Peggle

I love Popcap games, I am glad to see one of the games reviewed on here :). I hope there will be more to come!

This game truly is glorious! If you do not crack a smile after beating a level, then I fear for you :o

Also, when a game makes Jay giggle, that's pretty much a must play.
(Just FYI)

It made Jay... LAUGH!??
I'm downloading this IMMEDIATELY!

i would if it wasnt for my mac :/

i played a demo for this a few weeks back now, and oh my god it's awesome.

if it doesn't make you grin stupidly at least once then you're not human - that or i'm just odd and easily pleased.

but then, the 'monkeh' sat on my speaker also makes me smile every time i look at him, so maybe i AM just weird

Ah yes, I remember Peggle. That was so incredibly fun! I should really buy it :P

I bought this game a few weeks ago. I don't buy games a lot (mostly because I can't justify spending the money on them), but this one was totally worth it.
The purely stupid satisfaction I get from watching that ball bounce around is amazing!

I've only got eight challenges left to beat. Must... beat... challenges. I'm so glad to see this on JIG. I found out about this one through the PopCap guy resposible for Bob the Angry Flower.

elliott (otiose)...

zOMG! I wanna buy this game so bad.

Am I the only one who can't get the game to work? After the install, having clicked on the 'begin free trial button', it just opens into a black screen and does nothing. Only the task manager can then get rid of it!

Bezman - It takes a while to load, are you giving it enough time?

A blank screen generally indicates a graphics card incompatibility or problem. Are your video drivers up to date? Do you have DirectX 9 installed? You can run the DxDiag utility to find out what version you have (Start->Run->Type DxDiag then press Enter).

There's troubleshooting info available on the PopCap site to help solve the problem. If you need more help than that, let me know your system configuration and I'll see what I can come up with.

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen.

I haven't gotten the game to work either. When I click to begin the trial version of the game, a security popup comes up and several "script errors." But when I click to proceed, I just get a blank page. I reaally want to play.

PopCap is the developer, Big Fish is a publisher and one we have an affiliate relationship with. If you use the download and order links from Big Fish, you are helping to support JIG. The game is the same at either site.

There's also a cool little game play video of Peggle on the Big Fish page linked above.

Jay, this is another game that leaves files on the computer after it is uninstalled. :(

l0ser - This is a common practice in the casual games industry, and not one that I have any control over. I have forwarded your complaint on to Big Fish, as I did your previous complaint to ArcadeTown. I doubt you will see any changes come anytime soon, however.

The files are harmless. They are merely quick links to the games portals. You can always delete them easily by hand.

Thanks. I'm aware of all of that, but I shouldn't have to. When I click uninstall it should remove everything that it put in place.

I appreciate you sending the complaint on. You are a bigger fish than I.

Jay - yeah, I hadn't given it enough time to install. That was the problem. Thanks for the reply. I'd considered the possibility, but after a minute of waiting before had given up.

On my PC (2.86GHz P4, 2GB RAM) it took literally just over 5 minutes to load! Between the levels, it seemed to take around 20-30s whether I was going to a new one or replaying one I'd just failed.

It seems like a brilliantly conceived game (one of the best luck-based games on PC perhaps), but those delays just annoyed me. If it loaded quickly, I could see myself loving this, perhaps buying it to explore fully.

Is my PC broken or is this similar for everyone? (Seriously - there's something wrong with my PC, so I'm not sure what's at fault.)

Bezman,

WOW, it definitely sounds like something's amiss there. My PC is only a 1.7GHz Intel Celeron (no math coprocessor) and has only 256KB RAM, and the game runs smoothly without any slowdown or lag between levels at all.

Unfortunately, I'm much better at software than I am at hardware, so I couldn't even begin to suggest what to look at. Have you considered reinstalling Windows?

Other than doing that, I'd take it in to CompUSA or to somebody with whom you can trust to check it out. Good luck with it!

Nooooooo!!! I love it! My trial expired :(:(:(

so there i was, playing it, enjoying it, loving it, then suddenly BAM! Your trial period has ended. Now, I would love to buy this game and would quite happily pay for it, but unfortunately, I can't. Being only 15 with no credit card or paypal or anything has it's drawbacks. But otherwise I loved the game.

Woah, that hour just flew by. I got to commend PopCap on a job well done, the game is extremely polished, the physics are spot on and I'm blinded from all the bright colours!

The best part for me is when the camera zooms in when I hit that last orange peg, and suddenly the screen explodes with particles and fancy effects. It's a great moment, and reminded me of getting a star in Super Mario or opening a treasure chest in Zelda, it feels that good. :)

Irate mac users... yeah, sorry about that.

