My Experience with 10000000
I saw this game mentioned on a forum last Tuesday and decided to check it out, mostly because I was bored on my train ride home. I didn’t expect to get so sucked in. The whole “match-3 to run for your life” thing is way more tense than it sounds. You’re this little pixel guy sprinting down a hallway, and if the screen catches up, you’re done. I found myself actually leaning into my phone, frantically swiping sword tiles to kill a goblin before it could hit me, or scrambling to match keys for a chest that was about to scroll off the top of the screen. It completely ate up my commute for two weeks. The drive to beat your last score and finally see that 10000000 number is incredibly strong. I’d finish a run, get sent back to my cell, and immediately spend my wood and stone on an upgrade, thinking “Okay, just one more try with this new sword damage.” It’s a dangerous loop.
Features Worth Noting
The best part is how everything you do matters. Matching wood and stone isn’t just for points; you use it to literally build furniture in your prison cell. I built a library first, which unlocked new magic tiles. Then I focused on the forge to make my sword matches hit harder. It feels tangible. You’re not just watching numbers go up, you’re constructing the tools for your own escape. The pixel art is perfect for quick reading—I never confused a shield for a sword, even when panicking. The controls are just swipes, and they’re super responsive on my iPhone 15 Pro. There’s no story getting in the way, no cutscenes. It’s just you, the board, and the relentless scroll. The purity of that focus is its biggest strength.
What Needs Work
After a while, the shine wears off a bit. Once you’ve built most of the furniture in your cell, the upgrades become really incremental and expensive. I hit a wall around the 800,000-point mark where I needed to grind the same early dungeon sections over and over just to gather enough resources for a tiny stat boost. It started to feel like a chore last weekend, and I put it down for a day. The game could use a bit more variety in enemy types or board mechanics in those later stages to keep the pressure fresh. Also, while the core is brilliant, it is a very specific kind of experience. If you’re looking for a deep story or relaxing puzzle game, this ain’t it. It’s stressful by design.
Pricing
It costs $2.99. No ads, no nagging for in-app purchases, no “energy” timers. You pay once and you get the whole game. In a world where even simple games are packed with trackers and microtransactions, paying a few bucks for a complete, self-contained experience is a relief. I’ve spent more on a latte that lasted twenty minutes. For the hours of engagement I got, it’s a fair deal. It’s a premium game in the old-school sense, and I appreciate that model.
Developer Notes
The game has been out for years, so it’s clearly a finished product. Don’t expect new content. That’s fine with me—I’d rather have a complete game than one that’s constantly updating with junk. I did have one question about whether progress was saved if I switched devices. I emailed EightyEight Games through their support contact. They didn’t get back to me for about four days, which was slower than I’d hoped, but the reply was actually helpful and written by a person, not a bot. They explained the save system clearly. For a smaller studio, that personal touch was nice.
Security & Privacy
This is where the app really stands out for someone like me. I read the privacy label on the App Store page before I bought it. “No Data Collected.” Perfect. When I installed it, it didn’t ask for a single permission—no network access, no contacts, nothing. The game runs entirely offline. I checked my iPhone’s privacy report during use, and it confirmed zero network activity. It’s just a game on your phone, not a data-harvesting tool disguised as entertainment. In an era of excessive app permissions, this level of respect for the user is rare and deeply appreciated. It made the purchase feel safe and straightforward.
What makes the gameplay in 10000000 different from other match-3 games?
Instead of just matching tiles for points, you're a pixel character running from a scrolling screen. Matching swords kills goblins, keys open chests, and resources like wood and stone are used to build furniture in your cell, which unlocks permanent upgrades.
How do the prison cell upgrades work?
You collect wood and stone during runs to construct furniture like a library or forge. Building a library unlocks new magic tiles, while the forge increases your sword damage, making each match feel meaningful because you're literally building your escape tools.
What should I do if I hit a score wall around 800,000 points?
This is common because upgrades become very expensive at that point. Focus on grinding early dungeon sections to gather resources, and prioritize upgrading your sword damage and shield defense to survive longer and earn higher scores.
Why does the game feel repetitive after a while?
Once most furniture is built, upgrades slow down to small, costly increments. You'll need to replay the same early levels repeatedly to gather enough resources, which can make progress feel like a grind rather than steady advancement.
How does 10000000 compare to other match-3 runners like Dungeon Raid?
10000000 is simpler and more focused than Dungeon Raid, with no story or cutscenes. It strips the genre down to pure survival and upgrade loops, but lacks the deeper strategy and variety of tile interactions found in Dungeon Raid.
