MatchCat Blocks

Two ways to clear one board: fill a line, or match five of a color. 250 Journey stages, a Daily board, Endless mode, and five cats that each change the game.

Drop pieces onto an 8x8 board. Two different things can clear it, and they both run at once.

FILL A LINE - any full row or column disappears, whatever colors are in it. MATCH A COLOR - five or more of the same color in a straight line, or a 2x3 block, pops on its own.

So every piece you place is a small argument with yourself. Finish the row you started, or hold out for the color you are collecting? Now and then both go off on the same move, and the board opens up all at once.

CLEARED CELLS STAY EMPTY

Nothing falls. Nothing refills. The hole you make is the space you get, and its shape decides your next ten moves. That one rule is what separates this from a match-3 - you are never waiting for the board to sort itself out.

FIVE WAYS TO PLAY

• Journey - 250 hand-built stages across 10 chapters, from First Steps to Everything. Fixed boards, limited moves, one goal each: clear lines, collect a color, empty the board, or free the cats trapped in glass. • Daily Challenge - one board, identical for everyone, three attempts a day. • Endless - no timer, no move limit. Play until nothing fits. • 60 Moves - the same board, one hard budget, and a weekly board to climb. • Items - a board with Bengal cats on it. A Bengal joins any color match, and clearing one hands you a tool. Clear it with a line and the tool fills cells; clear it with a color match and the tool repaints them. You see the range before you drop it.

Journey levels were not tuned by feel. Each one was measured with a bot and adjusted until its clear rate landed where it should.

FIVE CATS, FOUR EFFECTS

The colors are cats, and each one changes the board:

• Tuxedo - Double Bite: counts as one more clear • Ginger - Pantry Stock: fills a cell in the fullest row • Shadow - Shadow Claw: clears one extra tile • Snow - Guard: saves your chain once • Bengal - Wild color, in Items mode: matches anything, and drops a tool

A ROOM FOR THEM

Playing earns fish, and fish furnish a room the cats actually live in - wallpaper, floors, windows, shelves, cat trees, plants, rugs and bowls, in day and night moods. Feed them a treat and they warm to you; bond far enough and they learn new things to do on the stage. Twenty-five outfits, five for each cat - Snow's Ribbon, Ginger's Scarf, Shadow's Witch Hat, Tuxedo's Crown and more.

LEADERBOARDS

All-time, weekly and daily boards with country flags. Sign in with Apple or Google to post a score, or skip it entirely - the whole game is playable without an account.

COME BACK TOMORROW

Daily check-in builds a streak, with fish waiting at 3, 7, 14 and 30 days.

DETAILS

• No rotation, no timer, no lives, no energy, no waiting. • Light and dark themes. • Two music packs - synthesized Bach and Debussy, or two electronic tracks. Separate volume for music and effects, and vibration you can turn off. • Ads appear when a run ends, and when you choose to watch one to carry on or to earn more weekly entries. A one-time purchase removes the full-screen ads; the carry-on ad stays for everyone, because it is the only one that touches your score. • English, Korean and Japanese.