If there’s one genre on the App Store that is completely saturated, it would have to be matching puzzle games. With so many similarities between most of these games as developers all try to provide their “unique twist" on the Bejeweled formula, it’s not every day that we come across a game that is actually different enough to be worth mentioning. SnakeHead Software came up with a combination of gameplay elements distilled in to the matching format we’re all familiar with that actually works quite well.
In Texas Tea [App Store], instead of matching a series of similar shapes together, you have to find matching sets of dice, but there’s more to it than that. You can just play it like a regular matching game and match identical dice in a straight line up or down, but to really boost your score you need to look for poker hands within the dice.
One pair is the most basic match, followed by two pair, then three of a kind. Following that, you can find dice matching a full house, straight, four of a kind, or even a straight flush. Looking for these poker hands made of dice adds a deeper level of game board analysis and planning ahead than you have in most matching games.
The levels in game are laid out as some kind of road trip across Texas from El Paso to Austin. As you progress through the game, the different levels will have game boards with areas that are blocked out (seen below), hindering your matching capabilities. Completing a level involves turning the game board from green to black, within the time limit. This is accomplished by matching dice in each square, as every time a dice is cleared from the game board its square turns black.
If you enjoy these kinds of matching games, Texas Tea is worth a try. I’ve had fun playing it so far, and once you get over the initial hump of learning to scan the game board for poker hands, the game turns out to have much more depth to it than your average match 3.
App Store Link: Texas Tea, 99¢
