Overview
Backdrop is a match-3 style puzzle game which emphasizes thoughtful moves. There is no timer, and you can plan your moves at your own leisure.
The goal is to clear the vexed blocks - the ones with the bothered border. You can't interact with vexed blocks directly, so they must be cleared by other means.
There are four colors. Each block has an back and center color. Your cursor has a color as well. Move your cursor with the directional buttons. Press the X/O action buttons to swap your cursor color with the selected block's back or center color, respectively.
When a block's back and center colors match, that block is cleared. Blocks above it drop down. When a block drops down, if it lands next to a stationary block of the same back/center color and they form a group of 3+ blocks with that same back/center color, then all of them are cleared. This is called a chain clear, and this is also how you clear vexed blocks!
You begin a level with 8 swaps. You get an extra swap whenever you create a chain clear and whenever you clear a vexed block. You win if you clear all the vexed blocks within this swap limit.
Levels are randomly generated. If you want to revisit a particular grid layout, write down its seed (shown on the pause/win/lose screens), and you can enter this seed later.