Why matches give clues

2026-08-31 · Observations

Match-3 feels good in the hand. Three in a line burst, the board tumbles, and the next move is already waiting. Little of it stays, though. Whether it was skill or luck is hard to tell, even from the inside.

Logic puzzles are the opposite. A finished nonogram or sudoku leaves the certainty of having solved it; the hands, meanwhile, are bored. Filling in a cell has no taste at all.

Silmadi is an attempt to put the two on one board. A match gives a clue to the arrangement hidden behind the board instead of points. The hands play match-3 while the head does deduction.

For that to work, the clues have to be worth trusting, so the game keeps four promises.

Every puzzle has exactly one solution. If there could be two, deduction turns into choice.

Guessing is never required. A stuck board means too few clues so far.

Clues only tell the truth. The game does not build tension out of lies.

The given ink is always enough. With nothing wasted, the budget reaches the end.

As long as those four lines hold, a match is information.

Silmadi is in review on Google Play.

(Added 2026-09-02) It is out.