Merge Jewels is a click-tap tile-matching game that features colored jewels atop matching round-cornered tiles. The player must select three or more matching connected jewels to remove them from the playfield as quickly as possible. Their goal is to earn a high score before the game's actions force them to run out of moves.
The game presents the jewel tiles mixed up in rows. As time passes, it pushes new rows onto the field automatically from the bottom. The player can only remove tiles by selecting one of a cluster of three or more. Unlike with many popular Match-3 games, the player can select clusters in non-line formations. For example, they can select a cluster with two tiles on one row and an adjacent matching tile on the row above or below. The game initially provides a hint about valid clusters by hovering and pulsing white circles above the matching tiles.
Merge Jewels also provides the player with automatic boosters. Every now and then, it mixes potion-style bottles among the jewel tiles. These bottles perform a lot of different tasks. A round bottle with a rainbow-colored fluid acts like a bomb. A bottle with one color of liquid removes all tiles from the field that match the color. A bottle with two semi-circular arrows swaps some random tiles. Snowflakes in bottles freeze all actions.
If the player touches only one or two tiles, they lose points. The game displays the loss as a negative red number. If the player allows the tiles to slide to the top of the field, they receive an initial tile-shaking warning. If they take too long to remove matching lower tiles to make the upper ones drop back down the field, all tiles start to turn gray, and the game ends.
