连线消除游戏由于其简单的风格，而成为街机游戏中独特的一员，从它们的名称就可以了解其玩法。许多连线消除游戏大同小异，只是在基本的游戏机制上进行了微调整，使其呈现略为不同的风格和面貌。例如《Diamond Dash》，玩家在游戏中的任务就是找到三个或以上聚集在一起的同色宝石，然后将其同时消除，而经典的消除游戏玩法则是将三个连成一线的同色物品从界面中消除。但如果更明显地调整这种游戏玩法，就有可能形成一种完全不同风格的街机游戏。例如《祖玛闪电战》，它不但要求玩家同一时间消除多个同色球体，而且还会让这些球体滚向玩家虚拟形象，让玩家及时向这些球体发动射击，这就形成了一种更接近弹球或射击类型的游戏风格。

为了分析Facebook最具代表性的几款连线消除游戏的表现，我们在此将“连线消除游戏”定义为，以消除界面所有物品为目标，同时又不失玩家交互性的游戏。这里排除了让玩家在原本空无一物的界面上连续轰炸移动物体的《俄罗斯方块》山寨游戏，以及那些要求玩家向一堆物品发射以使其颜色相互匹配的游戏。另外，那些完整游戏中的迷你小游戏内容，以及大型街机游戏门户网站中的连线消除游戏环节，也不在本文考虑之列。以下是游戏邦编译insidesocialgames对Facebook平台几款典型连线消除游戏的观察结果，所有数据均取自AppData：

《宝石迷阵闪电战》（PopCap Games）

1140万MAU

340万DAU

这款“原创型”游戏排在Facebook连线消除游戏行列之首，同时还称雄了该平台的街机游戏榜单，其用户人数至少达到200万。玩家的任务是消除三个或以上的排成行列的同色宝石，它的营收解决方案销售可增加分值或改变宝石排行的升级功能。

Bejeweled Bliz

《Diamond Dash》（wooga）

480万MAU

94.9万DAU

德国社交游戏开发商wooga有好几个产品都很接近连线消除游戏的风格， 但我们认为最符合本文定义的只有《Diamond Dash》。玩家在游戏中得先将三个或以上的同色宝石聚集成群再进行消除。这款游戏目前还没有推出任何创收解决方案或付费升级功能。

Diamond Dash

《Jungle Jewels》（GameDuell）

62.4万MAU

8.1万DAU

虽然它在人气最旺时曾斩获200万左右的MAU，以及40万以上的DAU，但这款经典的连线消除游戏在过去三个月中并没有太多流量。它已经通过增加一些迷你游戏选项来丰富核心游戏玩法，但截止本文撰稿，它仍未解决在Facebook平台所面临的技术性难题。

Jungle Jewels

《Fortune Stones》（Playteau, Inc.）

38.9万MAU

6.2万DAU

这款游戏于上个月上线，但目前来看并未取得重大突破。它添加了一些策略性的关卡，支持用户自定义游戏界面。

《Collapse》（GameHouse）

25.9万MAU

4万DAU

它的玩法与《Diamond Dash》相同，也是要求玩家消除聚集在一起的同色物体。但它的运气却与《Jungle Jewels》甚为相似，无法保持长期的吸引力，比起其鼎盛时期，目前的MAU和DAU已流失了一半以上。

Collapse

《Jewels Rock》（MegaZebra）

16.9万MAU

1.8万DAU

它在连线消除游戏玩法的基础上增加了冒险游戏元素，让玩家在地图上的不同地点航行。但与《Jungle Jewels》不同，它从未真正获得Facebook玩家的关注（游戏邦注：该游戏自上线8个月以来其用户数量仅增加了两倍，而且目前还呈现了不断下降的趋势）。MegaZebra公司CEO曾在数周前的融资后表示，《Jewels Rock》以及其他MegaZebra游戏未来还会进行更新。

Jewels Rock

《Jewel Stars》（Social Point Inc.）

15.9万MAU

1.2万DAU

这可能是在连线消除玩法上最缺乏创新的一款游戏，所以目前并没有收获相当数量的用户。该游戏的玩法速度比多数连线消除游戏更慢，其目标用户是年轻玩家群体。

Jewel Stars

结论

从以上列表中可以看出，仅复制传统连线消除游戏的基本机制远不足以吸引大量Facebook玩家，而相对有创造性的改进，也未必就一定具有胜算，Poseidon推出的《Realm》虽然极大调整了核心游戏玩法，但也难免被挤出Facebook前五名连线消除游戏的命运就属于这种范例。与此同时，宝石降落的比率和速度等微小的细节也可能决定一款连线消除游戏的成败。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Bejeweled Bliz, Diamond Dash Dominate the Top 5 Match-3 Facebook Games by Traffic

With Diamond Dash eating its way through traffic on our weekly gainers lists and Bejeweled Blitz allegedly monetizing better than one might think, we turn our attention to the match-3 genre of arcade game for a look at the Facebook leaders on our social game traffic tracking service, AppData.

