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 PDAs, mobile phones, and the iPod. An enhanced version, called Zuma Deluxe, is available for purchase in Windows and Mac OS X versions and as an Xbox Live Arcade download for the Xbox 360 and a PlayStation Network download for the PlayStation 3.

Zuma received the 2004 "Game of the Year" award from RealArcade.

The sequel, Zuma's Revenge! (featuring new game modes, weapons, tactics and enemies) was launched on 15 September 2009 for Windows and Mac.

Gameplay
The game is set in Aztec Mexico.The objective of Zuma is to eliminate all of the balls rolling around the screen along a given path, with other balls (the path is clearly visible in all of the levels except the last level), 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 time. As soon as one ball reaches the skull, 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 the chain of balls that will continue to push forward until the player fills the yellow bar, which is when the balls will stop producing off-screen. When three or more of the same color come in contact, they explode, possibly triggering other explosions as part of a chain reaction. The level is completed when after the bar is filled, the player eliminates all of the balls on the screen.

There are bonuses for collecting coins (usually through gaps), for causing explosions through gaps of other balls, and 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 a player completes the level within ace time - ranging from thirty seconds to four minutes depending on the level.

Four different types of power-ups show up in 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; however, size of 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.

Adventure mode
Each regular adventure begins with three lives (represented by frogs in the upper-left hand corner of the screen), but extra lives are earned with every 50,000 points. Shooting a coin with a ball, making multiple groups of balls explode with a single shot, shooting through gaps in the balls, or finishing a level within a certain period of time (called ace time) will give extra points.

The levels are organized into temples, and the level patterns of the first six levels of each stage will repeat after three "stages" of six levels each (the sixth level in each stage is unique in having two tracks of balls instead of the usual one). Stages 1–3 have 4 colors of balls: red, green, blue, and yellow, Stages 4–7 add purple, and from level 7 on, white is also a color of the balls. Levels are eventually added to stages: Each of stages 4–7 have 7 levels, and each of stages 7–12 have 7 levels. Stages 10–12 are essentially the same as 7-9, but they take longer, come out further at the start of the level, and the chain of balls moves along slightly faster. If the player loses all of their lives, the game ends, and they must start again at the beginning of the last stage they advanced up. However, if the player is able to beat all twelve stages, they are taken to the "Space" level, which is longer than all previous levels, has less color-grouping amongst the balls, and has no visible path for the balls to follow. This level cannot be accessed without first completing stage 12. Upon beating this level, the player wins the game (If a player fails to beat the Space level, they must beat all of stage 12 again before getting another chance to win). All remaining lives at the end of a game are each worth 50,000 additional points to add on to the final score.

Gauntlet mode
Zuma also offers gauntlet mode, where the player must return to a level they have already reached in adventure mode, and either practice to beat the level, or play in "endless" mode, where the difficulty in colors and speed of balls will gradually increase. The level classifications of endless mode, in order, are Rabbit, Eagle, Jaguar, and Sun God. The first three when in endless mode will need to fill the yellow bar seven times (which is comparable for all of these levels to the quickness of filling the bar in the early levels of Adventure mode), and then if a player can survive the extra-fast speed of the Sun God levels, the game can continue for unlimited Sun God rounds of filling the yellow bar.

Easter Egg
There is an "easter egg" that can be revealed by playing the "communication song" from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, d-e-c-C-G, by mousing over the buttons on the main menu in the correct order 3 times. Also, clicking the frog on the menu screen activates an effect, in which the frog's eyes follow the mouse.

Plagiarism controversy
The Japanese developer Mitchell Corporation claims Zuma infringes on the intellectual property of their 1998 arcade game, Puzz Loop which was released as Ballistic outside Japan. Mitchell re-released the design in 2006 as the Nintendo DS game Magnetica. PopCap asserted that Zuma was "not an exact clone", with founder Jason Kapalka saying that he was "happy" with the idea of games being cloned by other developers, so long as the new version added to the gameplay of the game it had copied.