Click groups to clear the board
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SameGame (also known as Chain Shot!) is a classic puzzle game first released in Japan in 1985. The goal is to clear as many coloured blocks from the grid as possible by clicking groups of two or more adjacent blocks of the same colour.
When you click a valid group, those blocks disappear, the blocks above fall down, and any empty columns collapse to the left. The larger the group you remove, the more points you score. The formula is (n - 2)², so removing 10 blocks at once scores 64 points, while removing 2 scores 0. Clearing the entire board earns a 1,000 point bonus.
The game was created by Kuniaki Moribe and originally released for the NEC PC-8801 under the name Chain Shot! It was later ported to many platforms, including a version bundled with classic Macintosh computers in the 1990s that introduced it to a much wider audience. The name "SameGame" comes from the Japanese samesame, meaning "all the same", a reference to the matching mechanic at the heart of the game.
The biggest mistake beginners make is removing the first group they see. The scoring formula rewards large groups exponentially: a group of 10 scores 64 points, while a group of 5 scores only 9. Planning ahead to merge smaller groups into larger ones before removing them is almost always worth it.
Work from the bottom of the grid upward. Removing blocks near the bottom causes everything above to fall, which can create new connected groups that would not have existed before. Clearing blocks near the top first often wastes those chain-creation opportunities.
Keep an eye on colour balance. If one colour has very few blocks scattered in isolated positions, those blocks may become unmovable by the end of the game, and each one left on the board is a missed scoring opportunity. Try to clear the rarest colour early, while you still have enough of it to form valid groups.
Removing a group of n blocks scores (n - 2)² points. Two blocks score 0, three score 1, four score 4, five score 9, and so on. Always aim for the largest groups you can find.
The game ends when no group of 2 or more same-coloured adjacent blocks remains. Blocks surrounded only by different colours cannot be removed. If you clear the entire board you earn a 1,000 point bonus.
The grid is 10 columns by 15 rows with 3 colours. This matches the original SameGame dimensions.
Work from the bottom upward. Removing blocks low in a column lets more blocks fall and merge into new groups above. Try to avoid leaving isolated single blocks, since those can never be removed and hurt your final score.
There is no undo in this version, so each click is final. This matches the original SameGame rules and is part of what makes planning ahead so important. It is worth pausing to count the group size before you commit, especially for larger groups where the score difference is significant.
Clearing the board completely earns a 1,000 point bonus and is the best possible outcome. In a typical game without a full clear, a score above 2,000 is solid play, and anything above 3,000 requires careful planning from early in the game. Check the leaderboard above to see what top scores look like.
They are the same game. Chain Shot! was the original 1985 release by Kuniaki Moribe. SameGame is the name used in later ports and is now the more commonly recognised title. The "chain" in Chain Shot refers to the cascade effect: removing a group causes blocks above to fall and sometimes create new groups automatically, which is one of the most satisfying moments in the game.