Swap neighbouring gems to make lines of three or more. Each level gives you 20 moves to reach a goal score; later levels add more gem kinds.
What is Jewel Match?
Jewel Match is a match-3 puzzle game: you swap two neighbouring gems on an 8×8 board to line up three or more gems of the same kind, the line clears, and new gems fall in from the top. Each level gives you 20 moves to reach a goal score, so every swap has to count.
The game has no timer, no special gems and no boosters. Your score comes from the lines you make and the chain reactions that follow them, which makes reading the board the main skill.
How to play match-3: the rules in detail
You may swap two gems that sit next to each other horizontally or vertically. The swap only goes through if it creates at least one line of three or more matching gems in a row or column. If it does not, the gems slide back and you do not lose a move, so a wrong guess costs nothing.
When a line forms, its gems disappear, the gems above drop down to fill the gaps, and new random gems fall in from the top. If the falling gems form new lines, those clear too, and this repeats until the board settles. These chain reactions, often called cascades, score the same as lines you make yourself.
Each line is worth 100 points for every gem beyond the second: 100 for three, 200 for four, 300 for five. Rows and columns are counted separately, so a swap that completes a row and a column at the same time, in an L or T shape, scores both lines.
A level is won the moment your score reaches the goal after a move has fully settled. If you use all 20 moves without reaching it, you can retry the level. If the board ever has no possible swap, it is shuffled for you, and the shuffle does not use a move.
Match-3 strategy and tips
Know your target per move. Divide the goal by 20 to see how many points each move needs on average. On level 1 the goal is 1,500, which is 75 points a move, less than one line of three. Later goals rise by 700 each level, and soon you need several lines per move, which only cascades and long lines can deliver.
Match low on the board. A line near the bottom moves every gem above it, and more falling gems means more chances for cascades. A line in the top rows only brings in new gems and rarely starts a chain.
Look for four and five. A line of five is worth three lines of three. Before you take the first match you see, scan the board for a gem that would complete a longer line, and for swaps that complete a row and a column together.
Think one move ahead. Two gems of the same kind with a gap between them, or side by side with a matching gem one step away, are future matches. Avoid swaps that break up these setups for a small gain, especially near the end of your 20 moves.
Use free tries. Because a swap that makes no line slides back without costing a move, you can test a swap you are unsure about. The only cost is time, and there is no clock.
Levels, goals and gem kinds
The goal starts at 1,500 points on level 1 and rises by 700 points each level. The number of gem kinds also grows: levels 1 and 2 use 5 kinds, levels 3 to 5 use 6, and later levels use all 7. Fewer kinds means more matches and more cascades, so the jump to 6 and then 7 kinds makes levels noticeably harder even before the higher goal.
Your progress is saved on your device. Play continues from the highest level you have unlocked, and your best level score is kept. Other match-3 games add special gems, obstacles or timed modes; Jewel Match keeps the pure swap-and-match rules with a move limit.
A short history of match-3 games
Tile-matching games that clear lines of three are older than most people think. An early example is Shariki, a 1994 game for DOS by the Russian programmer Eugene Alemzhin, in which you swapped coloured balls to make lines. In the early 2000s, gem-swapping games for the web and PC made the format popular, and in the following decade match-3 games became some of the most played games on phones.
Our Jewel Match is built on an open-source match-3 example by Rembound.com, released under the MIT license. We rewrote it for Hevagames with levels, goals, seven drawn gem shapes and touch controls.
Play Jewel Match free on Hevagames
Jewel Match runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with nothing to download. On a phone you can swipe a gem toward its neighbour or tap one gem and then the other. With a mouse you click two gems. On a keyboard the arrow keys move a cursor and Enter picks gems.
Each gem kind has its own shape (round, diamond, triangle, square, hexagon, star and drop) as well as its own colour, so the board stays readable for players who have trouble with colours. You can pause at any time with P, Esc or the pause button, and the game follows the site's light or dark theme.
How to play
- 1Swap two gems that sit side by side or one above the other. The swap only counts if it makes a line of 3 or more of the same gem.
- 2Matched gems disappear, the gems above fall down and new ones drop in. New lines made by the fall clear too.
- 3A match scores 100 points for 3 gems, 200 for 4 and 300 for 5.
- 4Reach the goal score within 20 moves to unlock the next level. Run out of moves and you can try the level again.
- 5If no swap can make a match, the board is shuffled for you.
Controls
Tips
- Matches near the bottom move more gems and often start chain reactions.
- Lines of 4 or 5 are worth two or three times a line of 3.
- Every gem kind has its own shape as well as its own colour.
