Matchington Mansion Guide (2020 Update): Tips, Cheats & Strategies to Solve All Levels and Redesign the Mansion

Matchington Mansion is a highly popular match-3 game that was released by San Francisco-based developer Firecraft Studios back in 2017. Since then, the game has amassed quite a fan base and continues to remain one of the top choices for users of all ages who enjoy a good match-3 challenge.

Even if it’s been three years since its launch, if you’ve discovered Matchington Mansion now, it’s not too late to jump onboard and start tackling those puzzles. The game is quite straightforward and is built around the familiar match-3 formula you’re probably already acquainted with if you played games like this before.

In Matchington Mansion you’ve just inherited an old mansion from your old friend Jane who used your life story as inspiration for her debut novel. As a way of showing her gratitude, she leaves you her beloved home in her will, but the estate has seen better days.

Luckily your friend Tiffany, who is an aspiring interior designer, volunteers to help out with the renovations. In exchange for allowing her to stay at the mansion, she agrees to handle all the repairs and restorations that need to be performed around the estate. During this time, Tiffany gets acquainted with Jane’s neighbors and friends and forms connections of her own that will lead to some exciting plot twists as the narrative unfolds.

This story provides the backdrop of Matchington Mansion, but the game’s foundation consists of the puzzle levels which players need to solve. If you’ve played games like this before, then you won’t have any trouble understanding the mechanics underlying Matchington Mansion. After all, the recipe is a well-tested one – players’ goal is to complete challenges in order to win stars that unlock renovations, as well as new rooms and areas around the estate.

Every level you’ll come across features an objective and a limited number of moves to complete the challenge. If players run out of moves before the goal is reached, they will have to start the level all over again.

Objectives include clearing a given number of tiles of a certain color or removing/collecting special elements. It’s the constant addition of new elements that makes playing Matchington Mansion so addictive and fun to play. But as it’s the case with most match-3 challenges, puzzles tend to become quite complex as you move forward in the game, and so you’ll find yourself at a loss of what to do to achieve success quite frequently.

This is why we’ve come up with a 2020 refresh for our original Matchington Mansion beginner’s guide. In this one, we’ll be providing you with additional tips also covering the updated content the game now offers. Whether you’re new to the game or have been playing it for some time, our new guide can provide you with some helpful insights so you can solve puzzles faster.

1. Try To Save Moves As Much As Possible

When you start a level, don’t just begin matching at random. To avoid wasting your moves, make every match count.

Strategize

Our recommendation is that you take your time to identify suitable matches. Examine the board attentively and select the matches that are more likely to help you hit your goal.

For example, if you’re playing a level featuring some sort of special element, you’ll need to work quickly to collect or remove these tiles or pillows – as they are called in Matchington Mansion – from the board. To best do that, it’s advised that you start matching in their vicinity as much as possible, as it would be redundant to match somewhere else on the board, unless you have no other choice.

Planning your next moves carefully should be your main approach when playing Matchington Mansion. Without a proper strategy you’ll just end up spending moves pointlessly.

Larger Matches

Make sure you always keep your eyes open for larger matches. While 3-tile matches are good enough, if you want to be able to complete levels by using a minimal amount of moves, you’ll want to aim for 4+ tile matches.

Like in any match-3 game, these produce Boosters – tools that can clear a larger area on the board – and so help you hit the level goal faster and smoother. Besides, if you’re trying to clear some special elements off the board, creating a 4+ match near them will remove more of those objects in one go.

Don’t Give Up So Easily

Ideally, you’d be able to solve any puzzle from the first try, but that won’t always be the case in Matchington Mansion. Sure you can always rely on Boosters to help you with harder level, but before you jump to do so, you should try your best to solve the level on your own – multiple times. Boosters are scarce resources, so instead you should prioritize relying on yourself to complete the challenges the game throws at you.

Don’t give up the first time things don’t go your way. Instead try again and again, change your strategy and try looking at the board from different angles. Within a few extra attempts, you might get the positive outcome you’re looking for.

