Combining two specials: a pocket table for new players

A colour bomb should pair up, never pop alone.

Most of match-three's power sits in pairing two specials, yet few casual games explain it well. The table below holds for most games of the genre: two striped pieces (aligned in one row or column) make a line sweeper; a striped plus a wrapped make a colour clearer; two colour bombs make a board blast.

An L or T cluster makes a three-by-three exploder; an exploder paired with a line sweeper clears three parallel rows. That is the strongest pairing for stuck boards and the hardest to arrange — usually worth saving for the endgame when the board is thin.

What to avoid: spending a colour bomb on a small match. The bomb is the rarest piece; its value lives in arithmetic with a partner, not in a lone pop. A holding rule: if no partner exists, park the special in a corner — most games keep it unless you spend it.

This table fits the great majority of the site's match-three shelf; if a game has its own twist, it states the rule once on the tutorial screen — read that screen before the first round.