Christmas Gift Match

In Christmas Gift Match the pieces are wrapped presents, candy canes and festive ornaments, and the goal is to put three or more identical ones in a row. Each match scores points and takes those pieces off the board.

The game is split into a series of levels, every one built on the Christmas theme, and the developer mentions holiday artwork with cheerful music playing alongside. It is designed to work on both mobile and desktop, and the swap is handled a little differently on each. With a mouse, you click a tile to pick it, then drag it onto a neighbouring tile and let go. On a touch screen you tap a tile to pick it and then swipe it across.

The frame is wide, 1920 by 1080, which is the landscape shape of a typical monitor.

Pick a gift by clicking it, or by tapping it on a phone or tablet. Then move it onto the tile directly next to it: drag and release with a mouse, or swipe with a finger. The two pieces change places, and if that forms a row of three or more identical gifts, they are matched, scored and cleared. Repeat to complete each level.

Every match both scores and clears space, so the aim of every swap is a row of three or more identical gifts. On a touch screen, remember that the tile has to be selected with a tap before the swipe, which is a different rhythm from the mouse version.

A Christmas swap match-3 in a landscape frame (1920 by 1080). The developer says it runs on mobile and desktop, and describes both mouse and touch controls. Background music is part of the presentation.

Jewel Christmas is the other festive pick, with gingerbread men, stockings and baubles plus five game modes, and Candy World Saga wraps its candy swapping in a story about two children and their grandfather.