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If I can just connect the red “2” card with the blue “1” card, and then slide together those “3’s,” I’ll be able to get another “12” and… Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m in the middle of another game of Threes , the latest game for iOS that I’m slightly obsessed with.

Threes, $2, is a tiny puzzle game that will get your brain turning and likely drive you a bit nuts at the same time. It’s like a series of math problems from high school met the old board game Connect Four and added a sprinkle of Flappy Bird on top.

The idea of the game is to collect as many points as possible by connecting cards with numbers on them. Connect a “1” with a “2” to create a “3,” and then after that, any card of “3” or higher can be connected only to its matching double. (A 12 card + 12 card makes a 24 card. A 24 card added to a 24 card makes a 48 card… and so on.)

In many ways the game is like many other matching challenges, where you have to connect two identical objects to receive points — in Candy Crush, this is done with two identical candies.

But unlike Candy Crush, which feels like you’re in a Las Vegas dive bar, Threes is stunningly designed with a simple flat interface that you move around with your thumb. Beyond the visuals, the Threes soundtrack is quiet and nice. The music sounds like something you would hear in a haunted house, or a nursery, and it is overlaid with random characters burping, giggling and groaning.

The three founders of Threes, Asher Vollmer, Jimmy Hinson and Greg Wohlwend, say on the company’s website that the game is a tiny puzzle that will “grow your mind beyond imagination.” In other words, the game could be good for your brain.

In my weekly column, Disruptions: Using Addictive Games to Build Better Brains, researchers said that some games have been proven to help strengthen your brain functions. It’s not clear if this is actually one of those games.

If you quickly become a seasoned player of Threes, Kotaku, the gaming website, has a number of tips and tricks to help you get your score into the 20,000 point range on a consistent basis. Two tips from Kotaku: Always think about the incoming card, and which new cards might be coming after that. Then, the site suggests, try to control your board.

I haven’t had much luck with these tips, though. I keep getting overly excited when I match up a high card and then it’s all down hill from there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to trying to match the two “12” cards on my board so I can get a “24”.