Threes

Last updated
Threes!
Threes! app icon.png
App icon
Developer(s) Sirvo
Publisher(s) Sirvo
Designer(s) Asher Vollmer
Artist(s) Greg Wohlwend
Composer(s) Jimmy Hinson
Engine Unity [1]
Platform(s) iOS, Android, Xbox One, Windows Phone, web browser, Windows
Release
February 6, 2014
  • iOS
  • February 6, 2014
  • Android
  • March 12, 2014
  • Xbox One
  • December 5, 2014
  • Windows Phone
  • April 27, 2015
  • Browser
  • December 18, 2015
  • Windows
  • February 6th, 2024
Genre(s) Puzzle
Mode(s) Single-player

Threes (stylized as Threes!) is a puzzle video game by Sirvo, an independent development team consisting of game designer Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson. The game was released on February 6, 2014, for iOS devices and later ported to Android, Xbox One, Windows Phone, and Windows. In Threes, the player slides numbered tiles on a grid to combine addends and multiples of three. The game ends when there are no moves left on the grid and the tiles are counted for a final score.

Contents

The basic game was prototyped in a single night, but the team spent over half a year iterating through variations on the idea with visual themes such as sushi and chess. By the end of the game's 14-month development, the team returned to the game's simple principles and numbers theme.

The game received what video game review score aggregator Metacritic described as "universal acclaim". Reviewers found the game "charming" and "addictive" and compared it to Drop7, Stickets , and Triple Town . Eurogamer and TouchArcade awarded the game perfect scores, with the latter calling Threes "about as close as it gets to a perfect mobile game". Other developers released similar games and clones within weeks of the game's launch. Apple Inc. named Threes the best iPhone game of 2014.

Gameplay

The official game trailer, depicting standard sliding tile gameplay Threes video game trailer (thumb).gif
The official game trailer, depicting standard sliding tile gameplay

The player slides numbered tiles on a four-by-four grid [2] to combine addends and multiples of three. [3] For example, ones and twos merge to become a single "three" tile, two threes merge into "six", and two sixes merge into "12". Swiping the screen up, down, left, or right moves all of the tiles one square (if possible) on the grid in that direction and adds a new tile to the grid in the same direction. [3] The color of the incoming tile is shown onscreen. [4] Players can preview moves by sliding the grid without letting go. [5] Each kind of number tile has its own personality, and new kinds of number tiles are introduced with a screen full of confetti when first unlocked. [6]

Games of Threes typically last several minutes [6] [7] and end when no moves remain on the grid (usually when gridlocked with a single high number tile and many low number tiles). [5] When a game is finished, there is no "game over" screen, [8] but players receive a final score based on the rarity of the tiles (rather than the tile number values). [2] The object of the game is to earn a high score. [3] Outside of the game, players can review their scores and set Game Center challenges. [8]

There are a total of 2 kinds of colored tiles, valued 1 and 2, and 12 kinds of "threes" tiles in the game with values from 3 through 6,144. Color tiles are worth nothing, while the point value of "threes" tiles start at 3 and grows exponentially.

There is also a 13th character that is unlocked when two 6,144 tiles are combined; this character is marked by a triangle rather than the number 12,288. When this character is revealed, the game ends immediately even if the player has moves available, and points are totaled as usual. [9] This feat was achieved and documented by Twitter user Threesporn in 2017 [10] [11] and publicly acknowledged by developer Asher Vollmer. [12]

Development

The game resisted complexity because it was such a small game, it was four by four grid, and numbers, and just the four directions. It always wanted to be simple.

