'Triple Town' delights on multiple platforms
— -- A charming little puzzler with humble beginnings is now making it into the big time.
Triple Town, a game that started out as a Kindle app in 2010, is now popular as one of the best free games on social networking sites Facebook and Google+. And in January, the game released as a free download in both the Apple and Android app marketplaces.
Why is this game creating such buzz? It's because Spry Fox, the developer, tapped into one of the most beloved casual gaming play patterns — matching three items to make them disappear — and then cleverly added a build-a-city theme and a strategy that requires you to think ahead.
You play a round of Triple Town by placing game pieces on a 6-by-6 gridded gameboard. When the game starts, a few of the 36 squares are already filled with grass clumps, bushes, trees and houses; but the rest are empty. Running around this town are cute little gibberish-talking people.
The goal is to accumulate the most points possible before filling up the grid. The game randomly generates objects for you to place on the grid. You earn points whenever you are able to make a "match three" — which means that you place an object in a spot so that you create a line, row or an "L" shape of three or more identical objects.
When you "match three," you also open spots on the board, since things morph. For example, three clumps of grass turn into one bush and two open spaces, and net you 25 points. The progression varies depending on the objects; but grasses combine to create bushes, bushes combine to create trees, trees combine to create huts and so on until the board is filled with manor houses, cathedrals, castles and more.
The key to this strategy game is planning where the morphing will occur. It always happens at the spot which made the "match" rule come into play. For example, if you place three clumps of grass in a row, the third placement is where the transformation will occur. On that last spot, a new bush will appear, you will see the other two grasses get sucked into the bush, and the spots that used to host the grasses reappear as empty. If you want to match your newly formed bush with two others, you need to plan where to place your next three clumps of grass.
In addition to grass, bushes, trees and houses as game pieces, there are others. Occasionally a crystal, which acts as a wild card, will appear. There are also roaring bears that shift to adjacent squares with every move. They can get in the way of your planning, so it is best to deal with them by trapping them so they can't move. If you block three off in this manner, they will morph into a church and earn you points. Another pesky piece is the ninja bear which jumps to open squares. The solution to ninja bears is bot pieces, which will turn the ninja bears into grave markers. Match three of these grave markers and you get a church. There is also a Storehouse where you can store one game piece and swap it out at any time.
Triple Town has a limited number of turns, so you can run out of moves before the game board is full. However, your turn meter will refill over time or you can use in-game currency to purchase more moves. Likewise, you can use real money to buy more moves; but we found that spending money wasn't necessary.
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