3 Link

3 Link changes the count that every other connect board takes for granted, because matches here are made in threes. Two identical pictures are not a move, and the third copy has to be reachable as well. If the layout is new, the short definition explains it.

The art is a mixed bag of cute animals, plates of food and postcard places, which keeps the scanning honest: you are hunting a third copy of one specific dumpling rather than a generic symbol. A clock covers the whole grid, and every image has to be gone before it stops, so the hunt for that third tile is what costs you the round. Also under this heading: the Animals layout.

Yizhiyuan Network Technology built it at 800 by 600 for pointer and touch, and the practical skill is spotting triples early. Once the board thins out, the leftovers are the pictures whose third copy sits somewhere you cannot route to. The same section of the catalogue also holds Fruit Connect 2.

1. Scan the grid for a picture that appears three times.
2. Connect all three of them, checking each route is clear.
3. Keep the clock in mind, since the whole board has to empty before it stops.
4. Work the crowded middle early, while there is still time to search.

• Count to three before you click — a pair is worth nothing in 3 Link, so locate the third copy first.
• Learn the food icons — the dishes look alike at a glance and cost the most time to separate.
• Thin the centre — crowded middle rows hide the third copies you will need when the clock is short.
• Keep moving — the timer covers the whole grid rather than each match, so hesitating early is what loses the board.