Game artist Greg Wohlwend to Polygon [2]

Threes was conceived by game designer Asher Vollmer, [2] who worked on the game with artist Greg Wohlwend and composer Jimmy Hinson. [13] The three, as Sirvo LLC, had previously collaborated on the 2012 iOS word game Puzzlejuice . [13] [14] Wohlwend had worked on games including Ridiculous Fishing and Hundreds . [2] Threes development began before Ridiculous Fishing's March 2013 release. [15] Vollmer presented an idea similar to the final product in its simplicity: pair tiles as multiples of three. [2] Vollmer considered Drop7 an inspiration for the game, and played it for two years before making his game. [16] The first Threes prototype was written in a single night. [3] With Wohlwend, the two-man development team spent at least half a year of the game's 14-month development iterating on this main idea. [17]

Some of the iterations included new numberless visual themes and new game mechanics such as a monster who ate tiles and a wall that blocked certain movements. [17] Early Threes designs had no inclination towards minimalism: [2] the pair felt that the game needed to appear more complex so as to interest players. [17] Wohlwend sent Vollmer designs including sushi-themed tiles that paired fish and rice, a chess theme that paired chess pieces, themes about animals, [2] broccoli and cheese soup, military insignia, hydrogen atoms, and textile patterns. [18] Their test audiences were confused [2] by the close to two dozen themes tested in total. [18] Vollmer commented that these ideas made the game feel "unwieldy and unnatural" and that he always preferred the game when the changes were reverted. [2] They received a "wake-up call" from fellow game designer Zach Gage, who encouraged them to return from their foray into complexity. [2] The final game returned to its original theme of numbers. [15] Speaking in retrospect, Wohlwend said the game "always wanted to be simple". [2] He noted that players "think math" upon seeing the game's numbers, though the game is more about "spatial relationships" and just happens to have a "number theme". [18]

Wohlwend and Vollmer in 2012 Greg Wohlwend and Asher Vollmer (Puzzlejuice) at the 2012 PAX 10.JPG
Wohlwend and Vollmer in 2012

When returning to the fundamental and original game concept—pairing tiles as multiples of three—the developers felt their experiments informed their final game development decisions. [2] The theme of individual tile personalities extended to the final version, as tiles have faces and express emotions when paired. For example, the 384 tile has a pirate personality with a large tooth and a pirate eyepatch. Wohlwend has said that the number tiles grow in character with their size. [2] The idea for character faces beneath the cards remained from previous theme iterations, [18] and the character voices were provided by indie game developers. [19] Of the development process, Wohlwend called it "tough and frustrating and sometimes hard to see if it was worth it". [18] Vollmer credited thatgamecompany for teaching him applicable lessons of restraint during his time there. [15]

The game was released by Sirvo [20] for iOS on February 6, 2014, [21] and ported by indie developer Hidden Variable Studios for Android on March 12, 2014. [20] The team chose to release for iOS first due to the small team's difficulty testing across Android platforms. [17] Hidden Variable also developed an Xbox One version, [22] which was originally announced at Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference, [23] and released on December 5, 2014. [22] The release supports the console's "snap mode" (to play in the corner of the screen while the player watches something else) [23] as well as online leaderboards and a "night mode" darker palette option. [22] A free Windows Phone version was released on April 27, 2015, [24] and a free web browser version in December 2015. The browser release does not include advertisements, unlike the free smartphone releases. [25] In a post-release infographic, Sirvo wrote that the average game length was 20 minutes, even though they designed the game's sessions to not last longer than 10 minutes. They also reported that 93 percent of players in China used unlicensed copies of the game. [20]

To celebrate the 10th anniversary, a PC port was released on Steam on February 6th, 2024. In addition to the standard gameplay of the original release, it includes a new song by Big Giant Circles for Night Mode, Steam Deck Verified Support, keyboard controls, cloud save, and achievements. [26] [27]

Reception

Two critics cited Letterpress as a stylistic predecessor. Letterpress screenshot.png
Two critics cited Letterpress as a stylistic predecessor.

