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PopCap Brings Bejeweled Blitz to Facebook
April 29th, 2009
| By Christopher Mack | 21 Comments » |
Of all casual games, there is one name that tends to stand out more than the rest: the poster child of the genre, from PopCap Games – Bejeweled. With millions of users across a multitude of platforms, this simple puzzle game has grown and evolved without measure, and with each rendition becoming slightly different and slightly better (at least in theory). One such version of the title comes for the Facebook platform by the name of Bejeweled Blitz.
If one can imagine it, Blitz is actually an even simpler version of the original versions, or more accurately a shaved down version. For those that may be unfamiliar with the Bejeweled franchise, the game is a very simple puzzle game whose basic mechanics and crisp, yet simple, production values have proven to be the basis of dozens of other small titles.
The objective is to score as many points as possible by swapping jewels of varying colors in order to make rows of the same color that consist of three or more. Doing so will remove them from the board as new ones fall to take their place, and should the newly relocated gems line up as three or more to a color, they will be removed as well. The more jewels you remove, the more points you get. You continue to do this until the game ends (sometimes it’s a puzzle, sometimes a time limit, and sometimes it goes on forever). It is these basic rules that govern Blitz, but as the name would suggest, it is a very short game.
The player is granted one minute to score as many points as possible. That’s about it, but there is some hope as the game is dubbed “beta“ (though so many Facebook titles have that tagged on them it seems to have lost its meaning, because it almost never goes away) and the one minute game is classified as the “current tournament,” suggesting new game play options may come along. As for social features, the game doesn’t use anything particularly new. Scoring more points earns you a few badges to show off in your Facebook profile, and like most social game games, when you play, your score is compared to that of your friends. Unfortunately, it is only your friends, as there is no global leaderboard system.
This makes for some exceedingly simple game play that doesn’t have a lot of options or replay value, especially considering the marathon and puzzle modes that other versions of Bejeweled offer. However, one feature that Blitz does have that comes off as positive, is that your score accumulates with each game to form a “team score.” The higher this score the better prizes you are eligible to win.
Yes, as a promotional means, PopCap, at least currently, is having drawings for prizes that range from a free game, all the way up to a free laptop. Of course, the better the prize, the more you have to play to even be entered into the drawing (100,000 points for the game, 1 million for the computer).
Prizes and give-aways are always a good tool to drive traffic, and for Bejeweled Blitz, that equates to about 1.6 million monthly uniques. If you are a fan of the franchise, then Blitz is worth a play as you might be able to win something with the countless hours that tend to be looged with such games. However, if you are looking for something new with this version, don’t get your hopes too high, because you simply will not find it here.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
This is a neat game , I like the one min feature although when you play it a zillion times…would you call that an addict?…:)thanks for the cheap fun makes the hours my husbands spends wathcing baseball and hockey games not so dreary!
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 am
[...] PopCap Brings Bejeweled Blitz to Facebook [...]
May 10th, 2009 at 4:19 am
My question is, it’s very clear to see how to switch out jewels for point and when the game is over you have total points accumulated.. How do I get that score to increase my overall point accumulation? I love this game almost to the addiction – so I really want to won–any suggestioms
June 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
what is the current world record for the game because i just got 12500000 points look me up
August 6th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
[...] is the large traditional game companies getting involved. EA has been involved for a while. PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz has been taking off, and now has 5.5 million monthly users. Zuma is now launched on Popcap.com with Facebook Connect, [...]
October 1st, 2009 at 8:36 am
[...] simple dice game called FARKLE from Viral brings a little chance to Facebook, moving PopCap’s Bejeweled Bliz to [...]
October 6th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
[...] Seattle company has recently been focusing on Facebook, and relatively successfully. It launched Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook last Christmas, based on the original puzzle game. The app grew fast over the spring [...]
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
why do i keep getting blocked from loggin on?????????
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I LUV THE GAME,BUT IT GIVES ME ANXIETY.I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ADD MY FRIEND ONTO MY PC SO WE WILL BE A TEAM. CAN U HELP ME?
November 5th, 2009 at 7:32 am
I am wondering about this so called contest about the popcap computer. The team I am on, constantly racks up into the millions of points, when are they giving these computers away,
November 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
[...] PopCap, USA Networks, and Konami have all been busy building for Facebook and Facebook Connect. However, [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I have lost my bejewelled application and can no longer play with my group . How can I get back on
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
i cheated for fun and look like a douche with a 2mill score how do i erase it and play for fun again
January 5th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Why can`t I get to play the game anymore? When I try to download the page nothing happens.
January 8th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
While I have gone golden on the 50,000 and 75000 I complete the required games for 125 159 and 175 but at those levels it takes games away and will not go golden why?
January 26th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
We’ve encountered a problem getting the information from the server:
IO ERROR………………WHY OVER AND OVER AND OVER………….AND OVER AND OVER ETC……………………………………………….AGAIN
January 27th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
coz the game wotn play ok
February 5th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Hmm I just had 981,755 score in bejeweld blitz facebook …. I was wanting to know who owns the current world wide record on facebook to challenge them ! …. Meet ur match
Sincerley J.B
February 9th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I blocked the bejeweled blitz game buy accident and now I can’t get it back. Can you help. Love the game
February 16th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
I recently lost BejeweledBlitz, new Game, and I can,t get a reply from Facebook, to why!!! they can,t re-send it to me
March 12th, 2010 at 2:57 am
I JUST WANT MY BEJEWELED SCORES TO SHOW UP ON MY FRIENDS SCOREBOARDS I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING THE APPLICATION SETTINGS TELL ME TOO BUT STILL NOT HAPPENING helppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp please SOMEONE