Although games in the match-3 genre do a lot to try and set themselves apart from one another, there’s one characteristic that each one of these games shares which is the fact that they all come with a lot of great power-ups. In this article we’ll be looking at these power-ups in detail and giving out some tips through which you can utilize them efficiently.

Of course it goes without saying that we likely won’t be able to cover each and every individual power-up that this genre has because most match-3 games come with unique power-ups as that other games don’t have. However, we’ll definitely be covering all the common power-ups that are found in most, if not all, match-3 games.

First and foremost is the explosion/hammer that’s a part of essentially every single game in this genre. This power-up allows players to get rid of an individual tile with some simple click/tap and although this might not sound like much on paper, the power-up actually allows players to often put together that game-making match that ends up winning the level for them. If you’re playing a match-3 game and have one of these at your disposal, we recommend saving it until near the end of the level when you absolutely need it. Using these at the start is often unnecessary and we urge that you try to avoid making this mistake as well.

The other highly common power-up is the object swap. Through this power-up you’ll be able to force the exchange of the location of two adjacent objects without having to worry about any move losses or penalties. This power-up is extremely potent because you can use it create special objects that can turn the tide of the level in your favor. The recommended use of this power-up would be when really need to put together a special object to score a large amount of points.

The third most common power-up in match-3 games is the shuffle. This shuffle essentially resets an entire level by changing the location of pretty much each and every object that’s on it. The shuffle power-up is usually more difficult to acquire than most others and this is due to the fact that it’s extremely impactful and would be rather overpowered if it were made available in excessive quantities.

Alongside all the aforementioned power-ups is the score multiplier. This power-up does exactly what the name implies which is of course multiplying the score that the players will get upon creating matches. The best use of this power-up is usually when players are going through a score based level and desperately need a large boost of points in order to come out with a win. Using this power-up in most other occasions would likely be a waste unless you’re trying to shoot for a high score.

All said and done, the aforementioned power-ups are those that you’ll almost always get to use when playing match-3 games. While on the subject, we recommend that you try these games out when you get the chance because they’re very enjoyable.