Why we made it
Tap a block, and it drops into the slots below. When three of the same picture come together, they disappear. Fill all seven slots below, and it’s over. Triple Kingdom’s rules are simple enough to learn in just a few tutorial screens.
On top of those simple rules, we built a kingdom. The Odd Duck Kingdom, with petals in the air, and its Princess Duksoon. Every puzzle you solve is meant to bring you one step closer to the princess the rabbits carried off.
And we decided one more thing. Rather than clearing stages one by one, we put the weight on a Challenge Mode you take on once a day.
Matching games, in a few scenes
There are countless games where you find the same pictures and clear them away. Here we look at just a few scenes people often talk about.
Mahjong solitaire is a game where you take matching uncovered tiles off a stack of mahjong tiles in pairs, revealing the tiles underneath. The first person to bring it to a computer was Brodie Lockard, on the PLATO system in 1981 (Wikipedia). “Shanghai”, which Lockard programmed, came out from Activision in 1986 (Wikipedia).
In September 2022, “羊了个羊” (Sheep a Sheep) became the talk of China. It first came out as a Douyin mini-game, then crossed over to WeChat and iOS. Pick three of the same picture, and they disappear. On September 13, it reached No. 1 on Baidu’s real-time search ranking (Chinese Wikipedia). The game ends when all seven slots below are full, and reportedly about 0.1% of players made it all the way to the end (The China Project, 2022-09-16).
Side by side, the bones of the rules look familiar. Collect the same things, and clear them before the slots fill up. What Triple Kingdom changed is why you collect and when you play. Into the ‘why’ we put Princess Duksoon’s story, and into the ‘when’, one game a day.
Spring in the Odd Duck Kingdom
Story Mode begins on a spring day in the Odd Duck Kingdom. The first episode is called “Hello, Odd Duck Village!” Princess Duksoon sets off, saying, “I'm going to say hi to every friend in the village!”
How does that spring day lead to an adventure to rescue the princess from the rabbits? We haven’t written the episodes that follow here. Walk along with Duksoon and see for yourself.
Episode 1 · Hello, Odd Duck Village!Just one a day
A well-known game that gives out only one puzzle a day is “Wordle”. It’s a web word game made by Josh Wardle, a software engineer from Wales, and it was released in October 2021. A new puzzle comes out every day, and everyone takes on the same word. On January 31, 2022, The New York Times bought the game (Wikipedia).
Triple Kingdom’s Challenge Mode is one game a day, too. The screen asks: “Let's defend the castle with Duksoon! Just one stage a day! Can you hold it?” Friends gather in front of the castle at night, and the lobby shows which attempt you’re on today. Missions, Shop and Ranking are there as well.
Not stages that go on and on, but a game you drop by once a day. Finish one game, and the next one is tomorrow.
We hope that when you close the screen, you feel your day was kept safe too, just like the castle you defended with Duksoon.
How to play
- Tap blocks one by one, and they drop into the slots below.
- When 3 of the same picture come together, they disappear.
- If all 7 slots fill up, it’s game over.
- Enjoy Princess Duksoon’s adventure in Story Mode, and one game a day in Challenge Mode.
Sources — Mahjong solitaire (Wikipedia) · Shanghai (Wikipedia) · 羊了个羊 (Chinese Wikipedia) · Sheep a Sheep, 2022-09-16 (The China Project) · Wordle (Wikipedia) · Game screens: captured from the web build, October 4, 2026