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Matching games - a history
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22 May 2007
Jesper Jull - an academic at the University of Copenhagen - has written a proper piece of scholarship on 3-Match puzzle games:
Adjacent Gems to Make Sets of Three: A History of Matching Tile Games
Well worth a read, especially the family free he uses to trace the history of the game genres, which places Tetris at the start of the story.
In honour of this piece of work, I've done some digging to find out what the most popular 3 Match games on AOL, based on the number of copies people have purchased.
1. Jewel Quest
What more can be said Jewel Quest. Yes, the Indiana Jones window dressing was a touch tenuous, but this remains the benchmark – at least for me – for all 3-Match games. The sequel is also worth downloading
2. Big Kahuna Reef 2
Following in the movie tradition of sequels being better than the original film (see The Godfather, Terminator 2, Spiderman 2), this aquatic 700 level monster was one of the biggest games of 2006. Big Kahuna Reef is also worth a look, though I’d steer a wide path past Big Kahuna Words – a franchise extension so poor that it makes lemon Polos seem like a work of Nietzschean brilliance.
3. Bejewelled 2
The Dame Judy Dench of 3 Match puzzles – with a class and versatility that really is peerless. The original is now something of an ugly sister by comparison, but still plays well
4. 7 Wonders Of The Ancient World
Not big. Not clever. But quite pretty. That, for me, is the only real explanation for why this proved so popular last year – it was our 8th best selling game. Were we to get a little bit conceptual here, I’d argue that the success of games like 7 Wonders – which don’t tinker too much with the 3 Match formula – are testament to the power of tile matching gameplay. Sometimes is nice to play the same game in a different setting
5. Chuzzle
A little bundle of furry joy, Chuzzle gets kudos points for attempting to get us to match something other than gems.
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Matching games - a history
Jesper Jull - an academic at the University of Copenhagen - has written a proper piece of scholarship on 3-Match puzzle games:
Adjacent Gems to Make Sets of Three: A History of Matching Tile Games
Well worth a read, especially the family free he uses to trace the history of the game genres, which places Tetris at the start of the story.
In honour of this piece of work, I've done some digging to find out what the most popular 3 Match games on AOL, based on the number of copies people have purchased.
1. Jewel Quest
What more can be said Jewel Quest. Yes, the Indiana Jones window dressing was a touch tenuous, but this remains the benchmark – at least for me – for all 3-Match games. The sequel is also worth downloading
2. Big Kahuna Reef 2
Following in the movie tradition of sequels being better than the original film (see The Godfather, Terminator 2, Spiderman 2), this aquatic 700 level monster was one of the biggest games of 2006. Big Kahuna Reef is also worth a look, though I’d steer a wide path past Big Kahuna Words – a franchise extension so poor that it makes lemon Polos seem like a work of Nietzschean brilliance.
3. Bejewelled 2
The Dame Judy Dench of 3 Match puzzles – with a class and versatility that really is peerless. The original is now something of an ugly sister by comparison, but still plays well
4. 7 Wonders Of The Ancient World
Not big. Not clever. But quite pretty. That, for me, is the only real explanation for why this proved so popular last year – it was our 8th best selling game. Were we to get a little bit conceptual here, I’d argue that the success of games like 7 Wonders – which don’t tinker too much with the 3 Match formula – are testament to the power of tile matching gameplay. Sometimes is nice to play the same game in a different setting
5. Chuzzle
A little bundle of furry joy, Chuzzle gets kudos points for attempting to get us to match something other than gems.
thegamesblog at 12:29:00 o'clock BST Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
