Valerie's Galleries

Valerie's Galleries is a swap match-3 about an art student with big dreams, a tiny room and a very nosy cat. Swipe two neighbouring jellies to line up three or more of a colour and they clear, the jellies above fall and new ones drop in. Four in a line leave a paint brush that paints a whole row or column, an L or a T leaves a paint bucket that splashes everything around it, a square of four makes a spray can that flies off to hit a tile you still need, and five in a row make a palette that takes every jelly of one colour when you swap it; swap two powers together for something bigger. Each of the 30 levels sets its goals inside a fixed number of moves: so many jellies of a colour, crates that break when you match right next to them, sculptures that only the paint powers can crack, vases that fall like jellies, and a green floor that clears when you match on top of it. Some boards have spawners inside them that feed the rows below, so a sculpture behind one is reached by powers alone.

Every level you win pays a star, and the stars go on Valerie's story. The home screen shows a moment of her life as a pencil sketch with a list of tasks: set up the easel, hang the curtains, pet the cat, each for one to three stars, and each one brushed into the picture in colour as you buy it. Three moments wait in turn: Made it, her tiny room the night before her final art exam; Spring cleaning, the old kitchen made fresh before friends come over; and Sunny studio day, her first little studio filled with light, plants and paint. A finished moment opens a chest of paint tools and Valerie celebrates over the picture; the Album keeps them to look at again.

Three of the levels are timed painting levels: Valerie's Tragedy, Sunflower Study and Portrait in Blue. Valerie sits at her easel beside the board and paints as you collect the colours, while the cat creeps across the floor towards the canvas; collect everything before the clock runs out and the painting is finished, and if the cat gets there first it is simply time to try again. Under every board wait four paint tools that do not cost a move: the Brush paints over one tile, the Row brush and the Column brush clear a line, and the Palette clears every jelly of one colour; you start with a few of each and the chests pay more. There are no lives and no coins: play as long as you like, replay any level from the level list, in portrait or landscape, with a swipe or the mouse, and your stars and moments are saved in your browser.