 and 1990. Another early Mahjong-style pair matching game was Shanghai (1986). The popularity of the puzzle genre was further boosted when Nintendo bundled

1740-845: The game for combat-related actions. Both Push Panic and Heroes of Kalevala arrived in 2010. In 2011 New Puzzle Bobble was released for iOS while Bubble Safari , Ruby Blast , Gems with Friends and Puzzle & Dragons were first released in 2012. Juice Cubes , Tower of Saviors , Alien Hive , Marvel Puzzle Quest , Jelly Splash and Doctor Who: Legacy were released for mobile devices from 2013 onwards. In 2015 Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle , Ironcast , HuniePop , Hex Frvr and Sailor Moon Drops were all released. By 2016 millions of players were logging into titles such as Gardenscapes: New Acres . The genre continues to appeal to gamers, with numerous titles including Boost Beast (2017), Dr. Mario World , Crystal Crisis (2019), and Royal Match (2020) among

1798-512: The game more accessible to less skilled players. With the introduction of Candy Crush Saga , games with levels featuring limits on the number of moves were introduced. In this, the player may be challenged to achieve a certain score, or match enough tiles of a specific color before running out of turns, or otherwise would have to complete the level again. Tiles may be arranged on a horizontal surface or vertically (that is, stacked atop one another, and dropping down when tiles below are removed). In

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1856-406: The games with the lowest status among video game enthusiasts, to the point where reviewers have advised gamers not to be ashamed of playing them. This may be because critics consider that there are too many of these games, which differ only slightly from each other. It may also be because, as casual games, tile-matching games are designed to be easily accessible and simple to play, which conflicts with

1914-424: The goal is to create clusters of three or more identical items on a grid, was Shariki (1994). It led directly to the successful Bejeweled (2001), which became a very successful series and inspired many similar games including Zoo Keeper (2003), Big Kahuna Reef (2004), Jewel Quest (2004), and Chuzzle (2005). Later games such as Tidalis (2010) developed the idea further with 20 game modes and

1972-424: The goal of creating the longest possible chain of matching colors. Towards 2010, new trends in tile-matching games appeared. The first was driven by the popularity of mobile games. Prior to 2012, most tile-matching games had no end goal, instead challenging the player to continue as long as possible until the board reached a state where no turn was possible, or, in the case of Tetris , where tiles have filled up past

2030-537: The late 1980s puzzle games continued to bring new titles to the market, generally building on ideas introduced in these early games. Games building on Dr. Mario' s mechanics include Puyo Puyo (1991), Baku Baku Animal (1995) and Puzzle Fighter (1996). Building on the shooting mechanic introduced in Plotting , Dr. Mario also influenced Puzzle Bobble (1994), which in turn inspired Puzz Loop (1998), Hexic and Zuma (2003), and Luxor (2005). Columns

2088-558: The latter case, some games allow moving or rotating new tiles as they fall down from the top of the playing area, as in Tetris or Dr. Mario ; or they may allow only the manipulation of tiles that have already fallen, as in Yoshi's Cookie . Panel de Pon introduced, and Bejeweled popularized the mechanism of tile swapping, in which tiles may be moved by exchanging the position of two adjacent tiles. Another frequently used tile manipulation method

2146-411: The lawsuit was dismissed the next day. In 2010, Kotaku criticized Japanese magazine Famitsu 's glowing endorsement of Konami 's PlayStation Portable game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as a conflict of interest. In response, Konami revoked Kotaku ' s invitation to the game's launch party. On October 9, 2021, Kotaku published an article about Metroid Dread , which had been released

2204-498: The merging mechanic had been part of other video games since as early as Darwin's Dilemma in 1990, the genre saw a boost following the success of Threes on mobile platforms. Tile-matching games that are set in a fictional background are normally based in a "bright and positive" fiction, as opposed to the warlike background of strategy games or the fantasy background of massively multiplayer games. Tile matching game mechanics have been combined with other mechanics to produce

2262-402: The more recent. Many casual tile matching games continue to be published. Their development is characterized by gradual evolution, where new games makes only small changes, if any, to a formula known from previous games. In the highly competitive market for downloadable casual games, new entries must be familiar enough to appeal to players of earlier games, but innovative enough to differentiate

2320-461: The new game from earlier ones. This leads to developers, according to Juul, "simultaneously trying to out-innovate and out-clone each other". A new style of tile-matching game arose from games like Triple Town (2010), Threes (2014), and 2048 (2014), typically called merge-style games. Here, the player either can place tiles in a limited area, or can manipulate tiles such as sliding all tiles as far as they can move in one direction. The goal

2378-409: The opponent, earning colored mana to cast spells or use abilities, or gain gold or experience. Clearing matches allows other gems to fall into place, which can potentially create further matches and combos which also can be more valuable. Matches of four or five gems may also lead to additional turns. The goal in a match is to bring the opponent avatar's health to zero before one's own. Between matches,

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2436-430: The player has made a move, used to be the exception, although the 1985 game Chain Shot! already had an untimed mode. In untimed modes, the player is able to continue to make matches until they reach an unplayable state, in which case the game is considered over. The addition of an untimed mode to Bejeweled! was integral to that game's success, as well as one of its most important influences on subsequent games, as it made

2494-431: The player may then have the opportunity to improve their avatar such as using gold to buy equipment, learn new spells or skills, or otherwise prepare for more powerful opponents through the game's mechanics. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords was developed by Australian company Infinite Interactive and first released on March 16, 2007. The game combines role-playing with tile-matching elements. Taking place in

