I Am A Peggle Master!

After my blog about about Sonic the Hedgehog for the iPod, and my brief mention of Peggle for the iPod, I was contacted by PopCap games to see if I would like a copy of Peggle for the Mac and for the iPod to try out. Peggle looked like an interesting game, so I said “Sure.”

Well I have been playing Peggle for a little less than a week now, and I can’t stop. It is one of the most addicting games I have played on my Mac, or iPod.

What exactly is Peggle? Well, it is a little hard to describe, but I’ll do my best. On the Peggle screen you have pegs and bricks that come in a variety of colors. The colors include orange, blue, green, and purple. Your goal is to hit all of the orange ones so that they disappear. The purple pieces give you more points (important for extra balls) and the green pieces have special powers-ups (which vary on the different levels).

You get rid of these pegs and bricks in a manner similar to the game Plinko. You simply aim and drop a ball from the top middle of the screen and watch it bounce off the obstacles and pegs and bricks as it goes to the bottom of the screen. Whatever you hit on the way down, disappears. At the bottom of the screen is a moving basket. If the ball lands in the basket, you get a free ball. If it doesn’t, it is onto the next one.

As you play there are 10 “teachers” who introduce a new power for the green pegs and bricks. The teachers lead you through the Adventure mode. When completed you unlock challenge mode which makes the game even more addicting as you attempt to finish 75 challenges and become a Grand Master (I have finished about 6 challenges). There is also a duel mode for playing against the computer or friend.

The iPod version is almost identical to the Mac version, but on a smaller screen. Perfect for filling that Peggle addiction on the go! It has the same amount of levels, and the same gameplay, just on a smaller screen. The controls on the iPod work perfectly.

The best way to learn about Peggle is to try it yourself. There is a free downloadable trial of the game at http://www.popcap.com/games/mac/peggle. If you like it I suggest buying sooner than later. PopCap is having a 50% off sale, and you can get Peggle for just $9.97. If you are on a budget, go for the iPod version for $4.99 in iTunes.

That’s it for this blog. I have to get back to my quest to become a Peggle Grand Master!