Candy Mahjongg – Candy Link

Two identical sweets clear here only if a line can join them, and that line is allowed exactly two turns, not three. The restriction is the whole game: a pair you can see is not a pair you can take unless the route between them bends twice or fewer and crosses no other candy.

Lof Games gave the grid bright, deliberately girly artwork in 2019. Gumdrops, lollipops, jelly beans and wrapped toffees fill it in strong pinks and greens, cheerful to look at and repeated often enough to trip up a hasty eye. The Kris Remastered board keeps the pace of this one.

The clock is strict, and this is where Candy Link parts company with the stacked sweet boards. There is no browsing: clear the grid before time expires or the round is lost, and the pieces still standing at the end are always the awkward ones in the middle. For the rule in plain words, see What Is Onet Mahjong.

A hint and a shuffle are available for a jammed grid, and it helps to remember that a sweet blocked above, to the left and to the right is unreachable however close its twin looks. The stage runs a full 1280 by 720, so full screen makes the long links easy to trace, and taps work as well as clicks. The Robot Connections board sits on the same shelf of gentler boards.

1. Spot two identical sweets anywhere on the grid.
2. Check that a connecting line can reach from one to the other with no more than two turns.
3. Make sure no other candy blocks that route from above, from the left or from the right.
4. Click the pair to clear it.
5. Empty the whole grid before the clock runs down.

• Cut the edges open first — sweets on the outside need the fewest bends, and taking them shortens the routes for everything inside.
• Count the bends before you click — a route that needs three turns is not legal, however obvious the pair looks.
• Take the quick pair — the timer is strict, so the visible match beats the elegant one every time.
• Hold the shuffle — it is worth most on a grid that has genuinely jammed, not on one where you have simply missed a link.
• Learn the wrappers — several sweets share a colour and differ only in shape, and a wrong click costs time twice over.