The game received what video game review score aggregator Metacritic described as "universal acclaim", with a 92% rating based on 19 reviews. [28] Eurogamer [7] and TouchArcade awarded the game perfect scores, with the latter calling Threes "about as close as it gets to a perfect mobile game". [8] It was an honorable mention in the 2014 Independent Games Festival's Excellence in Design category. [31] The game reached the top of the Apple App Store paid app sales chart shortly after its release. [6] Re/code reported that it "dominated" the chart in the following weeks and became one of the 25 highest grossing apps on the App Store. [17] It later won a 2014 Apple Design Award [32] and was named Apple's best iPhone game of 2014. [33] During the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Threes for "Mobile Game of the Year" and the "D.I.C.E. Sprite Award". [34] Reviewers found the game "charming" [5] [30] [35] and "addictive". [3] [6] [7] [30] [35] [36] They compared the game with the luck of Drop7 , [7] the challenge of Stickets, [5] [7] and the "match-by-combining" mechanics in Triple Town . [5] [7] [19] Reviewers also praised the simplicity of the tutorial [29] and noted how their attention on combining large number tiles contrasted with their need to watch the board's movements as a whole. [5] [8] [37] [38]

Ben Kuchera of Polygon wrote that the game was "a brilliant little puzzler" and commented on the difficulty of designing such an accessible minimalist game. [2] Dan Ryckert of Game Informer noted that the game had all of the qualities of a successful mobile game: accessibility of short game sessions, easy to learn and tough to master gameplay, room to make and try strategies, and gameplay mechanics suited for touchscreens. He added that his progressive play strategy adaptations for higher scores made the game joyful. [29] Ars Technica 's Kyle Orland wrote that he expects the game to join Drop7 and Super Hexagon on his phone for the rest of his life [37] and Crypt of the NecroDancer designer Ryan Clark called Threes the best iOS game he had ever played. [39]

Mark Sorrell of Eurogamer compared the game's "profoundly and offensively banal" aesthetic to a "hipster restaurant" with good food but a smug ambiance, citing the soundtrack's "whimsy" and the art style's similarity to iOS game Letterpress . [7] He praised the game's mechanics. [7] TouchArcade compared the game's scaffolding mechanics to the turn-based roguelike Hoplite, [8] and The Verge's Andrew Webster compared the game's addictive mechanics to Sudoku and its style to Letterpress and SpellTower . [3] Nick Statt of CNET thought the game had Tetris 's beauty and Dots 's visual appeal. [13] He cited the game as an example of "flow" design principles at work, where the game is designed for players to enter a state of focus and self-awareness. [40] Recode 's Eric Johnson called the game a descendant of Sudoku, Dots, and Rush Hour . [17] Pocket Gamer 's Mark Brown thought the game's randomness kept its gameplay interesting, [19] and MAME creator Nicola Salmoria wrote an artificial intelligence to play the game. [41]

Edge wrote that the game "can feel a little insubstantial" in its lack of gameplay variety, though its "charm and craft" will make players return. [5] They wrote that the soundtrack is cheerful and memorable with an "indie romcom feel". [5] TouchArcade added that the soundtrack "fits the game perfectly" and recommended playing the game with sound activated so as to hear the tiles' personalities. [8] CNET thought the music became repetitive, but that the tile voices were "a little creepy" without the soundtrack. [6] Garrett Martin of Paste wrote that he heard the influence of Jon Brion and alluded to Paul Thomas Anderson's early films. Comparing Threes to Hundreds as the "quirky American cousin" to Hundreds's "European art film", Martin found Threes more whimsical in nature and extended Ian Bogost's statements in The Atlantic about video games as "haute couture ... design objects" to Threes. [38]

Legacy

2048 gameplay, showing a finished game 2048 finished game.png
2048 gameplay, showing a finished game

Outside developers released games that closely resembled Threes within weeks of its release, including a browser-based version, [42] [note 1] an "unofficial sort-of-knockoff" Android app (Fives), [17] [44] and another iPhone game, 1024, which advertised itself as "No need to pay for Threes" and was later ported to a browser version. [45] A March 2014 clone of 1024, the browser game 2048 , [note 2] became popular and spawned "dozens of parodies". [45] Journalists, including those at the Los Angeles Times , did not acknowledge the game's connection to Threes.