2552-462: The role of emulation in video game preservation . On October 10, Kotaku revised the article to clarify they were referring to game preservation and, after a complaint from Nintendo on a later date, removed all mentions of piracy from the article. Kotaku also issued an apology and stated that, though they believed emulation was "a vital part of the world of gaming", they did not condone using it to acquire games illegally. In 2007, Kotaku ran

2610-476: The site has launched several country-specific sites for Australia , Japan , Brazil and the UK . Crecente was named one of the 20 most influential people in the video game industry over the past 20 years by GamePro in 2009 and one of gaming's Top 50 journalists by Edge in 2006. The site has made CNET 's "Blog 100" list and was ranked 50th on PC Magazine ' s "Top 100 Classic Web Sites" list. Its name comes from

2668-401: The value of the tiles they matched or created special effects on the tile board, such as removing all tiles of a specific type. Puzzle Quest was very popular and led to numerous games which uses the tile-matching as part of a battle system. While not directly influenced by Puzzle Quest , Puzzle & Dragons in 2012 was another successful mobile title that used the tile-matching part of

2726-631: Was appointed editor of the site in October 2023, after previous editor Patricia Hernandez was reportedly fired following a "personal disagreement" in August 2023. In November 2023, G/O Media announced it was laying off 23 people across Kotaku and the company's other websites. Jen Glennon resigned her position as editor in March 2024, citing an opposition to G/O Media's desire for the site to deprioritize news and instead focus on producing game guides. In July 2024, it

2784-480: Was blacklisted by Nintendo, reportedly over articles that covered leaks of unreleased Nintendo games. Further controversy followed when then senior writer Luke Plunkett posted a picture of a fighter plane with victory markings featuring the Imperial Japanese flag. In 2014, Kotaku was part of the accusations that instigated the harassment campaign known as Gamergate when a writer from the site, Nathan Grayson,

2842-415: Was developed by Hibernium and released for mobile on December 15, 2015. The game incorporates the collectible card game mechanics of Magic: the Gathering by having players build a limited deck of cards, and match gems from the board to gather mana to play randomly-drawn cards each turn, and use a variety of spells and summoned creatures to try to damage their opponent. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns

2900-407: Was developed by Infinity Plus 2 and released for Nintendo Switch on September 19, 2019. It is an enhanced remaster of the original Puzzle Quest , including the game's expansion pack and new, original content. Puzzle Quest 3 was developed by Infinity Plus 2 and published by 505 Games for release on Microsoft Windows and iOS and Android devices on March 1, 2022. An early access form for Android

2958-400: Was falsely accused of writing a favorable review of the game Depression Quest as a result of his relationship with its developer, Zoë Quinn . After conducting an internal review, it was discovered that no review of Depression Quest existed and he had only written one article that mentioned Quinn in passing before their relationship began. The subreddit KotakuInAction became a hub for

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3016-399: Was first released on March 26, 2021. Puzzle Quest 3 is a direct follow up of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords . Compared to previous games, Puzzle Quest 3 has the player make as many matches as possible on the board in a two-second window, accumulating damage and mana for spells, followed by the enemy making an off-board attack on the player's character, which may impact the state of

3074-461: Was impossible to work with the new management. Jason Schreier , one of Kotaku ' s writers since 2012 known for his investigative in-depth coverage of working conditions at various studios and development histories for various video games, announced his departure from the site on April 16, 2020, citing the issues surrounding G/O Media which filtered into disruptions at their sister website Deadspin around October 2019. Schreier subsequently took

3132-614: Was one of several websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016; Gizmodo Media Group was subsequently founded to house the Gawker acquisitions, operating under the Fusion Media Group , a division of Univision. The Gizmodo Media Group was later acquired by the private equity firm Great Hill Partners in April 2019, and renamed G/O Media . In December 2018 Pedestrian Group , owned by

3190-482: Was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith , Cecilia D'Anastasio , Tim Rogers , and Jason Schreier . Kotaku was first launched in October 2004 with Matthew Gallant as its lead writer, with an intended target audience of young men. About a month later, Brian Crecente was brought in to try to save the failing site. Since then,

3248-617: Was released in 1995 containing a two player competitive game. Sega Swirl for handheld devices was released in 1999. Microsoft bundled Jawbreaker Windows Mobile 2003. Several multiplayer modes, both local and networked, featured in early tile-matching games such as Columns and Dr. Mario and later with TetriNET (1997) and Tetris Worlds (2001). Multiplayer introduced elements of race and competition as players were able to attacks opponents in various ways resulting in more difficult matchmaking for their opponent. The first of what eventually became known as "match-three" games, where

3306-707: Was reported that Kotaku Australia would shut down as part of a cost-cutting effort from third-party publisher Pedestrian Group . In October 2024, Kotaku Australia began to redirect to Kotaku and made its article archive "publicly inaccessible". Aftermath reported that "this not only means the work of dozens of Australian writers over the course of 16 years has been lost, but also thousands of Kotaku US stories as well that, thanks to various server and ownership changes, had only survived via their reposts on Kotaku AU". In 2007, attorney Jack Thompson sued Gawker Media and site editor Brian Crecente over concerns that Kotaku declined to remove threatening user comments, but

3364-490: Was the basis of a line of development of tile matching games based on shifting or swapping tiles. It includes Yoshi's Cookie (1992) and Panel de Pon (1995), which introduced the swapping mechanic. Puzzled included multiplayer games and was released for the Neo Geo console in the same year. 1994 saw BreakThru! and Gururin published with FlipOut! and Vid Grid released the following year. Hebereke's Popoitto

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