Collapse!

Collapse! is a tile-matching video game series from Seattle-based GameHouse. It started as a browser game in late 1998, created by Ben Exworthy and Garr Godfrey. In 2007, Super Collapse! 3 became the first game to win the Game of the Year at the inaugural Zeebys. The series ended in 2015 when RealNetworks closed its internal games studio.

Gameplay

A spin-off series, Super Collapse Puzzle Gallery!, produced five games starting in 2006. In the classic gameplay, players face a board of twelve columns and fifteen rows. Randomly colored blocks rise from below. Clicking a group of three or more same-colored blocks makes them vanish; blocks above then fall into the empty spaces.

Clearing an entire column makes the remaining columns slide toward the center. The game ends if any blocks rise past the top row. Winning a level requires surviving a set number of lines, earning points for success. Levels start with a few rows of blocks in colors like red, green, blue, white, and yellow.

New blocks enter a "feed" row below the board; when it fills, the row moves up, pushing the field higher. The feed rate increases during a level, and new colors may appear, making it harder to find groups of three or more. Higher levels introduce bombs: black bombs remove surrounding blocks when clicked, while colored bombs eliminate all blocks of that color. Black bombs also act as bridges between same-colored blocks.

In Super Collapse 3!, colored bombs can bridge matching groups. Grey blocks marked with an "X" appear on higher levels; they cannot be clicked even in groups of three and are only removed by bombs. Completing certain even-numbered levels (2, 4, 8, 10, 14, and 16) triggers a bonus level, where players have 15 seconds to clear the entire screen for extra points. The original Collapse! launched as a browser game in late 1998.

Web & Super Collapse!

In 2001, GameHouse released Super Collapse! as a downloadable Windows game with improved graphics, animations, sounds, and music. The "Super" prefix was then used to distinguish downloadable versions from web-based ones. Super Collapse! II followed in 2002, adding Relapse, Strategy, and Puzzle modes.

Super Collapse! 3

Super Collapse! 3 introduced Slider, Continuous, and Countdown modes, plus a quest mode where players progressed through a whimsical world. Jesse Holt composed its sound effects and music. In 2006, it won a Zeeby award for Best Casual Game of the Year.