The Threes team was "puzzled" by the popularity of these releases, especially those that did not credit their game for the idea. [46] They criticized 2048's game design and compared the game as the Commander Keen to their Super Mario Bros. in a 45,000-word post outlining their full 14-month development process. [46] Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander described the situation as a "unique tragedy". [47] Threes designer Vollmer would try to remove the clones from online stores but ultimately accepted that the game would be copied and resolved that his future games would not share the same fate. [48]

Eurogamer listed Threes as one of the top 10 games of the generation. [49] Tom's Guide listed Threes as one of the top 30 games of the 2010s. [50]

Notes

  1. ↑ The browser version was authorized by Vollmer and Wohlwend, who felt that it was made "with the right kind of heart" and without interest in profiting off of their work. [43]
  2. ↑ The Independent described 2048 as a "clone of a clone". [45] The game's creator cites 1024 as the basis for 2048 and referred to Threes as "conceptually similar". [46]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bloons Tower Defense</i> Video game series by Ninja Kiwi

Bloons Tower Defense is a series of tower defense games under the Bloons series created and produced by Ninja Kiwi. The game was initially developed as a browser game, built upon the Adobe Flash platform and released in mid 2007. Later games in the series expanded to support various mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DSi, Windows, Linux and MacOS. Games in the Bloons series older than Bloons TD 6 are available through the Ninja Kiwi Archive on Steam.

<i>Terraria</i> 2011 video game

Terraria is a 2011 action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows and has since been ported to other PC and console platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures in a procedurally generated 2D world. Terraria received generally positive reviews and sold over 44 million copies by 2022, making it one of the best-selling video games.

<i>Ridiculous Fishing</i> 2013 video game

Ridiculous Fishing is a fishing video game developed and published by Vlambeer. In the game, players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. The game was released for iOS on March 13, 2013, then later that year for Android.

<i>Flappy Bird</i> 2013 mobile game

Flappy Bird is a 2013 mobile game developed by the Vietnamese video game artist and programmer Dong Nguyen, under his game development company .Gears. The game is a side-scroller where the player controls a bird, attempting to fly between columns of green pipes without hitting them. The number of green pipes the player passes is considered as their score. Nguyen created the game over the period of several days, using a bird protagonist that he had designed for a cancelled game in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Saltsman</span> American video game designer

Adam Saltsman, also known as Adam Atomic, is an American indie video game designer best known for creating the endless runner Canabalt. He is a founder of Semi Secret Software and Finji video game studios.

<i>2048</i> (video game) 2014 puzzle game

2048 is a single-player sliding tile puzzle video game written by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli and published on GitHub. The objective of the game is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create a tile with the number 2048; however, one can continue to play the game after reaching the goal, creating tiles with larger numbers. It was originally written in JavaScript and CSS over a weekend, and released on 9 March 2014 as free and open-source software subject to the MIT License. Versions for iOS and Android followed in May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Wohlwend</span> American video game developer

Greg Wohlwend is an American independent video game developer and artist whose games include Threes! and Ridiculous Fishing. He originally formed Intuition Games with Iowa State University classmate Mike Boxleiter in 2007 where they worked on Dinowaurs and other small Adobe Flash games. Trained as an artist, Wohlwend worked mainly on the visual assets. As Mikengreg, they released Solipskier, whose success let the two take a more experimental approach with Gasketball, which did not fare as well. At the same time, Wohlwend collaborated with Asher Vollmer to make Puzzlejuice, and with Adam Saltsman to make Hundreds based on Wohlwend's first game design. He later released Threes! with Vollmer in 2014 to critical acclaim. His later games TouchTone and TumbleSeed were also the products of collaborations. Wohlwend was named among Forbes' 2014 "30 under 30" in the games industry.

