The Best Match 3 Games for the PC

Match 3 Game for PC: Spellarium

When I can only squeeze in 10 minutes of gaming time, or I don’t feel like fighting anything, exploring a strange land, or searching for hidden objects, I fire up a match 3 game.

There are a ton of match 3 games available for the PC. In fact, at Big Fish Games, there’s a whole category just for them. I can’t list every game in this article, so I’ve listed my favourites so far. There are many more on my “to buy or try” list.

I often use my Big Fish Game Club credit to buy a match 3 game because there usually isn’t a collectors edition, so I don’t feel I’m missing out, like I would if I used my credit to buy a standard version of a game that has a collectors edition.

Let’s get to the match 3 games!

Silver Tale

I’ll start with Playcademy’s games, because one of the most addictive match 3 games I’ve ever played is Silver Tale.

In Silver Tale, the king is ill, and you have to traverse the land collecting rare flowers that will cure the king. Along the way, you’ll complete quests, which involve collecting items and resources that you get as a result of matching resource pieces together, exploring caves, and opening chests. You’ll also craft items that will help you reach the objectives of each game board you play.

Each board can consist of multiple boards. You have to find an item to traverse from one board to another. For example, there might be a dark cave at the corner of the board, and you need to find a lantern to travel through the cave to another board. You’ll find the item you need in a chest, or buried somewhere on the game board, because some parts of the board can consist of grass or dirt that you have to clear.

I believe Silver Tale started out as a mobile game, so you’ll also find casino tokens that you can use to get new items. You get free tokens every day. I suspect that in the mobile game, you had to purchase these tokens, but I could be wrong.

You travel along a map, with each point on the map leading to match 3 board. Every once in a while, you’ll hit a barrier, and you have to solve a puzzle to get past it. There will be a game board with a few pieces on it, and you have to make matches in the correct order to remove all the pieces. Don’t worry, you can skip these puzzles.

There are two modes of play: relaxed and restricted. In restricted mode, there’s a maximum number of moves you can make on each board. If you run out of moves before reaching the objectives, you have to start over. I played on relaxed. I tried restricted and found it too challenging, but you might be a better match 3 player than I am.

I can’t explain why Silver Tale is so addictive. I can only say that I found it to be so. After finishing it, I immediately checked to see if there were other games available from the same developer. I discovered that Silver Tale is the second game that takes place in the same kingdom. I immediately bought the first game, which is coming right up.

Buy Silver tale at Big Fish Games

Runefall 1 and 2

Runefall, also developed by Playcademy, shares many similarities with Silver Tale (same pieces on the game boards, for example). In fact, the first Runefall game takes place in the same kingdom.

But there’s one key difference between Silver Tale and the Runefall games: the game boards move in Runefall. They’re huge. When you make a match near the edge of the visible board area, the view area will scroll, revealing more of the board (unless you’ve reached the edge of the board, of course).

Because the boards are large and you can’t see the entire board at once, there’s a map. You can jump from one part of the map to the other using a special power-up.

Match 3 PC game: Runefall 2 board
Part of a board in Runefall 2. You can see the map in the lower left. If you click on it, it opens up full screen so you can see the entire board and jump to another location.

Just like in Silver Tale, some parts of the board are gated with a cave, or a mountain, and you have to find an item to open them up. You might also have to solve a simple puzzle, or answer a simple riddle.

There’s more of a story in the Runefall games than you usually find in match 3 games. You’ll meet some interesting characters (who are fully voiced), and there’s even a hint of romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed Runefall 1. Runefall 2 is more of the same: same pieces on the board, same map mechanic, same characters. I’m playing it now whenever I have a few minutes to spare, but I’m not enjoying it as much.

I think it’s because the boards are too large. To complete a board can take 45 minutes or more. That’s not what I’m looking for in a match 3 game. You can save your game. You don’t have to complete a board in one sitting. But it’s not the same returning to a board in progress. I like boards that can be completed in 5-15 minutes.

Also, there’s no variety between levels. In some match 3 games, the objectives vary for each level. The pieces you’re matching can vary too. But in Runefall, it’s always the same pieces, and while there’s a bonus objective for each level, every board is essentially the same.

Finally, because the boards are so large, they feel clunky and slow. When I play smaller boards, the game often feels fast-paced. One match can lead to multiple combos, sounds dinging and popping, pieces spinning, etc. It’s fun. That doesn’t happen in Runefall. The boards are simply too large.

Don’t get me wrong. If you’re a match 3 addict, you need to play Runefall 1 and 2. I’ll definitely finish the second game, but I don’t feel the urge to play like I have with other match 3 games.

There’s a collectors edition for Runefall 2 that has extra levels and other goodies.

Buy Runefall at Big Fish Games

Match Ventures

Match Ventures is another match 3 series from Playcademy. The game plays more like Silver Tale than Runefall. The boards are smaller, and each board can lead to other boards.

