Zuma Deluxe

Zuma is a 2003 tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. It was released for a number of platforms, including PDAs, mobile phones, and the iPod.[1] An enhanced version, called Zuma Deluxe, was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X as well as an Xbox Live Arcade download for the Xbox 360 and a PlayStation Network download for the PlayStation 3.[2] It is also included with the PlayStation 3 retail version of Bejeweled 3, along with Feeding Frenzy 2.[3] Zuma received the 2004 "Game of the Year" award from RealArcade.[4] It was followed by two sequels: Zuma's Revenge! (2009) and Zuma Blitz (2010). Gameplay The objective of Zuma is to eliminate all of the balls rolling around the screen along a given path (the path is clearly visible in each level except for the last one) with other balls before these balls reach the yellow skull structure, which will open to varying degrees as a warning of oncoming balls. The player can carry two balls at a time and can switch at any moment. As soon as one ball reaches the skull, the others follow, the stone frog idol spins around quickly and disappears and the player loses a life. To prevent the balls from reaching the skull, the player can eliminate the balls by firing a colored ball from the stone frog idol's mouth towards the chain of balls. When three or more of the same color come in contact, they explode, possibly triggering other explosions as part of a chain reaction. The chain of balls will continue to push forward until the player fills the yellow bar, which is when the balls will stop producing off-screen. The level is completed when the player eliminates all of the balls on the screen after the bar is filled. There are bonuses: for hitting coins; for combos, when firing a single ball cause two or more explosions, due to balls slide together and detonate; for causing explosions through gaps of line of other balls; and chains for having a streak of always causing an explosion with each consecutive ball (coins and chain bonuses are a quick way to fill the bar). Time bonuses are also awarded if the player completes the level within ace time – ranging from twenty five seconds to four minutes depending on the level. Four different types of power-ups appear in the balls, which can be activated by exploding the ball with the power-up. The backwards ball pushes the furthest-out chain (depending on if all of the balls are connected) backwards for a short length of time. The slow-down ball slows the speed of the chain of balls for a short length of time. The accuracy ball allows quicker shots and points an arrow at where the ball will be shot (this stays active for about the same amount of time as the slow-down ball, but the size of the balls must be considered). The explosion ball explodes all of the balls within a small radius of the ball at the spot and time of its explosion. If not exploded quickly, power-up balls will return to their regular state after some time.