Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. Many puzzle games involve a real-time element and require quick thinking, such as Tetris (1985) and Lemmings (1991).
Combinatorial game theory measures game complexity in several ways:
- State-space complexity,
- Game tree size,
- Decision complexity,
- Game-tree complexity,
- Computational complexity.
Bejeweled is a 2000 match-three video game developed and published by PopCap Games. Bejeweled involves lining up three or more multi-colored gems to clear them from the game board, with chain reactions potentially following. The game was inspired by a similar browser game titled Colors Game discovered by the PopCap team in 2000, at the time consisting of John Vechey, Brian Fiete, and Jason Kapalka. Originally titled Diamond Mine and released in 2000 as a browser game on the team's official website, Bejeweled was later licensed to be hosted on MSN Gaming Zone under its current name. PopCap later released a retail version titled Bejeweled Deluxe. Bejeweled has since been ported to many platforms, particularly mobile platforms.
Peter Hajba, also known by his demoscene nickname Skaven, is a Finnish electronic musician, video game composer and graphic artist. His most recent project is with Remedy Entertainment as an animator, sound designer and graphic artist. Prior to working with Remedy, Hajba has been credited on games developed by 3D Realms, PopCap Games, Introversion Software Limited, Epic Games, and Housemarque.
PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka.
Zuma is a 2003 tile-matching puzzle video game developed by Oberon Media and published by PopCap Games. It was released for a number of platforms, including PDAs, mobile phones, and the iPod.
Bejeweled 2 is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. Released as a sequel to Bejeweled, Bejeweled 2 introduces new game mechanics, such as Special Gems and extra game modes, along with new visuals and sounds.
Peggle Nights is a Windows, Mac OS X and Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade downloadable game from PopCap Games. Upon its release, PopCap marketed the game as a "follow-up" to Peggle, although an actual sequel to the 2007 PC Game was released in 2013. The gameplay between Peggle and Peggle Nights has remained largely unchanged, with each stage featuring a colorful 2D background filled with different colored "pegs". The objective in each level is to clear all of the orange pegs by hitting them with a ball shot from the top of the screen. New to this version are 60 new levels, 60 additional challenges, the introduction of the new Peggle Master Marina the Electric Squid, and the addition of an "Aced" score for each level.
King, also known as King Digital Entertainment, is a Swedish video game developer and publisher that specialises in social games. Headquartered in Stockholm and London, and incorporated as King.com Limited in St. Julian's, Malta, King rose to prominence after releasing the cross-platform title Candy Crush Saga in 2012. It is considered as one of the most financially successful games utilising the freemium model. King was acquired by Activision Blizzard in February 2016 for US$5.9 billion, and operates as its own entity within that company. King is led by Riccardo Zacconi, who has served in the role of chief executive officer since co-founding the company in 2003. Gerhard Florin took over Melvyn Morris's role as chairman in November 2014. As of 2017, King employs 2,000 people.
Bejeweled Twist is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. It is the third game overall and first spin-off game in the Bejeweled series, as well as being the first PopCap title to be released in high definition and feature widescreen support.
Gyromancer is a puzzle and role-playing video game developed by PopCap Games in collaboration with Square Enix. The player moves through a map of an enchanted forest, battling monsters using their own summoned monsters through a puzzle-game battle based on PopCap's Bejeweled Twist. In these battles, the player rotates groups of four in a grid of gems to line up three or more jewels of the same color; when enough lines have been created damage is dealt to the enemy. Between battles, a story is told through a series of cutscenes, while the player and the summoned monsters gain experience and power using role-playing elements.
Shariki is a puzzle video game written in 1994 for MS-DOS by Russian developer Eugene Alemzhin. The goal of the game is to gain progressively higher scores by matching three or more balls of the same color in a line, by swapping adjacent balls. Each swap must result in a match. Matched balls are then removed, and new ones drop from the top to fill the gaps. The game is over when no more matches are possible in the game field.
Bejeweled Blitz is a puzzle video game, originally a Facebook application which was developed and published by PopCap Games; since 2011 Electronic Arts took over the publishing and distribution duty after EA acquired PopCap. It developed into a downloadable game, based on the then-in-development Bejeweled 3 engine, due to popularity of the differences from Bejeweled 2 and its new graphics. As with the Bejeweled series, Bejeweled Blitz is based on the Shariki game mechanic. It is the fourth game of the Bejeweled franchise and initially was available on iOS as part of the Bejeweled 2 iOS application, later on with the standalone iOS application. The game was then released on Android devices.
Bejeweled 3 is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. It is the fifth game in the Bejeweled series following Bejeweled Blitz and succeeds Bejeweled 2 as the latest mainline title in the Bejeweled series. It was released for PC and Mac on December 7, 2010, as part of the 10 Years of Bejeweled celebration, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of Bejeweled, and has been ported to several other consoles afterward.
A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the same type so that they adjoin each other. That number is often three, and these games are called match-three games.
Candy Crush Saga is a free-to-play tile-matching video game released by King on April 12, 2012, originally for Facebook; other versions for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 followed. It is a variation of their browser game Candy Crush.
Bejeweled Stars is a tile match-3 game developed by PopCap Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third spin-off title in the Bejeweled series and the first to debut on smart devices. The game was soft-launched in Canada in December 2015, and was released worldwide on May 10, 2016.
Jason Kapalka is a Canadian game developer and entrepreneur based in the Comox Valley and Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as one of the founders, along with John Vechey and Brian Fiete, of the video game studio PopCap Games, which was founded in 2000 and sold to Electronic Arts in 2011; PopCap was originally titled “Sexy Action Cool,” but the name was changed when it was found to be misleading to many players. Kapalka is listed at #82 on IGN's list of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Blue Wizard Digital is a Canadian video game development studio and game publisher founded in 2014 by Jason Kapalka, one of the founders of PopCap Games and an early pioneer in the mobile casual gaming space. It is based in the Comox Valley, British Columbia, and is the only video game studio currently headquartered in Comox, as The Long Dark studio Hinterland is now based in Vancouver.
