Pick Pack Pup is a grid-matching puzzle game that twists the traditional premise by having packages be sent only on a verification click by the user. The more packages on screen at once, the more points you get for shipping them. I bleed Bejeweled gems, so this was right up my wheelhouse. And the small mechanical change of cashing in matches felt novel enough to warrant its existence.

While entirely free of crank integration gameplay-wise, it offers very cute story sections presented as newspaper reels that you page-turn by using the crank. Nothing crazy, but it complimented the quirky aesthetic that they’re going for in this anthropomorphic world. The levels were broken up into time-based, move-based, and item-based requirements, and even had a lil Tetris homage. It wasn’t a hard game, so not letting player get too comfortable with level patterns kept the pace nice and brisk.

For those aching for that matching-game kick on Playdate, Pick Pack Pup also offers an infinity mode, chill mode, and danger zone. Just about every variation possible for stress-lovers and lazy-players are available for people who are particularly fond of the genre. For what it is I enjoyed my time with it. The grid perhaps could have been bigger by default, but that’s a minor nitpick of mine. Given its genre popularity it’s almost a given that something like Pick Pack Pup would be made for the Playdate, however it does provide that signature Playdate twist that sets it apart from mindless copycats, if only just slightly.

Another week another Playdate game, with the first of week three's entries being Pick Pack Pup, a match-3 game where you package items in a modern warehouse setting. The game uses the crank to scroll through its story, with the D-pad and A buttons used for the actual gameplay. The story is pretty cute. It has some fun criticisms of corporate greed while keeping a light hearted tone. The match-3 gameplay is nothing to write home about, and it's actually much easier than most as many levels don't have any way to lose. You simply need to match enough objects to move on to the next level. There are a few that buck this trend and have more puzzle or time limit constraints, but it's still never difficult. If anything, some of the point quotas are high enough to become tedious, as there's never any risk of failure, but it still takes a while to complete the stage. This is made worse by a mechanic where the bottom row of objects will be destroyed on a timer, subtracting from your point score. This only serves to draw out the level even longer, and while there is a mechanic to try and minimize this effect, I found it a bit finicky to pull off. All that aside, I like the gameplay and I like the presentation; so much so that this is probably my favorite Playdate title thus far.

I think this is sincerely one of the most infectious games I've played in a long time, and it's incredibly well-suited for the Playdate. Went over to watch The Game Awards with some friends; as I stared at Geoff Keighley stand surrounded by alien geometry and speak about how games are different from other mediums because they have the power to change people my eyes began to glaze over and I started thinking about patterns in Pick Pack Pup. It's a super simple puzzle game, so that probably sounds bizarre- I might be stupid, but as far as I can tell this doesn't have the same technique ceiling as something like Tetris or Puyo Puyo. Still, the fact that your progress and score is constantly being literally fed into a mulcher means that you need to assemble packages in a mad dash- if you're not paying attention, it's easy to panic and pack dismally low-value packages of 3. It requires some discipline and practice in order not to throw points away from being in a rush. Thinking about it while I was falling asleep or experiencing Game Awards Fugue gave me a chance to figure out dead-simple little heuristics for moving packages about safely into high-value positions, something I don't think I could have done easily if it had more complex rules. Pick Pack Pup, largely due to it's very accessible and simple mechanics, has become the first puzzle game of this type that I've genuinely gotten engrossed in/kept feeling drawn back to. It's easy to figure out if you sit with it for a moment, but consistently tricky to actually play given the pressure of the timer. Also the pup is cute! The game is definitely "wholesome" but in a way that feels more reminiscent of charming E10+ Comic Mischief/ Cartoon Violence DS games than like, Donut County. Mean that as a compliment (to Pick Pack Pup). Didn't expect to give this one such a high rating but it deserves it. Good boy!

While a bit on the easy side for all but one of its levels, Pick Pack Pup exemplifies the best approaches to Playdate game design. Bold outlines, varied shapes and textures, and clearly defined UI elements ensure no consternation, and in the off-chance the litany of items bleed into one, the custom item options keep things moving along swimmingly. The minor twists of gravity, shipping your matches, and unimpeded tile movement on the Bejeweled/Shariki formula leave things unique enough for Pick Pack Pup to stand on its own. The just tense enough gameplay, relaxing tunes, and artwork befitting of Susan Kare's contributions to General Magic's Magic Cap software or type foundry Emigre's illustrative typefaces make for a cohesive package that had me playing well after next week's games arrived.

PS: I can't believe I'm saying this, but Pick Pack Pup has the possibly best dog petting of any video game. It is never brought up during the game, it has no bearing on the game, it is arguably a hindrance, but the crank can be popped out and rotated to move your hand over the onscreen dog. There is a tactility and deliberate effort to this that elevates it above any other virtual animal touching.

A really good little puzzler! Similar to Panel-De-Pon, but with the added twist that each match set doesn't get instantly disappeared - and instead, the comboing comes from manually clearing a bunch of packages at once when you're ready (or before a garbage timer forces you to lose one). So the pressure is to make as big a package as possible each time, but without trapping panels around them. It's really quite excellent, and the charming story that goes along with it to introduce each mechanic (of which there's a surprising amount of variants!) is nice too. Dogs hate Amazon, basically.

Limitações são a mãe de boas invenções e eu acho que as várias limitações do pequeno, portátil, preto-e-branco Playdate foram as inspirações perfeitas para o que talvez seja o melhor match-3 que já joguei.

A ideia em Pick Pack Pup de trancar as figuras pareadas em caixas que atrapalham e ocupam o espaço é genial, e torna o que poderia ser um jogo de chutes aleatórios em muita estratégia e pensamento espacial. Junte com um visual bem bonitinho (incluindo nas HQs que contam a história de exploração capitalista) e você tem (até agora) o melhor jogo que aproveitei no Playdate.

I'm not super into Match-3 titles so when I saw what genre Pick Pack Pup was I didn't think I'd get much out of it but thanks to the game leaning more into puzzle than time limit (for the most part anyway) I was able to sit back and enjoy this way more than I expected.

Pup's tale was also quite enjoyable with the obvious real world analogies to certain giant corporation warehouse packing centres - a bit on the nose but no less accurate for it.

Crank usage - I think it would have been pretty hard to get it working with the core match-3 mechanics so only really using it to unfurl the comic strip story was fair enough.

A grandes rasgos, este juego adapta los contornos de un puzzle tradicional y lo presenta con una paleta y horizontes que se sienten más cercanos a la estética de Itch.io que a la de Facebook y los tiempos de Candy Crush. A nivel de ritmo, posee una curva suave y no muy exigente, y como suplemento a él, te invita a adoptar el papel de une (aún no quemade) currante de Amazon durante un par de horas. Tengo que decir que el juego no me atrapó lo bastante para justificar mi tiempo en él, aunque me sorprendió bastante la calidad de la música.

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Broadly speaking, this game adapts the contours of a traditional puzzle title and presents it with a sheen that sits closer to the aesthetic of Itch.io than to Facebook's and Candy Crush's. In terms of rhythm, it presents a smooth enough curve, and in addition to that, it invites you play the role of a (not too burnt out) Amazon worker for a couple of hours. I have to say that the game didn't grab me enough to justify much attention, though the quality of the music caught me by surprise.