Lining up three or more of the same objects – accomplished by swapping two tiles at a time with a click – is essential. Doing so removes these squares from the board, with higher-situated tiles tumbling down to fill in the gaps. The core objective ultimately being to move all pieces of a particular item you’re trying to collect (e.g. shuttles, lyres, coats of arms and such) to the bottom of the board, where they’re instantly retrieved, before time runs out.

No surprises here. You get the usual mix of challenging and easily breezed through encounters, including ones where the designers purposefully place locked titles in the worst possible locale or deliberately try to orphan vital objects in a corner somewhere. Likewise, collectible power-ups – e.g. hourglasses that add precious seconds to a slowly-dwindling meter, bombs which remove whole sections of tiles and lightning bolts that destroy all objects of a certain type – aren’t particularly inspired. 

However, three tries deep, the action’s nicely facilitated by the Amulet of Poseidon, an ever-present bonus (charge it by making matches of four or more tiles) that helps prevent players from getting stuck. To wit, this object sends a spray of colored streamers flying out on-command, conveniently destroying a selection of tiles that proves most helpful to your cause.

But where the game really shines is twofold: Specifically, in terms of both its charisma and willingness to take some risks. Background environments of outdoor gardens, lavish armories and harbor views, complete with day/night cycles and occasional thunderstorms are par for the course. Rustling leaves, dangling grapes and shimmers of light, speak to the designers’ attention to detail. (You can actually click an eye icon to remove the grid entirely and just sit back and enjoy each scene’s winking flames and drifting clouds, or use unlocked backdrops as screen savers.) I even enjoyed the featured songs and supporting sound effects, which provide a riveting blend of lilting tunes, haunting ditties and chirping crickets to boot.