Heh, Wylie, no worries! We actually have a large Mac community here at JIG, and I do receive complaints nearly every time we post a PC-only game. So it's not just you. ;)

I'm working on a filtering system with which you will soon be able to tailor the content display to only the types of games you want to see. Perhaps by this summer if everything goes well.

This is the first game I have bought as a result of jayisgames, and I am very happy with the purchase. Thanks for all of the great reviews, jay!

interesting game. Have finished the whole adventure mode, and am working my way through the challenges. The 350k challenges are tough!

trying to figure out best way to rack up points - am gonna try some skill balls (when you bounce ball off one peg and then it goes into basket)

i love how the pegs are orange and blue...just in time for tomorrow's game. GO GATORS!!

Amazing game... the feeling of accomplishment I get when I've got two pegs left and only one ball, and I manage to get the bounce just right... love it.

@liz

Go cure cancer!

This game is a really tempting buy. Honestly, if I didn't have so many games to finish, and so little cash xD

k have made it well into the challenges - am on the final peg clearing challenge.

understanding the scoring system is key:

http://www.popcap.com/faq/PeggleDeluxeFAQ.txt

The key to high-score challenges is using the Spooky ball and making a terrific first shot.

Alternatively, good results can be achieved by getting a triple score with the Wheel of Fortune, but that is too erratic for my taste.

This game is SO ADDICTING!!
I cant stop playing it.

Bah this sucks. i wanna play it but don't have the ability to pay x(

and you can only play it once :/

There are several other ways to overcome that 750k point challenge, some easier than others...though none is a cakewalk by any means.

Try the flipper power up on the 'clamshell/pearl' level, or the Space Blast on the "cherry tree" level (the one with two ball-shaped clusters of pegs in the upper left and lower right corners)... I've managed to do it with Spooky Ball on the You-shaped level, but have found it easier with the flippers on the clamshell/pearl level...

And no matter which route I take, I always have to get a lot of skill shots (one peg and into the bucket) to garner enough points...

I've heard of someone who got 1.5 million pts. on the You-shaped level with the Lucky Spin powerup and the Triple Score...apparently they did this while also getting the last peg, and thus the final Extreme Fever Bonus was also 3x... but it seems like you could play 500 times and only get the right combo at the right point in the level once or twice..!

Thanks as always Jay, ;-)

This is the first game I have bought in a long time, and I can't stop playing!!!

I am still trying to finish the 750K point challenge...

Biorad

I beat the 750,000 challenge on Das Bucket using Warren's Lucky Spin. I didn't think it was going to be possible but your comment posted by garthgantu on 4/7/07 helped me so much. Starting at the corners and getting the extreme slide first. Hit every pink peg you can during the game and try to get as many free bucket balls also. Then, I hit the last green peg on my next to the last turn, and by clicking on the dial as it is spinning at just the right time will stop the dial on triple score more often than not (it takes practice). This will give you a triple score for two turns. The last orange ball was hit the next time which gave me a score of 278,800, and it landed in the 100,000 extreme fever slot. Also I had 5 balls left at 10,000 each. All totaled together, this one shot scored 836,400 when added to my previous score, gave me a grand total of 1,121,670. I had beat all the other levels so I AM GrandMaster. (yes I did have to play it at least 500+ times but whose counting). Now the game isn't done. If I go back through adventure and clear all the balls on every level, then I will be Ultra Extreme GrandMaster! It just never ends... yeeehaaaa! Worth every penny I paid for this game!

I've been trying all day, cleared most of the levels first try, but i can't seem to clear lvl 11.?. The one with the flying saucer ...

750k, bucket, lucky spin. Save the green for last and clear the board because it does triple the 100k bonus. Remember, as long as you have 2 balls at the end, you're good if you hit Triple Score, since that power lasts 2 rounds.

Then they tell you to clear every board.

On the 750k level... try 'Beyond Reason' with 'Warren' the rabbit. Clear a few away from the bottom of the spiral with your first few shots, then try to bounce a ball through the spiral, getting it stuck inside. If it hits a green on the way up and you are 'lucky' enough to get the triple score... it will rack the points right up. I managed to get 1.15mill on this level today.

Man I'm getting mad :( I'm trying your strat Angie and it works.. except that I NEVER get the Triple Score when I manage to get the ball in the spiral.. I always get like 200-250k out of that shot, tripled would be 600-750k, that would be enough, but the last 50 tries or so I've gotten Zen ball, extra ball (x2 times), multiball and flowerpower...

It is so hard to open it up and hit the ball inside, I got it inside just right now, it had two green pegs in it and bam.. fell out another hole just above it, was to big, darn it.