The match-3 genre is unique among arcade games because of its simplicity; just the name of the genre alone tells you exactly how to play the game. Many games within the genre build upon the basic game by incorporating rules and mechanics to create a slightly different game that still fits the genre. In the case of Diamond Dash, for example, players try to cluster three or more like-colored gems in any formation to clear them from the board as opposed to the classic match-3 gameplay of laterally swapping like-colored items to line up three in a row. Carry the match-3 variations too far, however, and you wind up with a different kind of arcade game. For example, Zuma Blitz has players trying to match like-colored balls to clear a board; but the balls roll along a path toward the player’s avatar and the player shoots matching balls at the rolling column in a way that relates the game more to pinball or a shooting gallery.

For the purposes of this analysis, we limit our definition of match-3 to games with the objective of clearing a board full of items that otherwise do not move without player interaction. This eliminates “Tetris clones” where the player starts out with a completely empty board bombarded with moving items and games where the player shoots a projectile into a cluster of items to match colors. Note that we also exclude games where match-3 is only offered as a mini-game or as part of a larger arcade games portal.

Bejeweled Blitz, PopCap Games

11.4 million MAU

3.4 million DAU

It should come as no surprise that “the original” match-3 game tops all others on Facebook. Interestingly, it also tops all other arcade games of any description by a margin of at least 2 million users. Players swap like-colored gems into columns or rows of at least three to clear the gems from the board and earn points. The game monetizes through the sale of power ups that increase score or somehow change the layout of gems on the board.

Diamond Dash, wooga

4.8 million MAU

949,000 DAU

German social game developer wooga has several titles in its library that come close to being match-3s, but of them all, only the newly-released Diamond Dash fits our definition of the genre. Players attempt to cluster like-colored gems in groups of three or more to clear them from the board. The game doesn’t appear to have any monetization features or power-ups in place at this time.

Jungle Jewels, GameDuell

624,000 MAU

81,000 DAU

Though once a very popular game with an MAU north of 2 million and a DAU over 400,000, this classic match-3 game hasn’t seen much traffic in the last three months. Jungle Jewels adds something the core gameplay through a collection mini-game where players try to complete the image of a statue by completing levels. The game appears to be suffering from technical difficulties on Facebook as of press time.

Fortune Stones, Playteau, Inc.

389,000 MAU

62,000 DAU

Fortune Stones launched last month and doesn’t seem like its hit its high point in growth yet. The game adds a strategic level of gameplay and lets users customize the game board.

Collapse, GameHouse

259,000 MAU

40,000 DAU

Much like Diamond Dash, Collapse asks players to click on clusters of like-colored squares to clear them from the board. Like Jungle Jewels, the game’s long term appeal doesn’t seem very strong, having decreased in MAU and DAU by more than half from its all-time high numbers.

Jewels Rock, MegaZebra

169,000 MAU

18,000 DAU

This game adds an adventure game element to the match-3 gameplay where users navigate to different points on a map to trigger a match-3 engagement. Unlike Jungle Jewels, it looks like Jewels Rock never really caught on with Facebook players, reaching barely double its present-day numbers eight months after launch before dropping off. When we interviewed MegaZebra’s CEO some weeks back after a new round of funding, he indicated that this and other older MegaZebra games might be getting updates in the future.Jewel Stars, Social Point Inc.

159,000 MAU

12,000 DAU

Jewel Stars is perhaps the least aggressive when it comes to iterating on the match-3 core gameplay, which is perhaps why it doesn’t seem to have reached a very large audience. The game also notably slows down the pace most match-3 tend to keep, suggesting that it’s aimed at a younger audience.

Conclusions

Looking at this list, it’s clear to us that merely copying the base game of match-3 isn’t enough to create an arcade game with mass appeal. Clever iterations, however, may not be enough either as we see that Poseidon’s Realm just missed the top five match-3 games despite some significant tweaks to the core gameplay (including a shifting board). Rather a more subtle quality issue seems to be at the key to a match-3 game’s success, where one game’s gem drop rate and speed of registered clicks just “feels” better than another.（source:insidesocialgames）