AE Cap Mania, a bottle cap matching game for Windows Phone

AE Cap Mania is one of the more recent releases from AE Mobile for Windows Phone. The game is a match-3 styled game but instead of working horizontally or vertically to create the matches, you are moving puzzle pieces diagonally and vertically.
You have your customary bonus caps that will help you reach your gaming goal with bonus rounds scattered about to keep things interesting. AE Cap Mania is a well presented, casually paced Windows Phone game and not a bad option for your gaming library.
Game Layout
The main menu for AE Cap Mania has your game play option in the lower, center of the screen. Just below the play option on the main menu, you will find a row of menu items that will give you access to the game's settings, view the online leaderboard, rate the game and view other games from AE Mobile. Settings include muting the sound and/or music as well as viewing a brief help section.
Game play only has one mode, Endless, where you have to collect a certain number of bottle caps to advance through the rounds. Rounds do become progressively harder and require you to collect more caps.
Game Play
AE Cap Mania's gaming screen has the playing field populated with various bottle caps and your bonus items displayed across the top of the screen (more on this in a minute). Below the playing field, you will see your score and round number and just below this is your high score and number of possible moves available will be displayed.
To the right of the playing field is your collection meter. As you collect bottle caps, the meter fills with a sudsy liquid and your goal is to fill the meter completely. When you do, you will advance to the next round.
Game play is not unlike any other match-3 styled games. You tap and slide a bottle cap to swap it out with an adjacent cap to create a combination of three or more of the same caps. When you do, the caps are collected, points awarded and you are one step closer to advancing to the next round.
There is one obstacle that can make life a little interesting. Periodically, black caps fall into play that cannot be swapped with other caps. You can take out the black caps with your bonus items though.
Speaking of which, there are seven bonus caps that randomly come into play. These bonus caps range from a Ray Gun Cap that will eliminate one adjacent cap, a Rocket Cap that will eliminate a row or column of caps and an Atomic Cap the will eliminate all adjacent caps.
Bonus caps will appear at random as you play the game or you can put one into play from your inventory. Just tap the bonus cap you want to use and then tap where on the playing field you would like the cap inserted. Your bonus cap inventory can be re-supplied by using coins that are earned during game play. You can also purchase coins through in-app purchase.
The bonus game that appears between rounds is a memory matching game. You are presented with a playing field of caps and a very short period of time to memorize the cap's location. The caps will be flipped over and you'll need to find matching pairs of caps. The more pairs you find before time runs out, the more bonus points you earn.
Overall Impression
If you have grown bored with the match-3 styled games, AE Cap Mania may help break you out of the doldrums. Graphics are nicely drawn up and game play is challenging enough to keep things interesting.
I do wish the game had more gaming modes such as a Timed Mode where you try to score as many points before the clock strikes zero. The endless play mode currently in place will keep you busy but a little variety would not hurt.
All in all, AE Cap Mania is a fun game for your Windows Phone gaming library. It is a free, ad-supported game that is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.
You can find your copy of AE Cap Mania here in the Windows Phone Store.
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George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.
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Cool! Reminded me of Helix for some time but then.... BTW, AE is really fast in releasing games as compared to others!
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I remember playing a similar game on PC , mad caps from pop cap games. Good game.
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I used to play its Flash (Shockwave) version on a site...
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I love playing bonus round in this game :)
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Wonderful support by AE for WP, hope others like EA also support WP more.
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+920
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AE >< EA in both name and support.
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MS should let these guys make their games Xbox Live enabled. They support WP a ton and their games are solid!!
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One hell of a developer to actually support WP 7.8 :O Posted via the WPC App for Android!
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+7.8
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AE I salute u for your support on WP.
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Oh great! Another fun matching game! *sarcasm* - devs should start making fun games as seen on other OS's (or games that relate to them), and also should start making third-party games. Now don't get me wrong, I love the expansion of WP8's app store, but come on, apps like this need to stop being made.
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I have friends who dont want to buy a windows phone only because many of their favorite indie games are missing. The most inexplicable one being candy crush (no i dont play it, but how come such a famous game isn't here yet ? Lets all bug the dev, it might get some more youngsters to wp.. They dont listen when i say frozen free fall/bejewelled etc.. We need to official one really now, its high time !
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King is an awful company and I hope their garbage never comes to WP
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Some people (not me) do need it.. And when more people come, more apps would come.
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Why is king not releasing candy crush saga for WP!??
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Dumb fuck company like fb and google
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Like mad cap
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Since when is minion rush a "puzzle game" ??