Pick Pack Pup
Pick Pack Pup is a match-three puzzle game with an anti-Amazon, anti-capitalism storyline. Of course, it’s not called Amazon in the game, but we all know who they’re talking about. You play as a dog that needs a job, so he gets one working as a box-packer for Fetch. Like all jobs, at first it seems… fine. But it’s quickly revealed – through comic-panel cutscenes and pre-shift notes from management – that this place sucks to work at.
At first, it’s “pack five things in a box instead of the minimum three and you get a bonus,” but later it’s “you’ve been away from your post for 20 seconds, so report to work tomorrow for your holiday.” It has this dark humor and a twist on the typical match-three gameplay by having the objects you match not immediately disappear. They change into a packed box instead. This blocks part of the playfield so you’re unable to rearrange the rest of the pieces as easily. When you’ve made all the matches you can, you click on one of the boxes and it ships them all off, granting combo bonuses for shipping more boxes at once. The ”points” are the dollar value of the stuff you send out, plus any bonuses for completing more difficult, optional objectives. Hit a certain point threshold to complete the level, easy.
Once you reach a certain point in the story, the time limit appears. Every 20 seconds, the bottom row of items/boxes will be destroyed, docking your pay (score). If you ship a bunch of bottom-row boxes out right before the countdown ends, though, other items won’t have time to fill in the blank spaces, and less things will get destroyed and subtracted from your pay. It’s a neat little touch. I don’t think you can actually lose in this game, though; it just takes longer to complete the level if you’re constantly having points subtracted. Like in America: low on money? Work longer.
There’s a good variety of items to match that follow along with the storyline (“There’s a surge in the banana demand – help us ship as many bananas as you can!”), and the challenges, just like at a real job you’re doing well in, ask an ever-increasing amount from you, the lowly worker drone. The comic cutscene art is great and does a terrific job making you feel invested in this little dog. And there are only 30 levels, so here is (finally) a match-three game you can actually beat, with a satisfying conclusion. There are time attack, infinity, and bomb-filled Danger Zone modes to give you reasons to come back for a quick game when you’re feelin’ it, but it’s mostly just here to be a nice afternoon and make you feel thankful that you aren’t at work right now. (Unless you’re playing your Playdate at work… good for you!)
(Included for free as part of Season One.)