It’s been ten years since PopCap changed the world with Bejeweled and to celebrate that auspicious anniversary, the company has declared 2010 “The Year of Bejeweled,” with contests, giveaways, downloads and more.
I can’t believe Bejeweled has been around for ten years. Ten freakin’ years. I first heard about it thanks to a Penny Arcade strip – this one, in fact – and a warning from Tycho that playing Bejeweled was akin to injecting digital crack cocaine into your eyeballs, or something to that effect. Prophetic words, because ten years, several iterations and more than a billion downloads later, Bejeweled is still PopCap’s flagship title and probably the most recognizable casual videogame of all time.
To mark the occasion, PopCap is holding a “Show Your Bejeweled Love” contest, inviting players to submit a YouTube video illustrating their love for the game in two minutes or less. A panel of judges will choose the top ten entries based on “enthusiasm, presentation and knowledge of Bejeweled,” with some pretty hot prizes awarded to the top ten, including a limited edition notebook PC and two iPads adorned with custom “Bejeweled 10th Anniversary” engravings, and some complete PopCap game packages.
More information about the contest – which, by the way, is open to residents of Canada (except Quebec!) and the U.K. – can be found at bejeweled.com, along with a bunch of other free stuff including avatars, theme music, some pretty groovy wallpapers and, of course, a look back at an entire freakin’ decade of Bejeweled.