SameGame (さめがめ) is a tile-matching puzzle video game originally released under the name CHAIN SHOT in 1985 by Kuniaki "Morisuke" Moribe.
[1] It has since been ported to numerous computer platforms, handheld devices, and even TiVo,[2] with new versions as of 2016.
It was distributed for Fujitsu's FM-8 and FM-7 platforms in a Japanese monthly personal computer magazine called Gekkan ASCII.
In 1992, the game was ported as SameGame to Unix platforms by Eiji Fukumoto, to the NEC PC-9801 series by Wataru Yoshioka, and to Macintosh as ChainShot!
This version was translated into English by Hitoshi Ozawa, and is still available from his software archive.
This version has some gameplay differences—a choice of between two and five colors—and is probably the most widely distributed of the original series.
In 2001, Biedl et al. proved that deciding the solvability (whether all blocks can be removed) of 1-column (or 1-row) 2-colour Clickomania can be done in linear time.
[5] Follow-up work in 2015 by Adler et al. proved that deciding the solvability of Clickomania is hard even in the 2-column 2-colour case, as well as Parameterized complexity results on determining whether an instance of size n is solvable in k or fewer clicks.
[6] SameGame is played on a rectangular field, typically initially filled with four or five kinds of blocks placed at random.
By selecting a group of adjoining blocks of the same color, a player may remove them from the screen.
However, some implementations gradually push the rows upward or drop blocks from above.
Sometimes the player can control the number and timing of blocks that drop from above in certain ways.
Blocks fall down to the playing field, and must be removed before they reach the top.
Some versions allow the player to rotate the playing field 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise, which causes one of two things to happen: In some variations, blocks can be removed when connected to blocks of the same color diagonally, not just horizontally and vertically.
Others reduce the final score based on the number of blocks remaining at the end of the game.
Some game versions award bonus points for clearing the field quickly, encouraging faster play.
Still others offer combination, or chain, bonuses for clearing the same color of blocks two or more times in succession.
Some versions maintain the same target score for each level; such variations can be played indefinitely.
In such games, the player typically loses due to poor planning or a lapse in concentration.
Other tile themes, or skins, include animals, hearts, stars, faces, Lego blocks, and jelly bears.