Best Link

The rule that separates Best Link from a plain matching game is geometric. Two identical cards clear only when the line joining them can be drawn with three straight segments or fewer. That allows two bends and no more, which is why a pair sitting in plain sight is sometimes illegal while a pair on opposite edges of the board is not. Mahjong Connect Tips sets out the same mechanics on one page.

Yizhiyuan Network Technology dresses the cards with a cast of odd characters and a soundtrack to match. The stages step up in complexity rather than in speed, and a stage ends only when every matching pair has gone. A time limit sits over all of it, so the geometry has to be read quickly rather than worked out at leisure. The Onet grid keeps the pace of this one.

Points accumulate as the board empties. The practical consequence of the three-segment rule is that the outer edge is enormously valuable, because a card on the border can almost always be reached, while the interior is where stages are lost. Full screen is worth switching on for the same reason: the routes are easier to trace when the board is not shrunk into a window. Mouse and touch both work. The Halloween Connection board belongs to the same easy-going list.

1. Pick out two cards showing the same character.
2. Check the route between them, remembering that the connecting line may use three straight segments at most.
3. Click both cards to clear the pair and add to your score.
4. Remove every matching pair on the board to move to the next stage before the time limit expires.

• Edge cards are nearly always legal — a route that runs outside the board costs one bend, so the border is your reserve.
• Count the segments before you click — three is the ceiling, and a pair two rows apart with a block between them usually needs four.
• Break up the dense middle — every card pulled from the centre shortens routes for everything around it.
• Keep one easy pair unspent — when the clock is low, a known-legal match is faster than a fresh search.
• Play in full screen — tracing a two-bend path across a shrunken board is where most misjudged clicks happen.