Puzzle & Dragons (パズル&ドラゴンズ Pazuru Ando Doragonzu) is a Japanese mobile game developed by GungHo Online Entertainment. The Japanese title is often shortened to パズドラ (Pazudora), while the English title is often shortened to PAD.
The gameplay consists of the player going through dungeons (there are regular dungeons, special dungeons, and technical dungeons) and battling monsters and bosses via matching element tiles to attack and/or heal in order to earn various in-game currencies. Beating dungeons eventually gives enough experience points to allow the player to level up so their rank, stamina, team cost, and monster box capacity may increase. Another factor of gameplay is the player collecting, fusing, and evolving their monsters in order to make them stronger. Utilizing monster abilities and stats is vital to the gameplay, especially later on in the game.
There are approximately 1400 and counting unique monsters that can be collected by the player. These range from traditional dragons, demons, ogres, goblins, and knights to mythological figures from various real world cultures and religions, fictionalized versions of popular historical figures, and even third party fictional characters.
