Developed by Springcomes, Merge Sweets is a cute match-2 puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of Jenny, a young lady trying to transform her Granny’s bakery store into a booming business. By combining the same items, you’ll create new ones for customers to buy, improving the bakery’s sales.
Gradually, you’ll earn more income to expand the building, attracting better customers to your shop as well. Things can be confusing and tedious at the beginning, so here are some advanced guidelines for you to refer to while playing the game.
The Premise
Photo: Springcomes
Due to old age, your Granny intends on passing her bakery business to you, believing that your enthusiasm, curiosity, and positivity can help the shop prosper. Being a free-to-play (F2P) game, Merge Sweets adopts different in-game currencies that tie into the gameplay, and these are further explained by a previous walkthrough guide that you should check out too.
The game’s ‘meta’ cycle is to sell items (doughnuts, cakes, fruits, etc.) to customers, use the income to upgrade/ renovate the shop (adding more floors for other businesses to settle into, etc.), and repeat. Additional underlying mechanics come into play as well, making your experience more fun and exciting.
Understanding Item Generators
Photo: Springcomes
The game’s basic mechanic is simple; you match two of the same items (2x apples, 2x buns, etc.) to create a new one (banana, baguette, etc.), matching them to a customer’s demand. You can repeat this practice to unlock new items/ recipes that aren’t shared with you right off the bat, encouraging you to experiment with them. For example:
- 2x buns -> 1x pair of buns
- 2x pairs of buns -> 1x baguette
- 2x baguettes -> 1x doughnut
Now, things become extremely easy after a while as you discover more items to create, up to their maximum ‘level’s (denoted by a crown on the item), upon which they can’t be combined anymore. Since you share the same puzzle board to combine them, space quickly becomes limited as new item ‘generators’ (marked with a battery icon) appear after you progress through the game by upgrading the building, and leveling up.
Photo: Springcomes
An item generator creates new things for you to combine, and the generators can also be fused with the same one, to be upgraded into a new variant. For example, the white-cloth basket generates basic food items to be placed onto the board (bun and tomato). Combining two white-cloth baskets creates a green-cloth one, generating better products instead (pair of buns, orange), and so on.
A general rule of thumb is to keep only 1-2 item generators on the board during the early stages of the game, storing additional ones inside your inventory (located at the bottom-right corner of the screen during gameplay). This ensures you have as many tiles remaining for you to use to combine materials, given that they are important to satisfy customers’ orders, and earning money.
Photo: Springcomes
More item generators will be unlocked as you level up, and different customers will visit you to make special requests, such as your Granny asking to purchase mittens by paying Gems instead of money/ Coins. To prepare you better, here are a few examples of item generators that you can keep inside the bag for later, to optimize your board’s space for immediate use:
- Baskets
- Empty basket, white-cloth basket, green-cloth basket, etc.
- Backpacks
- Small sling bag, Medium sling bag, Backpack, Large backpack
- Cameras
- Film cartridge, Double film cartridges, Multiple film cartridges, Camera
- Knitting equipment
- A single clump of thread, Two clumps of thread, A yarn of threads, Complete knitting kit
And many more!
Gameplay-Limiting Elements
Photo: Springcomes
Merge Sweets’ restrictive gameplay falls to its in-game resources/ currencies, specifically:
- Energy
- Coins
- Gems
Insufficient amounts of each can hamper your progress at specific stages, which can be overcome by purchasing them with real money, supporting the developers as well. That being said, this can be restrictive to your overall enjoyment of the game.
These aren’t explained in-game, so here’s a summary of what each resource pertains to:
Energy
Photo: Springcomes
Each item created by item generators (basket, backpack, etc.) consumes a small amount of Energy. When Energy is completely consumed, item generators can’t be used anymore, requiring actual time to be recharged.
Besides time, Energy can also be restored by exchanging Gems or watching ads. Plus, total Energy capacity can be increased by upgrading it using Stars that you accumulate after combining items every once in a while.
Coins
Photo: Springcomes
Coin (also called Gold) is the game’s primary resource used for upgrading the bakery shop/ building. When not busy combining items, you can use Coins to improve the exterior of the shop by extending it to a few additional floors, renting them to other characters for their businesses too.
You acquire more Coins by selling created items to customers, and the amount varies according to the demands and requests of each of them. You can make space on the board by selling items that aren’t particularly important at present too, freeing up space and earning a small amount of Coins as well.
Gems
Photo: Springcomes
Gems are Merge Sweet’s rare premium currency. They are used for miscellaneous scenarios that can occur during gameplay, like popping bubbles restricting the use of an item.
Gems can be obtained by completing special customer demands, learning new item combinations/ recipes, or completing the Merge Pass’s missions. Additionally, you can purchase them from the Store using real-life money, compensating the developers in turn.
Tips & Tricks
Photo: Springcomes
While Merge Sweets isn’t difficult to play, there are some things that you can do to facilitate your in-game progress better. As such, here are some tips and tricks for you to consider:
Maximise item combinations
It can be enticing to sell your items to your customers immediately after creating them (through item combinations). However, it’s more beneficial for you to wait and hold onto them, fusing them with another similar one later, resulting in a new ingredient for future use, and repeating the process until you reach its final recipe (maxed level, marked with a crown).
Considering new recipes are permanently unlocked after you discover them, this makes it more worthwhile in the long run, especially when customers never disappear while waiting for you to complete their orders.
Focus on the Coin/ Gold next
Photo: Springcomes
Once you have more item combos discovered, more customers will visit you with higher-leveled demands, paying more Coins for your services. Hence, get as many item recipes unlocked as you can, and then start earning those Coins by entertaining your customers.
This will indirectly lead you to better chances of obtaining Stars, Energy, and other precious materials while using the item combination board. Since those other resources are harder to come by, this is one of the better ways for you to get them for free.
Spend Gems on Inventory expansion
Although Gems are probably the rarest resource to get in the game, you should use them to expand your Inventory slots as soon as possible. This will let you store many valuable items instead of selling them for a meager amount of Coins while on the board, to free up space.
The most precious yet unspoken resource in Merge Sweets is the board space, though, so if you have the opportunity to maximize its use, then take it. In this case, your Inventory comes in handy, so don’t be afraid to spend those Gems on it.
Use the Spin
Photo: Springcomes
Merge Sweets has a special Spinning Wheel located at the bottom-left corner of the home screen. This ‘mini-game’ is another incredible way for you to get rare in-game currency and materials for free!
It’s luck-based, and you’ll need to spend a minimum number of things to use it, including Gems or Energy. That being said, the prizes are usually worth more than what you use for them. You can even use it for free just by watching ads, saving up those resources instead.
Save the game
Unlike many other mobile games, you can save your progress at any time by opening the in-game settings. This way, you’ll ensure that your progress is safely stored inside the game’s servers, regardless of what happens to the game or your phone in real life.
Conclusion
Photo: Springcomes
Merge Sweets’ loveable characters, innocent setting, and casual-friendly setup are among the game’s strongest appeals. If you have more to share about the game, make sure to write them down in the comments section below!
