The History of the Boom Box in Gardenscapes: From “Big Fireworks” to the Element We Know Today

Two Gardenscapes characters and a happy dog flying colorful Boom Box-inspired kites against a festive blue and purple background, with one kite flying higher than the other.

Trace the history of the Boom Box in Gardenscapes, from its original Big Fireworks concept and early prototypes to its final design and role in level creation.

The Boom Box is one of the most recognizable elements to appear in Gardenscapes. Most players know its modern form: a colorful fixed object tied to specific colors that can have a major impact on the board. But its history goes back much further, to a time when Playrix was still experimenting with its name, appearance, and role in level design.

Old material from a presentation by Alexander Shilyaev, Lead Game Designer at Playrix, gives us a rare look behind the scenes. Instead of showing only the finished element, the presentation reveals how the original idea developed through visual references, prototypes, testing, and eventually the version that reached players.

The Original Name: “Big Fireworks”

In early Playrix development material, the element appears under the name Big Fireworks. This does not appear to have been a completely separate mechanic. The available material strongly suggests that it was an earlier name for the same basic concept that later became known as the Boom Box.

Today, Playrix officially calls the element Boom Box. So when “Big Fireworks” appears in historical development material, it makes more sense to view it as an earlier stage in the Boom Box’s evolution rather than as a separate Gardenscapes element.

What the Old Playrix Image Actually Shows

One of the most interesting parts of the presentation is an image showing several versions of the element. At first glance, they can look like old in-game forms that players may have missed. They are not.

What we are actually seeing is the development process behind the element.

On the left are real-world fireworks boxes used as visual references.
In the center are early prototypes and alternative design ideas.
A test board shows how the concept was placed inside a level to evaluate how it worked during gameplay.
On the right is a more polished version that moved much closer to the final in-game design.

In other words, these images are not a collection of forgotten versions that were once available to every player. They show how the idea moved from real-world inspiration to a working game element.

How the Idea Was Developed

According to the presentation, the team wanted an element that would stay fixed on the board instead of behaving like regular match-3 pieces. It also needed to stand out immediately and communicate that something significant would happen once the player interacted with it correctly.

That helps explain the use of bright colors, bold shapes, and visual references to fireworks and explosions. The design needed to tell the player, even before they fully understood the mechanic, that this was not just another ordinary tile.

Why the Boom Box Mattered to Level Design

The Boom Box is historically interesting for more than its appearance. It also gives us a glimpse into how Gardenscapes levels are actually designed and how Playrix approached level design during that period.

Alexander Shilyaev explained that a good level is not created simply by combining goals and obstacles. A level needs a central idea, and that idea can come from using an existing element in an unexpected way.

One example in the presentation places Big Fireworks in a level involving Lemonades. The element is not simply dropped onto the board as a powerful bonus. Its position and behavior become part of the puzzle itself, affecting how the player has to approach the level.

That distinction matters. It shows that Playrix was thinking about these elements not only as spectacular effects, but as tools that could shape the structure and strategy of an entire level.

Early Boom Box development in Gardenscapes, showing real-world fireworks references, prototype designs, a test level, and the final element concept.

Helpful Element or Part of the Problem?

This also leads to one of the most interesting ideas in the presentation. An element that normally feels helpful can become much more complicated depending on how the level is built around it.

A Boom Box may look like an advantage because of the amount of space it can affect. But if activating it requires specific colors, positioning, or timing, reaching that payoff can become part of the challenge.

This is one of the techniques that keeps match-3 level design from becoming completely predictable. The mechanic itself does not necessarily change. What changes is the situation around it and the decision the player has to make.

From the Early Concept to the Modern Boom Box

Most current Gardenscapes players only know the finished Boom Box. In its modern form, it is activated through color-based interaction and can clear a large part of the board once triggered.

Looking back at the older development material, the core idea is already easy to recognize. The name and artwork evolved, but the foundation was there: a fixed, highly visible element built around color interaction and a powerful board-wide effect.

The old “Big Fireworks” material therefore gives us something that is rarely visible in a finished mobile game: the transition between an initial design idea and a mechanic that eventually became familiar to millions of players.

Why This History Still Matters

The Boom Box is a useful example of how much work can sit behind something that looks simple once it reaches the game. Before players ever saw the finished version, the concept went through real-world references, visual experiments, prototypes, gameplay testing, and decisions about how it could be used inside actual levels.

It also shows how closely visual design and gameplay design can be connected. The colors and fireworks theme were not added only to make the object look attractive. They helped communicate what kind of element it was and what players should expect from it, just as many classic Gardenscapes elements use their appearance to communicate how they behave on the board.

Final Thoughts

If we look at the Boom Box only as another Gardenscapes mechanic, we miss the more interesting part of its story. The old “Big Fireworks” name and the early development images reveal how the element gradually moved from an idea on a designer’s screen to a recognizable part of the game.

For players, it is a powerful tool on the board. From a game-design perspective, it is also a small piece of Gardenscapes history — and a rare example of being able to see how one of the game’s elements was actually created.

Sources

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