Say No To Suggestions

The game will sometimes nudge you towards performing a certain match. At times these suggestions are legit and you should totally take them up, but most often than not they won’t really be in your favor. Therefore, our advice is to control your impulses and stop to think whether the suggested match will actually benefit your plan. Or whether it will simply deprive you of a move and offer nothing in return.

Take Luck Into Account

Luck also plays a major part in solving puzzles throughout Matchington Mansion. Your chances of winning a level heavily depend on the tile loadout – which sometimes can be advantageous, but sometimes is not. Fortunately, in this game, if you’re not satisfied with the initial tile loadout that is presented to you, you can simply exit the game and load the level back up again for a potential better deal on the tile arrangement.

2. Know Which Booster Combinations Are The Most Powerful

Since we already brought up Boosters in the first section, it’s only fair that we give you the whole story on them.

Boosters come in various forms in Matchington Mansion, but we’re going to look at those you can make while you’re playing a level first. As we explained before, players can produce these power-ups by spotting larger matches on the board, as follows:

Rocket Firecracker – created by matching four tiles in a line either horizontally or vertically. The power-up can be activated by swapping it with an adjacent tile or by double tapping on it (applies to all Boosters). Depending on its direction, the Rocket Firecracker will clear either a full column or a row of tiles.

Small Firecracker – created by matching four tiles in a square shape. When activated, the Small Firecracker will clear nearby elements in a “+” shape.

Big Firecracker – produced by matching five tiles in a L or T shape. When set off, the Big Firecracker will explode and remove tiles on a 3×3 radius.

Rainbow Bomb – produced by matching fives tiles in a straight line either horizontally or vertically. When activated, the Rainbow Bomb can remove all tiles of a certain color from the board.

While Boosters have various degrees of usefulness, you can greatly enhance their effects by combining them together. Especially in the case of the Small Firecracker, our recommendation is that you always try to use it in concert with another Booster, even if it’s just another Small Firecracker. Below you can find all the possible combinations you can make and their respective outcomes.

Rocket Firecracker + Big Firecracker – Results in an explosion that will clear three rows and columns of pillows;

Rocket Firecracker + Small Firecracker – Clears away a column and a row in a “+” shape;

Rocket Firecracker + Rainbow Bomb – One of the most powerful combinations you can make, as the Rainbow Bomb will turn multiple pillows into Rocket Firecrackers which will then explode all over the board;

Rocket Firecracker + Rocket Firecracker – Clears away a column and a row in a “+” shape;

Small Firecracker + Big Firecracker – Results in an explosion that will clear three rows and columns of pillows;

Small Firecracker + Rainbow Bomb – The Rainbow Bomb will transform multiple tiles into Small Firecrackers which will then explode all over the board. The combination is less powerful than if you’d pair a Rainbow Bomb with one of the other Boosters, so keep that in mind;

Small Firecracker + Small Firecracker – Results in a larger explosion compared to just using one Small Firecracker;

Big Firecracker + Rainbow Bomb – One of the most powerful combinations you can make, as the Rainbow Bomb will turn multiple tiles into Big Firecrackers which will then explode all over the board;

Big Firecracker + Big Firecracker – Results into a massive explosion that clears double the tiles than what a single Big Firecracker would clear;

Rainbow Bomb + Rainbow Bomb – It’s a devastating combination which clears a full layer of tiles from the board.

It’s important to be able to grasp whether a Booster combination is truly advantageous or not, as going ahead with it will cost you one move. A lot of the times, Small Firecracker combinations aren’t really worth pursuing (pairing it with a Big Firecracker is the exception), unless you’re drawing towards the end of the game and trying to eliminate a few remaining tiles so that you can hit the level objective.

As we told you in section 1, try conserving your moves as much as possible by weighting the benefits of using a certain Booster or combination before actually doing so.

3. Bring In The Extra Help When Necessary

Now that we’ve covered all the Boosters you can make while you’re playing a level, we should also mention the other types of Boosters you can employ in Matchington Mansion. Pre-level Boosters are power-ups that can be activated before a level starts, and come in 3 flavors:

Double Rocket Firecrackers – unlocks at level 13;

Big Firecracker – unlocks at level 16;

Rainbow Bomb – unlocks at level 18.

