How to Play
SpectrumBurst is a Match-3 puzzle with a twist: colors combine. Master the chemistry and you'll restore a whole universe to brilliant color.
The basics
- Swap to match. Swap two adjacent crystals to line up 3 or more of the same color. Matches burst and clear from the board.
- Gravity & cascades. Crystals above fall to fill the gaps, and fresh ones drop in. Chain reactions ("cascades") score big.
- Hit the target. Reach the level's score target (or clear the required color) before you run out of moves or time — that wins the level.
- Earn stars. Winning earns 1 star; beat the higher thresholds for up to 3 stars.
Color-Mixing Chemistry
This is the heart of SpectrumBurst. Crystals aren't just matched — they're combined.
- Make a 4-in-a-row of primary colors to fuse them into a secondary color crystal.
- Keep climbing the fusion ladder — secondaries combine toward pure White Light, the most powerful clear in the game.
- Every crystal has a distinct color and shape, so you can always tell them apart — including with color-blind vision.
Special crystals
- Photon Beam — created from a 5-in-a-row. When triggered, it fires along a line, clearing everything in its path.
- Spectrum Bomb — created from an L- or T-shaped match. It detonates an area when set off.
- Specials chain: setting one off can trigger others caught in the blast for spectacular cascades.
Spectrum Charge
Every clear fills your Spectrum Charge meter. When it's full, unleash a Spectrum Burst — a board-wide blast that clears the dominant color at once. Time it for maximum chaos.
Scoring — how you earn points
Points come only from clearing crystals; an empty swap scores nothing and still costs a move. The big numbers come from planning chains and fusions, not one-off 3-matches.
- Each crystal cleared: 10 points.
- Cascades: +25% per chain depth — a clear that triggers another scores ×1.25, the next ×1.5, and so on.
- Fusion (4-in-a-row mixes a new color): +50.
- Special created (Photon Beam / Spectrum Bomb): +50 each.
- Level cleared: +100 bonus when you hit the target.
Example: a 5-line (makes a Photon Beam) that cascades into a 4-line fusion ≈ (5×10 + 50) + (4×10×1.25 + 50) ≈ 200 points in one move.
Moving to the next level
Win the level, advance to the next. The instant you hit a level's score target, you win — and the result screen's Next Level → button takes you straight into the next one (it uses one Light Energy, just like starting any level).
- Every level is harder than the last — the score target rises about 30% per level (600 → 780 → 1,010 → 1,320 → 1,710 …).
- The target then caps so a level is always winnable in a single strong game; from there the challenge ramps through tighter move and time limits, bigger boards, and timed stages.
- Prefer the world map? You can always return to it and pick your next unlocked level instead.
Restore the universe
The world map begins grayscale and dimmed. Complete the levels in a region and it blooms back to full color — your progress, made visible. Work region by region to bring the whole cosmos back to life.
Lives, energy & daily play
- Light Energy / lives let you attempt levels and recharge over time.
- Daily streak — play each day to build your streak on the Aurora calendar and earn rewards.
- Daily seed — everyone gets the same board each day. Compare scores on the daily leaderboard.
- Ghost races — share a replay code and challenge friends to beat your exact run.
Boosters
Stuck? Use boosters like Shuffle (re-mix the board) and Hammer (remove a single crystal) to open up new matches. Earn or stock up between levels.