It's possible to play the song 'Ode to Joy' on the main menu of Peggle,since each of the buttons have a different tone. All you have to do is mouse over: Duel Duel Challenge Replay Replay Challenge Duel Quick-Play Adventure Adventure Quick-play Duel Quick-play Adventure Adventure

I love this game! Good stuff. The only level I can't beat is the 750,000. :( :)

I managed the 750k challenge on Das Bucket with Warren's Lucky Spin. I hit both greens on the first ball with the spin results of "Magic Hat" and "Spooky Ball". With all the bonuses ("2nd Spin", "Orange Attack", "Extreme Slide", etc), that got me some 333k points on the first shot. The second ball, with the Hat pushed me over 500k with 13 balls left in the hopper. I then managed to clear all the pegs with 8 balls left. On the last shot I had three pegs left and hit them in sequence orange-blue-purple for the Ultra "Cool Clear" bonus. Net result - 803k points. whew.

I passed all the challenges except the 750k. It's driving me crazy. It seems like it's only passable with inordinate amount of luck - choosing the Rabbit, getting both greens in the same throw and hitting Triple Score the first time and Spooky the second time around.

And even with that immense odds against me, it finally happened the umpteenth time, and finally I managed to gather up 650k on Das Bucket.

I hate this challenge, seriously I do.

I've finally passed the 750k challenge.

I chose the last DNA-like level, and Zen power. First I cleared the left and right side as much as possible, but have left a green peg on top and one peg on the lower left side. In the process I also took away three pegs on the near the bottom side of the DNA strand.

Now the tricky part. The trick is to get the ball to enter INSIDE the DNA strand and climb on it's own to the top lighting the entire strand on the way. This is where Zen power comes into play (I don't think it would be easy to do on your own).

I got the Zen power, waited a split second before the opening on the bottom left on the DNA showed up, targeted the lower left peg and crossed my fingers. The ball entered the DNA, and when it came out on top I got about 500k points. I mopped up the rest of the pegs - Ultra Fever - and in the end got about 950k. Phew.

And it's STILL not the end. Grr.

I managed to get 1.020.000 on the clam level with lucky spin. the trick is to get flippers on one green and triple score on the other green. then you're home free!
It takes a couple of (frustrating) restarts, but the relieve, people. the relieve! I couldn't sleep.
750 k was haunting me!
good luck, y'all.

I've gotten over 400,000 on the first ball using Das Bucket with the Multi-ball. If you happen to catch them both, it's automatically 100,000 extra points!

I did it! I am an Extreme GrandMaster of Peggle. I managed to clear all the levels. The hardest one was the "Zen Frog" which I had to try about bazillion times. After "Zen Frog" I was really worried about clearing "Beyond Reason", but "Beyond Reason" turned out to be easier. I only needed a few attempts as Splork when both green magic pegs were in the spiral. Hitting those green pegs in the spiral really runs up your points and gives you bonus balls. If the green pegs were not within the spiral, I played as Warren Rabbit or Master Hu, but Splork is best if the green pegs are in the spiral.

I can't believe it. I finally beat the Unicorn! I only had the 750,000 level left, and have been trying to clear it for over a month now. I just got it, playing Das Bucket with Warren. I hit the Triple Score, the hit Magic Hat in the same play, mangaged to clear all the orange pegs, in the same play, and only hit the 10,000 bucket, managed to get well over 300,000 in the Fever, and broke with 895,550. The Unicorn will no longer be haunting me, but he will still be allowed to drive my car :}

To help beat the 750k challenge if you use the bucket level and lucky spin try to get both green pegs and hope that one is triple score and the other is magic hat. Hope that helps

Made Extreme GrandMaster today. Hardest was Zen Frog, as Marko said. Cleared it with Splork. Spooky Ball for most of the other levels. There is a trick to Beyond Reason -- crack a hole near bottom of dna and use Zen to get the ball into the dna. This also for the 750,000 challenge. There is a YouTube video of a peggle shot showing someone ricochet off the bucket up into the DNA for +1,000,000 in a single shot.

HELP, I have all but two left. I have been stuck on the 400,00 pecans in the upper right. Is there some strategy to use there, I have tried everything and cannot get over 350,000 (played it several times). Then I ahve the last one at 750,000. Which game is the one to choice?

I may be new here, but what's so suprising about Jay laughing?

I think the issue is that I've sort of a reputation for being rather difficult to please, as illustrated by the level of quality of the games on the site. So, if a game makes me bust out laughing out loud, it must be a good one(!) ;)

Ok, thanks. Just a bit curious. Great website!

