To hit a billion-dollar valuation in gaming, you do not want a title with ray weapons or a princess in misery. No, you will get by—handsomely—on hits just like the cellular recreation Woodoku, a mixture of Tetris and sudoku carried out with timber blocks. It’s made by the London-based startup TripleDot, which additionally makes a well-liked souped-up model of solitaire.

“We make video games that make it extra enjoyable to be stress-free in entrance of the TV or to cross the time ready for the dentist,” says Akin Babayigit, a cofounder and the chief working officer. “We don’t faux that we’ve discovered a remedy for most cancers. However we do consider we make the day extra satisfying.” 

To maintain creating issues like Wooduku, TripleDot has raised a $116 million Collection B at a $1.6 billion valuation, which comes lower than a 12 months after an earlier $78 million funding spherical. The newest money comes from Harry Stebbings’ 20VC, billionaire Len Blavantik’s Entry Industries and Lightspeed Enterprise Companions. The five-year-old firm’s video games have over 30 million month-to-month customers.

TripleDot runs counter to the loudest factor in gaming proper now: the concept of a metaverse, a boundless, advanced, digital realm. (It does probably not exist but—Fortnite comes the closest. However Mark Zuckerberg’s dedication to shift his firm’s focus to this digital expertise has ignited fevered curiosity from firms like his in addition to conventional gaming ones.) As a substitute, TripleDot falls extra into the identical camp as one other latest obsession: Wordle. Each Worlde and TripleDot’s video games are merely constructed puzzles. And that simplicity is essential to avoiding a destiny many cellular video games expertise: fast abandonment by most customers, says CEO and cofounder Lio Shiff.

TripleDot’s guiding mild, he says, is “to be wonderful within the unsexy a part of gaming.”