How to play Gem Swap

The goal

Playing

• Drag a gem up, down, left or right to swap it with its neighbor. Or tap one gem, then a gem next to it.
• A swap only counts if it lines up three or more of the same gem across or down. Otherwise they swap back.
• Matched gems clear, the gems above fall into the gaps, and new ones drop in from the top.
• Stuck? After a few seconds a possible swap gently pulses. If no swap is left, the board shuffles (except in Endless, where that ends the game).

Special gems

• Four in a line makes a striped gem. When it clears, it takes its whole row (stripe across) or column (stripe down).
• An L or T shape makes a bomb, with a white ring. When it clears, it takes the 3×3 around it.
• Five in a line makes a rainbow star. Swap it with any gem to clear every gem of that kind. Swap two stars to clear the board.

Scoring

• Every gem cleared is worth 10 points.
• When falling gems make new matches, that’s a chain: the second round scores double, the third triple, and so on.

Modes

• 30 moves: make the most of 30 swaps.
• 2 minutes: swap as fast as you can. The clock starts with your first swap.
• Endless: no limit on swaps or time. The board never shuffles, so the game ends when no swap is left. Leave any time and carry on later.
• Your best score is kept separately for each mode.

Questions

Strategy guides