<i>Solipskier</i> 2010 video game

Solipskier is a sports video game for Adobe Flash, iOS, and Android developed and published by Mikengreg, the two-person team of Michael Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. In Solipskier, the player draws the snowy slope for an on-screen skier to pass through slalom gates and tunnels. The character accelerates with downhill sections and can launch into the air to perform tricks and earn a higher score. The idea came from a brainstorming session about parallax scrolling with speedy action in the foreground and the ability for the player to "paint" the terrain. It was Boxleiter and Wohlwend's first game to receive public appreciation. It was released August 29, 2010 to generally favorable reviews and was a runner-up in the 2011 Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival's Best Mobile Game category.

<i>Hundreds</i> (video game) 2013 video game

Hundreds is a puzzle video game where players touch circles to make them grow without overlapping. In the game's 100 levels, the player interacts with different types of circles to bring a counter to the number 100. The game was developed and published by Semi Secret Software in collaboration with Greg Wohlwend and was released for iOS on January 7, 2013, and on Android later that year.

<i>Puzzlejuice</i> 2012 video game

Puzzlejuice is a 2012 indie puzzle video game for iOS produced and developed by video game company Sirvo. The game is a combination of Tetris, tile-matching, and Boggle: players rearrange falling tetromino blocks into rows of similar colors, which turn into letters that are cleared from the board by forming words. The fast-paced game also includes challenges and power-ups. The development team consisted of three people; programmer Asher Vollmer initially developed the game alone, before reaching out to artist Greg Wohlwend for advice on the aesthetics. Composer Jimmy Hinson produced the game's music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asher Vollmer</span> American indie video game developer (born 1989)

Asher Vollmer is an American indie video game developer. He created Puzzlejuice and Threes. Vollmer also worked on Guildlings and Beast Breaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikengreg</span> American independent video game company

Mikengreg is an independent video game development team of Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. Their games include Solipskier, Gasketball, and TouchTone. The two met in a game development class at Iowa State University and later began to collaborate on the Adobe Flash game Dinowaurs. When the project was funded, they founded Intuition Games with other college friends in Ames, Iowa, where they worked on small Flash games such as Gray, Liferaft, and Fig. 8 for Flash game sites such as Kongregate. Dinowaurs was one of the first games signed for the Kongregate platform. Their other games involved controlling the weather, influencing individuals in a riot, and riding a bicycle. Boxleiter and Wohlwend worked on several additional games that were put on hiatus.

<i>Blek</i> 2013 video game

Blek is a 2013 puzzle video game for iOS and Android by Kunabi Brother, a team of brothers Denis and Davor Mikan. The player draws a snakelike black line that recurs in pattern and velocity across the screen to remove colored dots and avoid black dots. It is minimalist in design, features excerpts of Erin Gee, and takes inspiration from Golan Levin, the Bauhaus, and Japanese calligraphy. The brothers designed the game as a touchscreen adaptation of the Snake concept and worked on the game for over six months. It was released in December 2013 for iPad, and was later released for other iOS devices and Android.

<i>League of Evil</i> 2011 video game

League of Evil is a platform game developed by Canadian studio Ravenous Games and released by February 3, 2011. It was followed by League of Evil 2 and League of Evil 3.

<i>SpellTower</i> 2011 puzzle video game

SpellTower is a 2011 puzzle video game by Zach Gage in which the player creates words from a jumble of letter tiles to clear the screen before it refills. The game has several game modes and a multiplayer battle mode. The impetus for the game—the concept of combining elements from Tetris and Boggle in what was a prototype of the puzzle video game Puzzlejuice—inspired Gage to create SpellTower. The game was released for iOS in November 2011 to generally favorable reviews. Versions for OS X and Android followed over the next two years. In 2017 SpellTower Minutes was released. This browser-based Flash game created special "blitz" like modes not found in the mobile releases. A new iOS version released in 2017 swapped out the unnamed dictionary and began using Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. French and Dutch language specific versions were also released. A 2020 release, SpellTower+, added new game modes, cleaner visuals, and a jazz soundtrack.

