In this hectic world we live in, many times work and appointments must come before the fun and joys in our lives, including that of getting to play videogames whenever we want. Gone are the days when we could fire up a game of our choice and spend hours toiling away – now we seem to game in stolen moments here and there. With that in mind, perhaps it is no wonder that casual games have become such a popular gaming choice (especially with women who make up the vast majority of casual game players), as casual games allow us to either jump in and get those quick fixes of gaming bliss or either play them for as long as we want when we do have the time. In honor of the casual game, we'll be bringing you a new Casual Game of the Week every Monday to help you find that fix you might be needing in your life, and this week we have: Peggle Deluxe

Well, I don't know how they did it, but some programmers and developers out there have finally found a way to transform crack into the digital code of a videogame, because from the moment I loaded up Peggle Deluxe for the first time, I've been addicted, and I can't stop playing! I'll tell myself to take a Peggle break, only one or two levels, and then suddenly forty minutes have gone by and I've forgot all about work.

In Peggle, you play a student of sorts, learning the ropes of the field from a variety of mystical beasts, ranging from everything from unicorns to dragons all the way down to beavers…okay, maybe beavers aren't the most magical, but they sure do know how to play Peggle. The game is simple in concept: you've got several silver pachinko like balls at your disposal and a canon to shoot them with. Scattered along the board you'll find mostly orange and blue pegs. In order to clear a level, you have to hit each orange peg before you run out of balls. It sounds easy, but it's not.

To begin with, the opening of the game is all about luck, because you really have no way of knowing which way these balls will react and bounce once they've hit something. If it's a straight shot, sure, no problem, but once you start going into rebound mode, you just have to sit back and let things progress naturally and hope you hit some orange pegs on the way down. However, the more you play, the more skill you see is involved, because though bouncing balls going down a peg course might be random, you can control the random by angling shots so they react more to how you want. For instance, after several hours of play, I've learned how to slide balls down slopes and how to best get them to go over the crest like waves. There is still some luck involved, but not the kind of luck where it feels like the computer is out to make sure you lose and then frustration ensues.

Stopping you from getting those orange pegs, however, are the blue pegs, which are usually positioned naturally so that you have to find a way around them, or a way to remove them so you have access to cleaner shots once they're out of the way. The game does present help in the way of the green pegs and bricks, which give you temporary powers or abilities, depending on the series of levels you are playing under what master. For instance, play under the beavers, and hitting green will create two balls. If you hit the green while playing under the dragon, your next shot is a fireball that doesn't bounce, just falls and cuts through all the pegs and bricks in its way. You've also got purple bricks you can hit, which will net you more points, and if you can get enough points on one ball, you'll get a free one. Also, you can basically get a new ball by landing in the pot of sorts that is constantly strafing from the left to the right at the bottom of the level.

At its core, a lot of the gameplay comes from the Adventure mode, which has you progressing through a series of themed challenges under the guidance of various Peggle teachers. You've also got a Quick Play option, which lets you take a level you've already completed, fire it up, and see if you can clear it and see what your best time is. You've also got a Duel mode, where you can go up against another player, such as the computer, and you take turns trying to eliminate the orange pegs, though this time you're both sharing the same board and the same pegs with no resetting taking place between shots. And finally, for those who can complete Adventure mode, there is a challenge mode, giving you plenty of chances to test your Peggle skills.

The game is lovely in a very overtly cartoony way, thanks to the doe-eyed beavers and cutesy unicorns. The whole game just screams of a fairytale book meeting the My Little Ponies, and though at first it's off-putting because of the bright and too cute for its own good graphics, that's part of the charm that grows on you more and more. And when you hit your last orange peg and the game goes in slow-mo, don't be surprised to find yourself smiling from ear to ear as an angelic choir sings your skills and a rainbow shoots across the screen, signaling the level is complete. It's goofy fun, but fun just the same. The sound is also good, thanks in part to things like the angelic choir, but the real beauty of the game just comes from listening to the plinks and plops as the balls bounce around in harmonic pitch. You'd think the same plinking noises would get on your nerves, but not once did I ever turn the sound off while playing the game.

Peggle Deluxe is a game like you've probably never played before and probably won't play again (at least until Peggle 2 comes out, and so help you developers there better be a volume two on the way). Mixing unique gameplay with a presentation that can't be beat, put all pre-conceived notions aside and just play the game. Understand that yes, the bouncing is random, but stick with it, because soon you'll see where skill comes into play, and you'll find yourself falling in love with this gem of a casual game.

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