Have you played Threes? It’s AMAZING. I heard about it last year, downloaded the app and have played this game an embarrassing number of times since then. 708 times to be exact, most of the time on airplanes… I’m not just wasting away hours of every workday gaming, I promise! Somehow it doesn’t leave me feeling as guilty as playing Candy Crush always did. Threes is an elegant puzzle that was originally released on iOs and won the 2014 Apple "Game of the Year” award. The game is designed by Asher Vollmer, illustrated by Greg Wohlwend and scored by Jimmy Hinson.

Playing Threes is as simple as it gets as you can see by the amazing demo below: you combine the 1 and 2 blocks on a four by four grid to create 3s. 3s and 3s are combined to create 6s and so on. The trick is to make the combinations with as few moves as possible because a block fills the grid with each combo you create. The goal is to create combos until really high number blocks are made. The game ends when there is no room left on the grid for new blocks to be added. I have seen some ridiculously high combos-- so far mine is 768 for a total score on that game of 21,609. I’m still working toward a 1536 block and I think I’ll throw a little party when I get there. Well, I’ll probably be on an airplane so it may not be much of a party but I’ll be pretty excited.

If you haven’t played Threes for yourself, I highly recommend you download it and get yourself addicted. It’s now available for free on iOs. It’s also on Amazon, Google Play, Windows Phone, Xbox and there is a web interface. I think it’s worth noting that if you haven’t played or heard of Threes, you may have played 2048 and if so, I’d recommend this article from Wired that explains why you should delete 2048 and download Threes.

Asher was kind enough to reply to my email asking what else he is up to and he pointed me toward Royals, which I had a lot of fun with. You should also check out Puzzlejuice. I’d also recommend heading over to his website where he announces any updates or new projects and links to so many talented people you can get lost for hours exploring their projects and dreaming up what they might do if they made projects for the tabletop industry. HINT HINT to you publishers out there.

Now for a little self promotion: please head over and like my Facebook page. To help it get going, my friend Travis who runs the very awesome Millenium Games in Rochester has offered to send out a copy of Smash Up! Munchkin to the 100th person to like the page. Steve Jackson Games recently announced that I'm working as their U.S. Sales Manager (YAY!) and Smash Up was one of my first posts for the blog, so it's a fitting gift. Thanks for reading! :)