I think that when the world ends and cockroaches roam the Earth in search of Twinkies, there will still be working match-three devices out there. People just can’t get enough of the match-three puzzle subgenre (myself included), and even after playing hundreds of them, Wedding Escape (Free) still feels fairly fresh.

Wedding Escape takes one simple concept (backing out of a lifetime of commitment) and literally runs with it. By way of matching together different emblems, you’ll sprint across various levels like a church, garden, and an airport in an attempt to avoid getting married. The action plays out at the top of the screen with hilarious cartoon avatars, while you attempt to do your best matching job at the bottom.

The way you match is slightly altered compared to what you’re used to. You can’t just take a tile and move it anywhere — you have to tap one at a time to turn it into the opposite icon. For instance, a blue gem will turn into a purple one, and a gold coin will morph into silver. It makes everything much tougher, because without the full freedom of movement across the grid, obvious matches are less apparent.

If you match enough specific tiles, you’ll earn boosts, which can be used immediately for actions like blowing up entire rows or turning entire categories of icons into identical colors. Because of this simple mechanic of earning boosts through certain combos it adds a level of strategic depth on multiple levels. It’s not always obvious where to go given the fact that at any moment you could work your way towards a game-changing power-up.

It’s refreshing to see boosts used outside of an IAP-ridden scheme, as they are earned entirely through normal gameplay. In fact the only real IAP on-hand is a coin doubler (and quadrupler, which also gets rid of ads) — one of my personal favorite mechanics for inoffensively monetizing a mobile title — and the option to buy individual skins for $0.99.

The latter storefront option is easy to digest, because just like Crossy Road (Free), all skins are completely optional and can be earned randomly by acquiring tokens in-game. Lest you think that Wedding Escape is limited to just the groom, there are plenty of brides to unlock and choose from as well.

The only downfall of said cosmetic options is the fact that they don’t fundamentally change the game in any way. Taking it one step further, it would be nice to see a more interesting reward loop in general, since it’s not clear how many coins you’re earning towards each new skin. Still, with the core gameplay fully intact for free, it’s not a gamebreaking design.

Wedding Escape is a great little puzzler with a funny theme and enough variation from standard match-three tropes to make a mark. It could use a little tweaking in terms of how it rewards players, but odds are you’ll be playing for hours at a time right after downloading it.