I found 'Zen Frog' reasonably easy to clear compared to 'Yang-Yin' and 'Billions & Billions'.
I cleared Zen Frog with Flippers, Yang-Yin with Spaceblast and Billions & Billions with Spooky Ball.
After about a billion games, I must add.
It was very hard to control that UFO.
That Certificate of Excellence and the Extreme Grand Master Trophy is what you win, people!
All in all, this is a great game.
It had been a while since my last addiction.*smile*

Good gaming.
[m]

I love all your game suggestions Jay. You are the man!

I just found this game for sale at Wal-Mart the other day, and I gotta say, don't be put off by the cutesy theme. This game is frickin' HARDCORE. If you wanna get real good at it, you'd better brush up on your physics! But even so, it's very accessible, and very, very, VERY satisfying when you finally pull something off and it goes into slo-mo and fireworks flash everywhere and your speakers are blasting Beethoven and you can't help but smile as you just sit back and go "Yeah, I rule."

Definitely another winner from Popcap!

I just finished the 750k challenge after alot of trials. i once had 726k :|. did it on das bucket (Y shaped lvl) and rabbit. got lucky to hit 3xpoints twice, once in 1st hand (320k points on 1st ball) and second in a very nice fever (400+k points alone, tripled) all in all it was amazing. A total of 1,767,980 points (1.76 mil). i'll link the replay and a screenshot:
www.antilab.com/peggle/highscore.peg
www.antilab.com/peggle/master.JPG

For the 750k challenge I found that the easiest way was on Pearl Clam with the Rabbit. You have to get a little lucky and have your first bonus be flippers and the second bonus be 3x, but the flippers totally block the ball from falling down through. You should get nearly 750k just for your first ball (need to have gotten the purple block too). I have also done this on The Last Flower if you can get the ball stuck in the rotating blocks with the Rabbit and get a 3x and the purple block (but this is harder).

Has anyone actually cleared all 55 levels at 100%? I'm getting pretty close (47 levels done), but man are the later ones hard to get 100%.

wow, i really want to buy it, but im still finishing Oblivion and Twilight Princess.. ARGH

Zen ball is AMAZING!! if only it were actually my shot...

I was having trouble with the 750K level and then read the hints here, specifically the DNA chain with Zen options. Once I saw that it took maybe 30 minutes to get a 874k third ball in a 1.13 million point game.

Thanks for that hint, I had been going crazy.

I've played this game for about 6 months now. i was stuck on the 750k level. made it now. with the rabbit at "beyond reason". I cleared the sides, then i got my ball under the spiral, and took it all in one hit. Lucky trippled my score. and got 2,239.324 in score.

:) Its possible. :)

Smith - NORWAY

Believe it or not, I am still stuck on the 400,000 point levels. I have mastered all others. I keep getting 350+ on the levels but can't get over the top. Have been using the crab on 40,000 P-Babies and 40 Peeps. Sometimes the Spooky Ball. Which ones work best on those levels? Please help, it's driving me crazy... Also, is there really an extra level after we master all of the regular levels?

TY for any help or suggestions. LW

I have completed everything except the 10 challenge decathlon. I just made it to the 10th rack and had just 3 pegs left to hit but I didn't make it. ACK! Oh well....off I go to try again!

YEA! I did it!!! :-) Finally! And yes, there IS an additional level....now I'm supposed to go through and CLEAR EVERYTHING! Whew!

PS: It look me 3 months to get through everything. I can't imagine how long it's going to take me to now clear everything!

now available for ipods and video ipods :)

i used the rabbit also, i got magic hat first green ball then the hat hit the other green which gave me spooky ball, this practilcly cleared the pegs in one go giving me more than 550000 points, of course the hat stayed on for the next ball which cleared nearly all the rest giving me almost 700000 points, but with 13 balls and only 2 orange pegs, i couldnt fail :)

peggle just got released for mac (universal binary) and is 50% off for the next 9 days

I NEED PEGGLE AT WORK.

does anyone know if it's online anywhere? besides shockwave, that is? doesn't work there for me.

Yay, I love it when these games come out for Mac!

Yay, I love it when games are $9.97 instead of $19.95!

This game is GORGEOUS. It's been ages since I paid for a game before the demo time expired.

I'm sorry, yeah, its neat, but I don't see why it is so much greater than the other 20,000 games on the web that are the same deal. I watch my mother and grandmother play games the same as this on their different gaming networks all the time.

Many months after buying Peggle, I am still as addicted as ever. Reached Extreme Grand Master (cleared all levels) a while back, and I keep playing and setting new goals (like >600K high score on every level, one more to go). Well, just got my highest level score ever, on Workin From Home: 2,163,000! Used Warren, then got flippers plus triple score for Extreme Fever. Over a million points on each of my last two balls.

Peggle is BEST...GAME...EVER!!

Peggle is great as it's one of the games my wife and I both love!

We got 750k on Das Bucket, using Renfield. 350k on the opening shot by retrying until we got the full house: Long Shot, Extreme Slide, Spooktacular and Orange Attack, plus the point boost. Then clearing the bricks from one side and picking off pegs one by one, building up to Crazy Mad Skillz (100k plus you will have made about 65k on the previous 9 shots!)

I kept going, picking off and got another mad skillz and a couple of lucky bounces, missed out on 2nd crazy but by this point had 600k with 8-9 balls left, so just made sure I cleared the last few pegs with point boosts and hit Ultra extreme fever on 670k, with 5 balls to spare. Final score 820k.

We had tried other strategies suggested but with Warren it's annoying wasting turn after turn when the lucky spin doesn't give you the combo you want. At least with Renfield you get the fun of going for the shots! Free ball skills are the key though, just get in a rhythm, time it and *don't* use fast forward!

On the 100%s found Cinderbottom very useful on Ying Yang (clearing the thick edges of the circle) and the one with the sloping lines of bricks (Dont Panic?) As others have said, Flippers on Zen Frog.

Billions & Billions is the only 100% we haven't done. I've been trying with Renfield, my wife is using Splork. Has anyone else cleared it with a different character? Any tips, or is it all about learning how to time the UFO shots?

fenwar, I read elsewhere on the web that Claude, or possibly Splork or Renfield, is the master of choice for Billions & Billions.

I, on the other hand, am still working on the 750k challenge... ;)

@fenwar:
Yeah, that one is mostly about timing the UFO shots. But a couple tips: for your first few balls, shoot straight down thru the hole to get bounces into the corners. Only when you're out of direct shots should you shoot towards the sides. Also, before picking a helper, try to see where the green pegs are located. If they are up above in the dense clusters, Splork may be useful. With Renfield, the repeat ball often winds up dropping straight down and not hitting much of anything if you didn't use the green early on.

For other levels with Warren, try timing the spin and clicking to stop it on the spot you want. (although I'm not convinced this is any better than random, actually)

Just got Peggle in the last week or so for my 'pod and love it. Really started playing it harder today and it is incredibly fun. It takes a lot of talent to get this game right, so I can see i'll have to put in some serious practice...

Of course, nothing is "serious" about this game - it's as much a visual treat on my Nano as it is on my 20" iMac. Beautifully done with a lot of whimsical humor thrown in to boot!

Love it!

This game is the best I have ever played! I'm on the verge of GM status. (In the game Peggle, not in this website)
Agreed, to get the 750k points, go you "Beyond Reason" I used Zenball there. Due to an unexpected stroke of luck, it got stuck and litten up the entire strand (the purple and the remaining orange pegs were still there ;)) Got the extreme fever and scored 850k
I am stuck on the Clearly Impossible challenges (all of them) And alot of them too
Still, perfect game!

Thank you all for your help!! I've been trying to beat the 750K for DAYZ!!!! I tried it with Das Bucket with with the magic hat. As long as you can get like 350K before hitting the last green ball and then last red ball, and you get triple score, you will be fine.
I have this game for my iPod. The graphics aren't quite as detailed as for a computer. That makes it easy to hit a ball and have it go into the hole for an extra ball. You can clear a lot of the screen by using this tactic in order to get down to the end and still have balls left over.

I finally got my Grand Master today, it took me 2 weeks of trying before I could beat the 750,000. I finally used Beyond reason and Renfield. If you can get the ball in the spiral on the bottom of the helix, and can get it all the way to the top( I missed only 3 blue balls in the helix.) I was awarded 3 balls and 535,000 points. clearing the rest of the board with a couple of balls left over was easy.

Wow! My 13-yr-old son showed us this game and we bought it for the family within days. EVERYONE in the family plays it - from Grandma down to the 2-yr-old. Wonderful, clean fun for the family, a little friendly competition, a fantastic value!
I'm stuck on the 750K challenge, and plan to try some of the strategies mentioned here - thanks, all!
Problem with the magic hat: when you get it twice with the same ball, shouldn't it last three more turns? It only lasts two.

Hi Peggle_Mom!

Glad you and your family have discovered the Peggle joy! ^_^

About the Magic Hat, I'm guessing the effect cannot be 'stacked', meaning that each instance of getting it sets the hat for the next 2 turns.

I'll ask someone at PopCap for you, though, just to be sure.