Animal Connect is a connect-style matching game that features animal head icons instead of tiles. The player's goal is to remove identical animals in pairs from a dark gray grid enclosed by a light gray border until they've cleared the entire board. They can play the game in Time mode or Free mode.
The animals in the game include bats, bears, chickens, cows, elephants, foxes, frogs, giraffes, gorillas, hippos, lions, narwhals, owls, penguins and zebras. The player can remove side-by-side matching animals. They can also remove any identical animals that connect via three dark blue lines or two 90-degree angles made of three lines. In Time mode, they must complete the matches within less than three minutes. In Free mode, they play until they clear the board or run out of moves. When they remove all the animal heads, they receive points next to a gold star to the left of the countdown clock.
One of the best aspects of Animal Connect is that the player can switch between modes at any time without the action changing the status of their game. As a result, they can change their mind and switch from Time mode to Free mode, for example, with literally the quick push of an onscreen button. When they perform this act, the timer switches off, and their place in the game remains the same. If they want to switch modes again seconds later, they can do so instantly, and the timer simply switches back on.