The overall goal is to rebuild a destroyed castle. Each time you complete a level, you can sell items you found for coin, and then use the coin to restore part of the castle. The pieces you have to match are different to the pieces in Silver Tale, and the game has a darker feel to it.

One addition that I didn’t enjoy much are battle boards, where you have to battle an opponent by making specific matches to score points. Sometimes the battles can drag on, and the computer opponent pulls no punches, so you might have to play a battle quite a few times to win it.

I played all the battle boards and eventually won them all because I’m a completionist. You can skip them if you don’t like them.

If you enjoyed Runefall or Silver Tale, you’ll enjoy Match Ventures. There are two games in the series so far.

Buy Match Ventures at Big Fish Games

Mystika 3

I haven’t played the first two Mystikas. I can’t remember how I ended up with Mystika 3 in my Steam library. I suspect I bought it as part of a bundle or maybe I got it one month as part of my Humble Choice subscription. However I ended up with it, I decided to give it a whirl one day and really enjoyed it.

The boards are smaller than the boards in the Playcademy games, and so they feel fast paced. There are battle boards, but the mechanic is much friendlier than the battle boards in the Match Venture games. You fill up the power meter for a spell by making the appropriate matches. For example, to fill the fire meter, you match red pieces. When the meter is filled, you can hurl a fireball at your opponent.

There isn’t much of a story, but that’s okay. Most match 3 games have pretty thin stories.

You can construct buildings that will help you in battle boards. They’ll add another heart to your life total, making you harder to kill in battles, or they’ll add another spell to your arsenal. You need coin to construct each building, which you’ll get by completing levels.

Having said that, only a tiny minority of levels are battle boards. Most of the levels are simple match 3 boards, with some levels having objectives like collecting statues.

I’ll definitely be playing the first two games, even though word on the street is that the third one is the best one so far.

Buy Mystika at Big Fish Games

7 Wonders

This is an older series, but there’s a lot of variety in each game. I picked all the games up as part of a bundle at Fanatical, but that was a few years ago. You can buy the individual games at Big Fish and Steam, but Steam also offers a package of all the games. You might want to wait for a Steam sale, though the package isn’t that expensive considering you get five decent match 3 games.

The games are:

  • 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
  • 7 Wonders II
  • 7 Wonders Ancient Alien Makeover
  • 7 Wonders Magical Mystery Tour
  • 7 Wonders: The Treasures of 7

There’s a time limit for each board, but it’s very generous with lots of ways to add time to the timer, so running out of time is rarely an issue.

I can remember pulling my hair out to complete the last level in one of the games (I think it was the first one – 7 Wonders of the Ancient World). I kept running out of time because the board was shaped in such a way that it was difficult to reach the objectives. In fact, it might have been a matter of luck in terms of what pieces were populating the board. I did eventually complete the board, so it wasn’t impossible.

There’s good variety among these games and you’ll get a solid match 3 experience.

Buy 7 Wonders of the World at Big Fish Games

Buy the 7 Wonders Game Pack at Steam

Cursed House

The Curse House series is another one you’ll want to try. I’m currently playing the first one and enjoying it so far. The boards are small but there’s a lot of variety.

Match 3 Game for PC: Cursed House
A board in Cursed House. In this room, you have to move the water drops (the two blue pieces in the top row) down to the fire at the bottom to complete the board.

You explore a cursed house, and each room has multiple boards with a specific objective. For example, in one room, the objective might be to drop all the demons on the board into the fire raging at the bottom. In another room, all the boards will contain locks and keys, and you need to drop a key onto each lock.

There are seven games in the series so far, so I have lots of match 3 gaming goodness ahead of me.

Buy Cursed House at Big Fish Games

Spellarium

I’ve only just started to play the first Spellarium game, and it looks solid so far. I picked it up because I’ve seen it mentioned in reviews of other match 3 games (“if you like this, pick up Spellarium”, etc.).

The boards are fast-paced. To complete a board, you have to collects all the coins, and to do that, you have to make special pieces like bombs, rockets, and stars. The game has a good help section, so you won’t be left wondering what to do.

I don’t have much to say about it yet, except that the first few levels were fun, and so if you’ve played all the other games on this list but haven’t tried Spellarium, check it out.

The screenshot at the top of this article is from Spellarium.

Buy Spellarium at Big Fish Games

Bejeweled

I couldn’t write an article about match 3 games without including Bejeweled. I have Bejeweled 3 at Steam, and while it’s showing its age and is a pure match 3 game -– no special mechanics, no storyline -– it’s still a lot of fun.

I’ve linked to Bejewled 3, but there are other Bejeweled games available there. It has multiple game modes available, and it’s less than $5. The Bejeweled games aren’t available at Big Fish.

Buy Bejeweled 3 at Steam

Conclusion

If you haven’t tried a game on this list, give it a go. And if you’ve played a fun match 3 game that isn’t on the list, let me know in the comments. I only really got back into match 3 games after getting addicted to Silver Tale a couple of years ago, so I haven’t played most of the games released over the past few years. But I will…

2 thoughts on “The Best Match 3 Games for the PC”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *