Bejeweled (series)

Bejeweled

Logo as of Bejeweled Stars (2016)
Genres Puzzle
Developers PopCap Games
Publishers PopCap Games
Electronic Arts
Creators Jason Kapalka[1]
Platforms Windows
Xbox 360
Windows Phone
Windows Mobile
Mac OS X
iOS
Android
PlayStation 3
PlayStation Portable
Nintendo DS
Nintendo Wii
Java ME
Adobe Flash
Palm OS
Symbian^3
PlayStation Vita
Online
Arcade
First release Bejeweled
May 30, 2001
Latest release Bejeweled Stars
May 10, 2016
Spin-offs Bejeweled Twist, Bejeweled Blitz, Bejeweled Stars

Bejeweled is the name of the series of tile-matching puzzle games created by PopCap Games, first developed for browsers in 2001. Five follow-ups to this game have been released: Bejeweled 2, in 2004, Bejeweled Twist in 2008, Bejeweled Blitz in 2009, Bejeweled 3 in 2010, and Bejeweled Stars (formerly Bejeweled Skies) in 2016, all by PopCap Games and its parent, Electronic Arts. Blitz is a one-minute timed version, which can be played by linking to Facebook or in an offline mode. More than 25 million copies of Bejeweled have been sold, and the game has been downloaded more than 150 million times.[2] An arcade version was released in Q3 2013.

History

Bejeweled was initially created by PopCap Games as a web-based Flash game named Diamond Mine. PopCap created partnerships with established Internet gaming sites, such as Microsoft Zone, to host Bejeweled as well. The name Bejeweled was suggested by Microsoft, who thought the original name Diamond Mine was too similar to that of an existing game, Diamond Mines.

The game has been ported to other platforms, including Microsoft Windows, where it was called Bejeweled Deluxe. Astraware produced versions for PDAs on the BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm and Windows Mobile smartphone platforms. They also released Bejeweled Deluxe on the Xbox as a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game. On September 12, 2006, it was released as one of the first games downloadable from the iTunes Store for the iPod.

PopCap Games initially announced a version of Bejeweled for the iPhone that was not a standalone game, but rather a web application playable over the Safari browser.[3] A native application for the iPhone has since been made available for purchase in the iTunes store, although the web-based version still exists.

The success of Bejeweled is inarguable: by 2013, PopCap estimates that over 10 billion hours of the game had been played on over 500 million downloaded copies. This runaway consumer success has led to it being referred to as the "'Gone With the Wind' of casual games".[4]

Games

Main Series

Spinoffs

Versions timeline

Influence

Bejeweled was most likely influenced by the Shariki game,[13] written in 1988 by Russian developer Eugene Alemzhin, which had nearly identical gameplay. The popularity of Bejeweled has spawned countless clones. Collectively known as match three games, these games revolve around the mechanics of creating three-in-a-row combinations of identical pieces. They include:

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ "Bejeweled® Deluxe Readme". Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  2. ↑ Ward, Mark (2008-03-18). "Casual games make a serious impact". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  3. ↑ "Bejeweled for the iPhone, Blast Magazine". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  4. ↑ Edwards, Jim (2013-09-11). "The Definitive, Illustrated History of the Most Underrated Game Ever". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  5. ↑ "Bejeweled, PopCap hits to debut on Xbox and PS2, Blast Magazine". Archived from the original on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  6. ↑ "Entry of Bejeweled on Apple's Web App listing". Apple, Inc. October 11, 2007. Archived from the original on February 10, 2011.
  7. ↑ "WoW Insider's preview of PopCap Games' Bejeweled add-on, WoW Insider". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  8. ↑ "PopCap Games on Twitter: "Bejeweled Blitz Beta is live!"". Twitter.com. 2008-12-20. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  9. ↑ "PopCap Games on Twitter: "Preview of the Bejeweled Blitz add-on for the iPhone!"". Twitter.com. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  10. ↑ "The Bejeweled In PopCap's Crown". Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  11. ↑ Tom Curtis (2011-12-13). "PopCap Tries Hand At HTML5 With New Bejeweled Release". Gamasutra.
  12. ↑ Christiansen, Tom (December 30, 2015). "Bejeweled Skies Is a Thing, Now Live in Canada". Gamezebo. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Museum of the Schariki game" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  14. ↑ "Plants Vs. Zombies - Beghouled". YouTube. 2011-10-24. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  15. ↑ "Gweled". Retrieved 2011-04-13.
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