Your town is in rough shape. Buildings need repairs, citizens have problems and the whole place is held together by the goodwill of your assistant Olivia (who has rather a lot of faith in you, the brand-new mayor). Merge Mayor is built around the most satisfying of game mechanics: combining pairs of matching items on a board to create something better. Two screwdrivers become a wrench; two wrenches become a hammer. One after another, upgrades unlock and your small town slowly comes to life.

What we love: The cast of townspeople who all have their own quirks and storylines, like Edith, whose suitcase doubles as a generator for some of the game’s more unusual quests. Your restoration work includes the Downtown shops, the Museum and the Cinema Drive-In, with each area introduced by a new character with a new problem. Beyond this, there are competitive events that pit you against other players for rewards and permanent side events such as the Sports Party and Chili Party, which run on their own separate energy so you always have something to do even when your main board is recharging.

Quick tip: Resist the urge to merge your generators the moment two match. Two mid-level generators running in parallel often produce more total items before their cooldowns than a single upgraded one: keep both going for as long as board space will allow and only promote when you really need to free up a tile.

Meet the creator: Starberry Games is a studio of around 20 people based in Berlin, Germany. They launched Merge Mayor in 2021 with one clear idea: combine familiar gameplay elements with something new and keep building until it feels right. The community they’ve grown around the game (active on Discord, vocal on Reddit, fiercely loyal) is as much a part of Merge Mayor as the board itself.