Ketchapp SARL is a French video game publisher based in Paris, specializing in the mobile games market. Founded in 2014 by brothers Antoine and Michel Morcos, the company first came into the public eye later that year, through its port of the open-source game 2048. Ketchapp has been accused of cloning popular casual games by other developers. When Ketchapp was acquired by Ubisoft in September 2016, the company had more than 700 million downloads across their portfolio of games.

<i>TouchTone</i> 2015 video game

TouchTone is a 2015 puzzle video game for iOS devices by Mikengreg, a two-person indie game development team made up of Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. The player monitors phone calls as part of a government surveillance program to find public threats. The player unlocks chains of emails by completing a series of puzzles wherein a beam is reflected around a room to a set destination. TouchTone's core concept grew from a two-day game jam immediately following their 2012 release of Gasketball, but only found its hacker theme following the mid-2013 Edward Snowden global surveillance disclosures. The tone of TouchTone's story grew from satirical to serious over the course of the game's development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zach Gage</span> American indie video game developer

Zach Gage is an independent video game programmer and designer based in New York City. He is known for his iOS games, including SpellTower.

<i>Super Mario Run</i> 2016 mobile game

Super Mario Run is a 2016 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for iOS and later Android. It is Nintendo's first mobile game that is part of one of the company's long-running and major franchises.

<i>Guildlings</i> 2019 video game

Guildlings is a 2019 role-playing adventure game developed and published by Sirvo Studios. It was released for Apple Arcade on November 8, 2019. Upon release, Guildlings received generally favorable reviews, with praise directed towards the game's sincere tone, and the presentation of its narrative, characters and dialogue based on themes of friendship.

