Patience pays in squares
Same Color belongs to a family of tile-clearing puzzles that has been around since the early days of home computers. Its scoring is what makes it a strategy game rather than a tapping game. A group of n blocks scores (n − 2)² points. A pair scores nothing. Three blocks score 1. Six score 16. Twelve score 100.
Because the score grows with the square, one big group is worth far more than several small ones. Two groups of six score 32 together. Join them into one group of twelve and they score 100. Almost every good move in Same Color is about making that kind of join happen.
Grow one color on purpose
At the start, pick a color to grow. Choose one that already has several medium groups sitting close together, ideally near the bottom of the board. Then clear the other colors around it so its pieces fall and slide into each other.
- Clear the blocks between, not the target. The groups you remove early are the ones in the way. Leave your chosen color alone until it's large.
- Work from the bottom. When you clear a group low on the board, every block above it drops. That moves a lot of blocks at once, which is how separate groups meet. Clearing near the top moves very little.
- Use empty columns. When a column empties completely, the columns to its right slide left to close the gap. That can push two halves of a color together sideways.
Here's a small example on a nearly empty board. Column 3 holds just three blue blocks. Column 2 to its left and column 4 to its right each hold six red blocks. The reds form two groups of six, worth 16 points each, or 32 together. Clear the three blues first, for 1 point. Column 3 is now empty, so the columns to its right slide left, and the two red stacks end up side by side. Now one tap clears twelve reds for 100 points.
The endgame and the clear bonus
Emptying the whole board earns a 1,000-point bonus, which is often more than the rest of your score put together. Whether you can get it depends on what's left near the end.
- Count each color. If any color is down to a single block with no partner left anywhere, the board can't be emptied. Plan earlier so no color ends up stranded alone.
- Clear pairs when they're the last of their color. A pair scores nothing, but if it's all that's left of a color, removing it keeps the bonus alive.
- Watch the corners. Blocks in the top corners rarely get new neighbors. Bring them down early, or they become the stragglers that cost the bonus.
The round also ends as soon as no two touching blocks share a color, even if blocks remain.
Mistakes to avoid
- Clearing every group you see. Taking small groups as they appear keeps the board busy and the score low. Each clear should either score well or set up a bigger group.
- Cashing in your main color too soon. A group of eight is tempting. If two more clears would join it to another group of six, it's worth waiting for fourteen.
- Forgetting gravity works on everything. A clear that joins your reds might also split a group of greens. Look at what falls before you tap.
Board sizes and practice
The three difficulties grow the board and add colors. Easy is 8 by 8 with three colors, so big groups form naturally and a full clear is realistic. Medium is 10 by 10 with four colors. Hard is 12 by 12 with five, where groups start small and a full clear takes real planning.
The first tap only highlights a group, and Undo steps back one clear at a time, so treat each board as a place to experiment. Try a clearing order, watch how the blocks settle, and undo if it strands a color. Your best score is kept for each board size, which makes it easy to track progress on the board you're learning.
