Zoo Keeper (Nintendo DS)/Gameplay

The game play follows the basic rules of games like Diamond Mine. You are presented with a screen full of square rows and columns of items, as in a bin. The basic layout would look something like:

---
 * H B M G A B H E |
 * M M A B P G M P |
 * H B M P P A P G |
 * A M P G B M A G |
 * G B E H A H G A |
 * P E G A B G P H |
 * A H E H B A E H |

A = Alligator  B = Bunny    E = Elephant   G = Giraffe H = Hippo      M = Monkey   P = Panda

Any move in the game consists of swapping the positions of two adjacent items, in either the horizontal or vertical directions (no diagonals). Every move must result in at least one row of at least three identical items being formed. No other move is allowed (trying to make an invalid move is not penalized). Once the swap has been made, the any rows of at least three identical items are removed from the playing area. The remaining items are pushed downwards to not leave any empty space, and random items are generated at the top of the rows to fill up the board.

(to be continued...)