Activating one or more of these pre-level power-ups allows you to begin a level with one (or more) of these Boosters already on the board.

In addition, the game also includes a trio of extra tools which can be accessed from the panel located in the right part of the display.

Silver Spoon – unlocks at level 11 and smashes a single pillow on your board;

Broom – unlocks at level 21 and cleans an entire row or column without wasting a move;

Glove – unlocks at level 23 and swaps two elements without wasting a move.

These tools should be used as a last resort, as a means to try and change the outcome of a level. If you’re close to hitting the level objective, but not just there yet and there’s a chance you might fail the level if you don’t do something fast, using one of these tools could be the key to winning.

4. Sometimes Bird Pillow Use Trumps Boosters

Bird Pillows are a special kind of tile that appears during certain levels. These can actually be considered power-up and whenever possible you should take advantage of them as much as you can.
Bird Pillows come in different colors and you’ll need to match them with tiles of the same color in order to set them off on the board. When this condition is met, the bird takes off and destroys one of the pillows you’re required to get rid of to hit the level objective.

So if you’re dealing with a level that has a lot of special elements that are hard to reach, don’t hesitate to use the Bird Pillows. They are extremely effective and even trump Booster use, at times. It all depends on your strategy, of course, but if you’re stuck and unable to reach an element, Bird Pillows are the easiest way to get to it.

The only problem is that you won’t be able to use the flying birds to solve just any puzzle, as they appear only during select levels.

5. Don’t Spend Coins, Unless You Really Have To

Players can collect gold coins mainly by clearing stages, although there are other options to do so. The amount one can get at the end of a level varies based on how many moves one has left. Which is why it’s important to conserve your moves as much as you possibly can.

Speaking of preserving, it’s a wise idea to abstain from spending coins as much as possible in Matchington Mansion. Indeed, lot of users might feel tempted to spend coins on additional renovating options, but our advice is to skip over this part. If you want to get far in Matchington Mansion and see how the story unfolds, you will need to hold on to that gold.

Fortunately, unlike other match-3 games out there, buying 5 extra moves to continue playing a hard level doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Instead you’ll have to shed 500 coins. This is a lot better than the rates you’ll find playing other alternatives.

Even so, don’t take that as an invitation to spend coins every time you’re dealing with a tougher level. As we’ve suggested in section 1, at first try your best to actually solve the puzzle on your own, even without Booster help.

If you’ve tried and tried, but to no avail, then it might be time to bring in the extra help. Use a Booster or a bunch of them – but in moderation, because once you run out of them, you’ll have to shed gold to purchase some more and they don’t come cheap.

Having enough gold to spend on Boosters and extra moves are the main two reasons why you should hold on making additional purchases as much as possible. Above we mentioned there are more ways to acquire gold and we’re going to list them below.

Grab the Daily Bonus – every day when you log into the game you’re going to be given the option to redeem a prize which can contain a cash prize. Other alternatives include extra Boosters, and unlimited playing time.

Play to Unlock Progress Gifts – in Matchington Mansion you get rewarded for the progress you make. Finish a number of levels and you’ll be able to grab a gift package which includes goodies like gold, extra lives, as well as Boosters.

Check the Team Tasks – make sure you join a team first for this one. Once you’ve done so, go to the Teams tab (bottom right corner) tap on the last option in the side panel that says Team Tasks. In exchange for performing certain actions, for example, using one Broom power-up, you will be able to redeem rewards. Once you collect enough, you’ll be able to unlock a treasure chest which will most likely contain the gold you seek.

Play During Events – Matchington Mansion hosts countless events during which you can win prizes of all kinds. So our advice is that while a convenient event is ongoing, you should be as active as possible in the game trying to solve puzzles. This way you’ll be able to stock up on all kinds of goodies. For example, during Pillow Fight collecting feathers while solving puzzles will eventually unlock all kinds of gifts brimming with rewards.

