Jolly Jong Journey

A strip along the bottom of the screen is what makes Jolly Jong Journey different. Rather than clearing pairs in whatever order you like, you work through a sequence shown on that bottom line, collecting the tiles it calls for as it calls for them.

The board still behaves like tile solitaire, with pieces needing to be free, meaning uncovered and open at a side, before they can be taken. The constraint is that a free tile is only useful when it matches what the sequence currently wants, which turns the usual scan into a targeted hunt. The Big pile uses the matching rule on a differently drawn set.

Freecells hold tiles taken out of turn, and they are the resource to protect, because filling them is how a run ends badly. A hint and a shuffle help when the demanded tile is buried, and each level runs under a time limit, so the fastest clean matches are the ones that score. Pairs leave the stack the same way in the Titans board.

Released in 2012 as an HTML5 build, it takes a mouse on desktop and touch on phones and tablets, and full screen keeps both the board and that bottom sequence readable at the same time. The Back To School pile asks the same question of a taller pile.

1. Read the sequence along the bottom line to see which tile is wanted next.
2. Find that tile on the board, uncovered and open, and take it.
3. Park a tile in a freecell only when there is no better move, since the cells fill quickly.
4. Keep the pace up under the level timer, and spend a hint or a shuffle if the wanted tile is buried.

• Play the bottom line, not the board — Jolly Jong Journey scores the sequence, so a clever unrelated match is wasted effort.
• Guard the freecells — every tile stored there is one fewer chance to recover from a bad stretch.
• Uncover ahead of the sequence — clearing whatever covers the next demanded tile is the move that keeps a run flowing.
• Match quickly for score — speed is part of the scoring, not only of the timer.
• Use full screen — the board and the bottom sequence both need to be visible at once.