Emoji Link: The Smile Game

Emoji Link: The Smile Game swaps tile faces for the emoticons you already know, with grins, winks, hearts, animals and food icons on a 600-by-800 portrait grid. The set changes as you advance.

Playtouch describes the rule in terms of lines rather than turns: matching emoji link when they can be joined in fewer than three straight lines, which is the same thing as a path bending twice at most. Another board from the same undemanding group is the Best Link grid.

Each level runs under a time limit, and clearing every icon before it expires promotes you to a new set of emoticons. The difficulty creeps rather than jumps, with every level a little harder than the last, a denser grid and more lookalike faces. More of the same shape sits in the Tower list.

Hints and a shuffle cover a stalled board. Full screen is more useful here than on most link boards, because emoji differ by expression: two yellow circles can be a grin and a smirk, and at small sizes that distinction is gone. The tall board reads well on an upright phone, which is the shape it was built for. The Farm Connect board sits on the same shelf of gentler boards.

1. Find two identical emoji on the grid.
2. Join them with a route of three straight lines or fewer.
3. Click each in turn to clear the pair.
4. Clear the whole board before the level timer runs out.
5. Advance to the next level and its new set of emoticons.

• Count lines, not tiles — the limit in Emoji Link is three straight segments, so a long straight run is cheaper than a short zigzag.
• Clear the outer edge first — routes around the outside of the grid use fewer segments.
• Read the mouth, not the colour — most faces here share the same yellow, and the expression is the only difference.
• Hint while the timer is healthy — later levels are tighter, and a hint spent early is one you will want back.
• Switch to full screen — small differences between smileys are exactly what this board is made of.