6. Match At The Bottom

A classic match-3 strategy is to always remember to match towards the bottom – if the board arrangement allows you to, of course. The idea is this – if there aren’t any obstacles on the board preventing you from doing so – the best course of action is to get rid of the tiles at the bottom so new ones can come flowing in.

This action might lead to tile cascades, where new matches are created automatically as the new blocks drop in and replace the old ones. If you’re really lucky, the cascades will even form you some spontaneous Boosters for you to work with. So remember to use this tactic whenever there is plenty of space available at the bottom of the board.

7. How To Get More Lives

In section 5 we told you that it’s a great idea to join a Team. By joining a group, not only will you be able to participate in events, you’ll also have access to extra lives. Just ask your team members for help.

You’ll receive the gifts in your Inbox, so make sure you visit it to collect the additional hearts you need. Just remember to return the favor whenever possible by dropping by the Teams tab and sending hearts to those who request them.

Still need more? You can also ask your social media friends for lives. Simply log in with your Facebook account and then you can send requests to your friends whenever you find yourself in need of extra life juice. Joining with Facebook will also get you 500 additional gold coins.

If you don’t want to wait for friends and team members to send you lives, you can use another trick. Turn your phone’s Internet connection off and then head on to Settings and set the device’s hour ahead with at least 2+ hours. Once you do that, you should immediately receive a notification from the game telling you your lives have been restored. It’s that easy and it works, so go ahead try it yourself!

Also keep in mind that during certain events you can unlock rewards like unlimited lives, so make sure you are playing as much as you can during these moments.

As a last resort, you can 400 coins to refill your life tank.

8. Stuck? A Few Ideas On How To Tackle Special Elements

Matchington Mansion levels are populated with all kinds of special elements that need to be removed from the board in order for players to win the challenge. You’ll encounter many types of such objects including:

Single-blast elements – such as simple boxes, coffee cups, standard books. These can and have to be removed from the board, either to make room for other pillows or collected so you can reach the level objective.

Multi-blast elements – such as sealed boxes, cappuccino cups, golden cover books, ropes. These objects can only be removed by matching in their vicinity for a repeated number of times.

Color-match elements – such as tags, vacuum cleaners. These items need to be matched with pillows of the same colors in order to be unlocked or activated.

Layer elements – adds another layer of tiles on the board which needs to be removed. Sometimes these layers might hide additional items underneath like in the case of the glass which conceals envelopes beneath.

By-product elements – such as Harps. These elements can’t be removed or destroyed, but when using Boosters on them or matching next to them they will produce by-products, in this case, musical notes.

Moving elements – such as rugs. Rugs act like conveyor belts moving tiles around, so you will need to keep an eye out for any possible matches that might form.

Boxed elements – such as mice, bears. Sometimes you need to free some items that are trapped in either boxes or frames. You’ll have to release them in order to make your way to the next level.
Spreading elements – include soap bubble. These are tricky elements, because if left unattended they will spread all over the board and engulf your tiles.

Teleporters – these is a special category of elements as they move tiles across the board. Pillows that fall into the Teleporter will come on the other side. Teleporters can sometimes be blocked by other elements, in which case you’ll need to remove the hurdle out of the way, before the portal can actually function properly.

For the majority of special elements listed above you will need to apply and stick to one major tactic – start matching in their vicinity as soon as possible. Don’t get distracted by other matches you could be doing on the board, as they have no real value in helping you reach the goal.

In fact, you should concentrate all your efforts around these special tiles. Match in close proximity as much as you can, and if possible, do so towards the bottom of the board, so that you can trigger tile cascades above. You should also try your best to make and use Boosters. These can easily clear away special elements or at least a layer, thus making your job at easier.

In the case of a level which features teleporters, focus on unblock them as quickly as possible by removing the elements standing in the way. In this fashion, you will be able to populate the other side of the board and move closer to achieving your goal.

With this we wrap up our Matchington Mansion 2020 guide and we hope that you’ve enjoyed reading it and that you found some useful information that will boost your strategy while playing the game. If you have knowledge of some tips that we haven’t covered in this guide, we’d appreciate it if you would share it with the community by hitting the comment section below.