Magic and Wizards Match

Magic and Wizards Match runs a gem board through a magical realm with a companion named Aurora. The pieces stand for magical elements, which in practice means coloured gems with a bit more ornament on them.

The game’s weight sits in its blockers. Past the opening chapters the boards fill with tiles that must be broken before the goal underneath can be reached, and the levels are built around clearing those rather than around raw colour counting. It is the more interesting half of this genre when it is done well, because it turns a matching game into a small routing problem.

Four thousand levels is a long list and the theme carries it reasonably: the palette shifts between chapters, so the board does not look identical a thousand levels in. The seasonal, slightly gothic art also makes it a natural fit alongside the Halloween shelf rather than the sweets one.

1. Swap two touching gems into a line of three or more.
2. Break the blockers first — goals usually sit beneath them.
3. Use boosters where a blocker takes more than one hit.
4. Finish daily missions for extra tools.

When a level fills with blockers, stop chasing the largest match. Two well-aimed three-lines that each break a crate are worth more than one five-line across open board.