Special pieces
Special pieces, and which combinations are worth setting up
Two specials next to each other are not twice one special. Some pairs clear a line, some clear the screen.
Checked · 7 min read
Match-3 notes
The rules under the board, written down
Astralymov collects what casual puzzle games never tell you directly: how two special pieces behave when they meet, why level sixty-five is harder than the sixty before it, and what the refill timer is really for. Written for players in Australia and re-checked against the official store listings.
Four guides
Each one is written from play and re-read when a game changes something it describes. The date on every card is the day it was last checked, not the day it was written.
Difficulty
What changes after the first hundred levels
The wall you hit at level 35, 65 or 140 is a design decision, not bad luck, and it behaves predictably.
Checked · 6 min read
Lives and timers
Lives and timers: the part of the game that runs when you are not playing
The refill clock is the oldest mechanic in the genre and the one players think about least.
Checked · 6 min read
Board rules
Same genre, different rules: comparing two boards
Screenshots make these games look interchangeable. The rules underneath are not.
Checked · 7 min read
Games covered
Five titles, all free to download in Australia and all with optional in-app purchases. Figures below come from the official listings and were read on 2026-08-13. The order is the order the guides refer to them in, not a ranking of quality.
01
Candy Crush Soda Saga
King · 4.61 / 5 from 39,809 AU ratings · rated 12+ · 296 MB · updated · contains ads
The soda variant changes the win condition rather than the board: levels ask you to raise a liquid level or free bears rather than clear jellies, which rewards clearing low on the board.
02
Candy Crush Saga
King · 4.6 / 5 from 205,540 AU ratings · rated 12+ · 331 MB · updated · contains ads
The reference title for the whole genre and the one most players compare everything else to. Still updated on a short cycle after more than a decade on the stores.
03
Royal Match
Dream Games · 4.61 / 5 from 168,903 AU ratings · rated 12+ · 314 MB · updated · no ads label
Dream Games' board is built around obstacle layers rather than colour goals, and its specials interact with obstacles more aggressively than the King titles do.
04
Homescapes: Match 3 Games
Playrix · 4.55 / 5 from 134,353 AU ratings · rated 12+ · 300 MB · updated · no ads label
A match-3 board wrapped in a renovation progression, so level rewards feed a second system. Useful for seeing how pacing outside the board changes the feel of the levels.
05
Royal Kingdom
Dream Games · 4.59 / 5 from 45,477 AU ratings · rated 12+ · 314 MB · updated · no ads label
Shares conventions with Royal Match, which makes the pair a clean way to see what a studio keeps consistent between two titles.
What changed here
Every revision to a guide, with the date it happened. Kept in public so you can see whether a page has been touched since the game it describes was updated.
Store data re-read
Ratings, age ratings and update dates for all five titles taken again from the Australian listings.
Lives guide revised
Added the note about device clock changes after a reader asked whether it still works. It does not.
Difficulty guide revised
Reworked the section on what changes at a gate to separate move budget from goal stacking.
Board rules comparison published
New guide covering the four rules that differ between studios.
Site opened
First two guides published, on special pieces and on difficulty.
From the same desk · A$12
The Board Rules Notebook
A PDF collecting the rule differences between studios that no game explains and no walkthrough covers, with the tables written out per studio. Ordered by request, paid by bank transfer off the site, delivered as a PDF by email. The guides on this site stay free either way.
Questions
Do you give away coins, gems or lives?
No. This site has no connection to any game and no access to any account, so there is nothing of that kind to give or sell. The one paid item here is our own PDF notebook, which contains writing.
Is Astralymov an official site?
No. It is an independent site written by one person. The games described here belong to King, Dream Games and Playrix, none of whom have reviewed or approved anything on this page.
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
From the official Australian App Store and Google Play listings for each title, read again on 2026-08-13. Ratings and update dates move, so the date is published with them.
Do the guides work for the Facebook or web versions?
Mostly, but not always. Board rules are usually shared across platforms while events and offers are not. Everything here was checked on the mobile versions.
Are these games free?
Free to download in Australia. Each offers optional in-app purchases, and some show advertising; the listing states which before you install.
Can you recover my progress or refund a purchase?
No. Progress questions go to the game's own support from inside the game. Payments are handled by Google or Apple, and refund requests go through whichever store took the payment.