Monster Matching Deluxe

Monster Matching Deluxe asks for something more specific than a score: every block on the board has to end up green. You get there by connecting groups of three or more adjacent monsters, and a connected group turns green rather than vanishing, which changes the whole texture of the puzzle.

Diagonals are legal here, and that is the detail people miss. A group can run horizontally, vertically or diagonally, so a board that looks locked usually has a diagonal route through it that a grid-trained eye slides straight past. Getting used to reading three directions instead of two is most of the learning curve.

Twenty-four levels make up the run, and the later ones are built around leftover corners — single blocks that stayed grey because you cleared past them earlier. Finishing means going back for them, which is harder than reaching them the first time.

1. Look for monsters of the same kind sitting next to each other, including diagonally.
2. Press and drag across three or more to connect them and turn the group green.
3. Check the corners and edges as you go; grey stragglers are what stalls a level.
4. Turn every block green to complete the level, and work through all twenty-four.

Scan diagonally before you decide a board is stuck. Diagonal groups are legal and consistently overlooked, and on the later levels they are usually the only way to reach a block stranded in a corner.