Free Vegas-Themed Puzzler ‘Chip Chain’ Released By Indie AppAbove

Originally written by Meg Stivison.

New York City indie studio AppAbove Games has released free-to-playfor iOs and now Androiddevices. I met Chip Chain designer, and AppAbove co-founder, Aaron Isaksen at the New York Gaming February Demo.

Puzzle game Chip Chain relies on a classic match-three mechanic: just connect three or more of the same type of chip to make a chain, and get a chip of a higher value. Then Chip Chain adds different game modes, with special Vegas-style additions. Players can use cards to move or change their chips for an advantage, or try to react to a dealer placing new chips. These modes add strategy over a classic basic mechanic.

Chip Chain is a free download, that monetizes on in-app purchases. Sometimes ‘freemium’ can be secret code for lots of locked gameplay, but Chip Chain offers quite a bit of freely accessible content to players. Instead of locking out game content as a trial or ‘lite’ version, Chip Chain provides the game as a free download, and uses on-app purchases for power-ups and special items.

Before releasing Chip Chain , AppAbove Games has released casual and puzzle titles like Jail Train and Monster Smash , and kid-friendly games like the adorable Pocket Pupp y. Co-founders John Bizzarro and Aaron Isaksen began developing indie games as AppAbove in 2003.