It released globally on 29 October 2017 and has been a runaway success ever since. Match Masters is a free-to-play mobile puzzle game that broke this drawn-out duel into pure modern head-to-head action. Developed by the Israeli studio Candivore, it has grown steadily into a smash hit. When a round opens, each player picks one booster and two records from among 14 possible ones to use once only.

The heart of the game's strategy and business model is the booster: more than 30 types, from common Firecrackers to legendary Rainbow Discs, all can be filled with a specific color of gemstone on the board. Once turned on, this booster can kill a line of bricks or pass down cluster upon cluster; combine it with three timely extra turns and suddenly people say "three cheers for me." But when a player loses they surrender their original investment in battle, so high-rarity consumables are both status symbols and calculated wagers. Of course, skill players who think out two or three moves ahead still have many strategic options to grasp; these touches are like the icing on a cake. Performance is recorded on the Trophy Road, a highway that stretches from 0 to 30,000 air miles and more. 

Each victory brings 25-50 points; each loss eats up 5-15—both of these micro-updates inch you toward the gates of fame. Roughly after 150 to 250 games you reach 3,800 cups and unlock the complete set of features—teams, sticker albums, daily events and all boosters. Then the road enters seasonal Legend Leagues where top Phoenix earn rare titles and bragging rights. To keep players from tiring of a steady uphill climb, Match Modifiers are thrown into the mix: alternative rules like Funky Tiles (cells rimmed in rainbow explode neighboring cells) or Candy World (jelly beans with two colors of filling). When they reach the Master Ranks, these modifiers rotate each day, meaning even veterans have to move away from the combinations they favor most.

Social systems deepen the retention loop. Spare stickers were traded among teams of up to fifty members. Boosters were requested by people from each other, chatting and coordinating in real time on social media platforms.

Completing themed sticker albums brings vast quantities of coins and brand-new legendary boosters, while weekly Star Races encourage cooperative grinding. Periodic “Match Rumble” events blow the whole duel up into a 50-player battle-royale format: the expected result is that it absorbs almost four dozen boosters, a clever economic sink that rewards the winner with trophies and ultra-rare prizes.

The Candivore team has been adhered with the slogan "easy to learn, hard to be master." The game board is comprised of six colors on a relatively small board. Lucky cascades of tiles are less common, and players must think carefully about their moves. Four-tile matches produce Line Clears; L-shapes yield Bombs; five in a row result in Lightning, which promptly discolors 12 normal gems. This puts the kibosh on uncontrolled chain reactions as many solo match-3 games allow. Instead the feel is more akin to chess played with gems so that every move counts. Recognizing when to scupper an opponent's booster charge may often be more valuable than maximizing your own score.

Match Masters’ singular focus on competitive multiplayer games has earned it a tidy little niche. By blending the tactile joy of tile-swapping with the immediacy and uncertainty of real-time PvP, the game carves out a uniquely strategic and socially charged experience that keeps players saying “just one more rematch” long into the night.

By Jerry | Copyright © GameHola - All Rights Reserved