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.