Jewel Mania

It all started last year when I got my latest cell phone. It was the first one that had a color display and it came with a demo version of Bejeweled (lasts about 2 minutes). I had heard of this game and how it was really good and addicting, so I gave it a whirl. At first I thought it was kind of dumb, but it didn't take long till I was hooked. I found Bejeweled 2 online at Yahoo! Games, which was fine for when I was on a computer, but I wanted to be able to play it anywhere, so I went on a quest to get it on my Palm. Pop Cap really did a good job of making sure that people actually paid for the game and I wasn't about to shell out $20 for it!! The phone version is a bit more clunky, because you had to move about the board with those tiny cursor keys and my screen is only 1.25" square, so not really worth having to pay $6.99 for. But alas, I finally gave into my addiction and actually paid for the phone version. I actually had to enable the pay-per-use internet access for the phone to do it. So in all it, it probably cost me $8 (so much for stingy me!!). Still, it was cheaper than the Palm version and I could take it with me.

So after becoming a pro at Bejeweled, I tried out Jewel Quest. At first the new twist of having to "clear" a board by making moves was really challenging. But finally I became a master and then it became too repetitive and boring with the same old screens. Although Bejeweled 2 is quite repetitive as well, there is something mesmerizing and thrilling about those shiny gems and "swirly" ones. Now Adam has become addicted to Bejeweled 2 as well. He comes home after school asking to play it, and even can play the version on my phone. He will even give up dessert to play it instead!!

And lately, is has been Gem Shop for me. It removed the single space move and straight line restrictions and added a few fun twists. I played it until 1 am last night, but at least I stopped when I won the game!!

(2/17/06 - oops I totally mispublished this post to 2005 a couple weeks ago)