Sweet Match
Swap one candy and watch the combos pop
How to play
Sweet Match is a free online match 3 game: swap neighbouring candies on an 8x8 board, line up three or more, and chase cascades and special candies over 25 moves. It plays in any browser on phone or desktop and in Telegram through @MatsuriGamesBot, with no download. The daily board is the same for everyone, and a friend can be challenged on your exact board.
Sweet Match is a classic match 3 puzzle. Swap two neighbouring candies to line up three or more of a kind and they pop; the candies above fall and new ones drop in, often setting off cascades that score more with every wave. Four in a line make a striped candy that clears a whole row or column, an L or T shape a wrapped candy that blasts the 3×3 around it, and five in a line a colour bomb that clears every candy of the colour you swap it with. Swap two specials together for a bigger combo. Seven kinds of candy keep the board tricky. You have 25 moves; when they run out, every special left on the board goes off for a sugar crush bonus, and your score earns one to three stars. The daily board and its falling candies are the same for everyone, so the leaderboard is a fair race.
- Swap two neighbouring candies: drag or swipe one onto the next, or click one and then its neighbour (keys: arrows move, Enter picks, an arrow swaps).
- Line up 3 or more of a kind to pop them; 4 in a line make a striped candy, an L or T a wrapped one, 5 a colour bomb. Swap two specials together for a combo.
- You have 25 moves; cascades multiply your points, and every special left over goes off at the end as a bonus.
- The bar over the board fills as you score: 4,000 points earn a star, 6,500 two, 9,500 all three.
How to play Sweet Match
The board is 8x8 with seven kinds of candy and starts with no match ready. A move swaps two neighbouring candies. It is accepted only if it lines up three or more of a kind, brings two special candies together, or involves a colour bomb; a swap that does nothing is refused and costs no move. Matched candies pop, the ones above fall, new ones drop in from the top, and any new lines pop in turn as a cascade. If no move is left, the board reshuffles for free.
Each candy cleared is worth 20 points times the cascade step: the swap's own match counts once, the next wave double, and so on up to ten times. Four in a line makes a striped candy, an L or T shape a wrapped candy, five in a line a colour bomb; making one adds 60, 100 or 200 points under the same multiplier. A run is exactly 25 swaps. After the last one, every special still on the board goes off for 100 points each plus whatever it clears: the sugar crush.
Sweet Match strategy and tips
- Read a striped candy before you make it. Four in a horizontal line makes a candy that clears its column, four in a vertical line one that clears its row, so pick the match whose blast will cross the most candies or other specials.
- Know the combos. Two striped candies fire a row and a column (+200), striped plus wrapped clears three rows and three columns (+400), two wrapped blast a 5x5 square (+400), and a colour bomb turns every candy of its partner's colour into that striped or wrapped special (+600 or +800).
- Two colour bombs swapped together clear the entire board and add 1000, the biggest combo in the game. Any swap that touches a bomb sets it off, so when a bomb sits next to another special, that pairing is usually the move to make.
- A colour bomb set off by another blast takes out the most common colour left on the board. Swapping it yourself lets you choose the colour, ideally one with several specials of that colour waiting to be triggered.
- Count your moves down. Specials made in the last few swaps still pay in the sugar crush, 100 each plus their blast, so near the end a move that builds a special often beats a bigger plain match.
Modes and difficulty
The daily board changes at 00:00 UTC and gives everyone the same starting candies and the same stream of new ones; only the first try of the day counts on the daily leaderboard. Practice deals a fresh board every time, as often as you like. After any run, share it and a friend plays the exact same board with your score as the target. There are no levels: every run is the same 25-move format.
Playing Sweet Match on Matsuri
Sweet Match takes turns hosting the Matsuri Cup, the weekly competition where your best practice score counts and the top 10 win candy and a cup badge. Scores are never simply typed in: the server replays every swap from the board's seed. Mocha, the hall's host, reacts to big combos, and in a Telegram group the game keeps that group's own leaderboard.
A little history
Swap-to-match puzzles became a household genre with Bejeweled, released by PopCap Games in 2001. King's Candy Crush Saga (2012) brought sweets, limited moves and the special candies most players now expect: striped, wrapped and the colour bomb. Sweet Match keeps those specials and combos, played as one 25-move run on a shared daily board instead of a level map.
In the same series: Match and pop
- Bubble Pop: Bank off the wall, pop three of a colour
- Color Lines: Line up five of a colour and watch them pop
- Block Puzzle: Fill a row and watch it vanish
- Candy Sort: Pour and pour till each jar holds one colour
Update log
- · Held sideways, the three goal stars no longer sit on top of each other.
- · On a phone the Finish button sits right under the board.
- · A track beside your moves fills toward three stars, at 4,000, 6,500 and 9,500 points.
- · A seventh kind of candy makes cascades rarer and every star more earned.
- · Sweet Match arrives: 25 swaps, striped and wrapped candies, colour bombs and a sugar-crush finale.
Questions
- Can I play a match 3 candy game free online with no download?
- Yes. Sweet Match is free in any browser on phone or desktop, with no download and no sign-up, and it also runs inside Telegram through @MatsuriGamesBot. There are no ads.
- How many moves do I get in Sweet Match?
- Each game is 25 swaps on an 8x8 board, and only swaps that make a match or combine specials count. If no move is left, the board reshuffles itself, and when your moves run out the specials left on the board go off for a sugar crush bonus.
- How do I make striped, wrapped and colour bomb candies?
- Four in a line makes a striped candy that clears its whole row or column, an L or T shape makes a wrapped candy that blasts the 3x3 around it, and five in a line makes a colour bomb. Swap a colour bomb with a candy to clear every candy of that colour, or swap two specials together for a combo.
- Is the daily match 3 board the same for everyone?
- Yes. The daily board and the candies that drop in are the same for everyone, so the leaderboard is a fair race, and the server checks every score by replaying your swaps. You can also send a friend the exact same board as a challenge.