Soooo... got a new iPod nano or Classic for Christmas, did ya?

Did you check your stocking? I refer to the one hung by the chimney with care, of course. There may be a iTunes Gift Card in there.

Ah-Hah! I knew it!

There you are with a brand new iPod and an unused gift card. What ever shall you do with them?

Hey wait! I’ve got an idea: Why not redeem the gift card and buy... a Game!!!

Eh? What’s that you say? "The iPod is all about the music, Vern, and games are bound to suck on that little screen."

I agree with you, the iPod IS all about music, and games on the wee iPod screen would normally suck, unless those games were made specifically for the iPod screen. And how about if you could listen to your music while playing?

You may be surprised to learn that there’s a decent crop of games available for your iPod, not on the caliber of Halo of course, but more than good enough to help you while away those occasional minutes when you must wait for something or someone.

One of the absolute best, most addictive games to come to the iPod, or to any platform, is Peggle from Popcap Games.

The unicorn wears a headset when you play music. Nice touch!

Follow The Falling Ball
Peggle is loosely based on Pachinko, a pinball-like game popular in Japan and many Asian countries. The playing field is covered with pegs, each new field offers a different pattern, power-ups, sights and sounds. The object is to drop a little ball from the top of the Peggle screen strategically such that it hits as many orange pegs as possible on its way down. At the bottom or the screen is a moving bucket. If your ball is caught in the bucket you get to use it again. Clear all of the orange pegs (and blocks when they appear) and you’ve completed that level.

Sounds simple enough, and it is, which is why the game is ideal for the iPod’s small screen and Click Wheel. It’s also why the game is so freaking addictive.

After downloading and installing Peggle on my 5th generation iPod I fired up my "My Top Rated" playlist, set in on random, then brought up Peggle. Like most well behaved iPod games, Peggle lets you listen to your music while you play.

Up For The Challenge
You can play the Adventure mode where you progress through all ten levels, each hosted by a different character offering five challenging screens each that have different power-ups. You can also play the Quick Play mode which lets you scroll through and choose any of the unlocked levels (you unlock levels by completing them first in the Adventure mode), the Duel mode where you choose an unlocked level and take turns playing against a friend, or the Challenge mode which offers 75 additional, more advanced, screens to play.

Four Modes, Lots of Play

There’s certainly a lot to do and see, and each level I’ve played thus far is not hard to beat if you think about it and do a little planning. I love it when you finish a screen: The ball slows and the screen changes so that you can get either 10,000, 50,000, or 100,000 additional points depending on how how your ball falls. The fanfare is fun still, but I can see where it might get old after a while. Popcap might want to offer several fanfares or let you turn it off if you want.

Loads of fun happening here.

Speaking of controls, there’s not a lot of options, but what’s there is done well. The Options menu lets you control sound effects volume and screen brightness, it even offers a setting for those of us who are colorblind. Another nice little and well appreciated feature is that when you pause the game the time appears in the upper right corner of the screen near the battery meter. It’s a small thing and other iPod games display time when paused, but it’s the little touches that elevate products from OK to very cool.

Bottom Line
All in all, Peggle is a heck of a lot of fun for five bucks. It’s colorful, looks great, is easy to play, sounds great, and more addicting than a dozen fresh, hot Krispy Kreme donuts (and less fattening).

It doesn’t look it here, but completing a screen is way cool.

If you have a third generation iPod nano, fifth generation iPod, or an iPod Classic and an iTunes Gift Card burning a hole in your pocket you can ease the heat with Peggle, the cool game from Popcap.

By the way, if you can’t get enough of Peggle you’ll be happy to know that you can get it for you Mac or PC, too.

I Highly Recommend Peggle.

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.