References

  1. ↑ "Unity Awards 2014". Unity. 2014. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Kuchera, Ben (February 6, 2014). "Why it took a year to make, and then break down, an amazing puzzle game". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Webster, Andrew (February 6, 2014). "By the numbers: 'Threes' is your new iPhone addiction". The Verge . Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ Hodapp, Eli (February 13, 2014). "'Threes!' Is Getting The Way it Displays The Next Card Tweaked". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Threes review". Edge . February 10, 2014. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Parker, Jason; Mitroff, Sarah (February 7, 2014). "Threes Review". CNET . Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sorrell, Mark (March 5, 2014). "Threes! review". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hodapp, Eli (February 6, 2014). "'Threes!' Review – Checking the Boxes of a Perfect Mobile Game". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Threes! gameplay - Game ending". YouTube . Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  10. ↑ @ThreesPorn (June 20, 2017). "Wait why is there a high score screen why is there confetti what is going on this is overwhelming what do I even strive for now 😳 6/7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ @ThreesPorn (June 20, 2017). "OMG YOU CAN BEAT @ThreesGame HOLY COW WE BEAT @ThreesGame 🌟💪💑🙈🔥📈💗‼️⁉️ Thank you @aeiowu & @AsherVo we are delighted!!!!! 7/7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (2017-06-20). "3.33 years after its release, someone actually beat Threes". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  13. 1 2 3 Statt, Nick (February 6, 2014). "Mobile puzzle game Threes is a design marvel worth your time". CNET . Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ Werner, Jillian (February 10, 2014). "Threes! Review". Gamezebo . Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 Conditt, Jessica (January 30, 2014). "Addictive iOS puzzling comes in 'Threes'". Joystiq . Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  16. ↑ Narcisse, Evan (February 14, 2014). "'A Game You Can Play Forever'". Kotaku . Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Johnson, Eric (February 21, 2014). "Hit iOS Puzzle Game Threes Almost Had Monsters and Sushi". Re/code . Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 Strom, Steven (March 12, 2014). "How a Game About Broccoli and Cheese Soup Turned into Threes!". Gamezebo . Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 Brown, Mark (March 14, 2014). "Threes! review - iPhone reviews". Pocket Gamer . Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  20. 1 2 3 Sarkar, Samit (March 12, 2014). "Threes! now available on Android (update)". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Threes! Overview". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  22. 1 2 3 Sarkar, Samit (December 3, 2014). "Threes! and Limbo launching Dec. 5 on Xbox One". Polygon . Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  23. 1 2 Polygon Staff (June 9, 2014). "Live from Microsoft's E3 2014 press briefing". Polygon . Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  24. ↑ Thorp-Lancaster, Dan (April 27, 2015). "Threes! makes its Windows Phone debut for the low, low price of free". Windows Central. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Threes! Is now free to play in your browser". Polygon . 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  26. ↑ "Save 33% on Threes! on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  27. ↑ "Threes! on Steam includes Deck compatibility, cloud saves and keyboard support". Eurogamer.net. 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  28. 1 2 "Threes! Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad". Metacritic . Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  29. 1 2 3 Ryckert, Dan (February 18, 2014). "Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts - Threes - iOS". Game Informer . Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  30. 1 2 3 Nichols, Scott (February 11, 2014). "Mobile reviews: Threes, Eliss Infinity, Toad Rider". Digital Spy . Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  31. ↑ GDC Staff (January 7, 2014). "2014 Independent Games Festival announces Main Competition finalists". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  32. ↑ Tach, Dave (June 3, 2014). "Threes!, Monument Valley and more games win Apple Design Awards". Polygon . Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  33. ↑ Dredge, Stuart (December 8, 2014). "Apple's best apps of 2014: Replay, Pixelmator, Threes! and Monument Valley". The Guardian . Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  34. ↑ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Threes". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  35. 1 2 Polson, John (February 8, 2014). "iOS Pick: Threes (Sirvo)". IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  36. ↑ Bilton, Nick (February 17, 2014). "Threes, a New Addictive Puzzle Game". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  37. 1 2 Orland, Kyle (February 12, 2014). "Number the tiles: Why Threes is my latest iOS gaming obsession". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  38. 1 2 Martin, Garrett (February 20, 2014). "Mobile Game of the Week: Threes (iOS)". Paste . Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  39. ↑ Narcisse, Evan (February 13, 2014). "Tips for Playing Threes, the New Mobile Game Everyone's Talking About". Kotaku . Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  40. ↑ Statt, Nick (February 18, 2014). "Be one with Flappy Bird: The science of 'flow' in game design". CNET . Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  41. ↑ Hodapp, Eli (February 20, 2014). "MAME Developer Nicola Salmoria Builds 'Threes!' Playing Bot". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  42. ↑ Leibl, Matt (February 19, 2014). "You can now play Threes from your PC browser". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  43. ↑ Conditt, Jessica (February 19, 2014). "Threes browser game will ensure you get absolutely no work done". Joystiq . Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  44. ↑ "[Update] Fives is a free alternative to Threes! for Android gamers". Pocket Gamer . February 18, 2014. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  45. 1 2 3 Vincent, James (March 21, 2014). "2048: How to play the addictive successor to the Flappy Bird game". The Independent . Archived from the original on March 29, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  46. 1 2 3 Corriea, Alexa Ray (March 28, 2014). "Threes creators express puzzlement, sadness over 2048 and rampant cloning (update)". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  47. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (March 31, 2014). "Threes, clones and cornflakes: A view on 'casual games'". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  48. ↑ "How a cloned iOS game helped spur a $50M investment in rising indie stars". Polygon . 24 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  49. ↑ Welsh, Oli (2020-09-18). "The top 10 games of the generation". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  50. ↑ "The 30 best games of the decade". Tom's Guide . Future plc. 2019-12-28. Retrieved 2021-01-30.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Threes at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.