E. Vincent Cross II

Zuma

Zuma is a fast-paced puzzle game developed by PopCap Games. It can be played for free

online at several Web sites, and can be purchased for a number of platforms, including

PDA’s, mobile phones, and the iPOD. An enhanced version, called Zuma Deluxe, is

available for purchase in Windows and Mac OS versions and as an Xbox Live Arcade

download for the Xbox and Xbox 360. The online version is free but has a limited

number of features. You can download the full game but you only have 60 minutes of

game time. The types of puzzles involved can involve logic, strategy, pattern

recognition, sequence solving, word completion or, in some cases, just pure luck.

The objective is to eliminate all the balls rolling round the screen, before they reach the

Sun God, or Skull. As soon as one ball reaches the Sun God, the rest follow and the

player loses a life. To prevent the balls reaching the Skull, the player can eliminate the

balls by firing a colored ball from the stone frog idol's mouth towards a group of two or

more of the same colored balls. When three or more of the same color come in contact,

they explode, possibly triggering other explosions as part of a chain reaction.

This game would be compared to other mental, match/puzzle games such as

Match the card game, Simon, Tetris, minesweeper, jigsaw puzzles, and Rubick’s Cube.

All of these games are fairly simple and easy to pickup which is one of the keystones of

this genre. However the gameplay is challenging enough to not become boring as the

levels increase so does the complexity. When you do lose in this genre you immediately

want to try again and get back to the point where you lost and beat the system. If you

look at the predecessor games to Zuma such as the Rubics cube and Simon these were

two different games but the “funativity” factor is the same. Both games are mental

games that require the user to match the colors in a particular order. The Rubik’s cube

has the gamer rotate a 3x3x3 cube with various colors until all the same

colors are on the same side. In the case of Simon an additional diameter is

added sound. Simon did not have the user rotate the colors but had the user follow a

pattern done by the game if not followed correctly than the gamer would lose. Although

this is a single choice game, follow the leader or lose, it is wildly popular. These two

games are simple in concept, but provide hours of fun do to its filling of a primal mental

need of matching. Looking at later computer puzzle games such as Tetris where you

have to match objects in a way that they fit together to create a

horizontal line of blocks. Upon creating a horizontal line of blocks it disappears and the

above blocks drop down. These three games a different from each other but at there core

they are simple puzzle/matching game that provides hours of fun. This is the same for

Zuma.

Puzzle games in general are usually abstract (but not always) often involving

arranging geometric shapes to fulfill some goal or constraint. Puzzle games usually strive

to have a pick-up-and-play accessibility to them and to have an addictive quality. What

makes Zuma and other puzzle games interesting and fun to play is the mental challenge

involved in the gameplay. As mentioned above in Zuma the player must shoot colored

balls at the roving band of balls before they can reach the sun god or skull.

When a player shoots a colored ball if it hits another set of balls of the same color than

those balls will disappear if the new set created is greater than two. The disappearance of

these balls could cause a chain reaction in which additional balls of the same color come

together creating a match greater than two and disappearing. Once the player clears all

the balls from the board they are given a score and move

onto the next match. This mental challenge causes a flow experience as described by U

of C professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He discusses flow as a state of exhilaration,

deep sense of enjoyment. “Flow usually happens when a person’s body or mind is

stretched to its limits to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”. Zuma

accomplishes this by starting with a low level of difficulty and scales up from there. The

levels go from 1-1 to 1-5 with 1-5 being the more difficult of the level 1 matches. Once

the player passes level 1-5 they will than start with level 2-1 which is not as hard as 1-5

but harder than 1-1. This gives the player a chance to build up there new skills.

The graphics are rudimentary as noticed in the above screenshots. This is not a

3D action game but a puzzle game where the focus is on the mental challenge. The

graphics used in Zuma are there to enhance the game play by providing a scenario which

in this case is of the ancient world.

Due to the simplicity of Zuma the technology involved in this computer game is

the ability to play online or on your desktop. The online version is free but does not have

all the matches and items that the desktop deluxe version has. The desktop deluxe

version has more features but only gives you one hour of free game play before you are

force to buy the game. Online technology is a benefit because it gets players addicted to

the game play; with the goal of downloading and purchasing the deluxe version to play

with the additional features.

I showed my classmate Wanda, Zuma. She had never seen, or heard of the game

Zuma however she had played other puzzle games such as Tetris. I showed Wanda the

basic mechanics of the game and the goal of the game. Within minutes Wanda had

mastered the controls and had a firm understanding of the game play. She was able to

clear the first three boards without losing a life before quitting for the evening. Because

of its simple nature Wanda was able to pickup the game without to many instructions.

The game is intuitive enough that you would understand the game play mechanics on the

first level.