Peggle, like most so-called casual games, inspires not-so-casual obsession. The puzzler is a hybrid of a Japanese pachinko slot game and Bust-A-Move. Players aim and launch pinballs that bounce through a peg-filled playing field, scoring points and clearing a path on the way to the drain. There's tons of dumb luck involved: No mortal intellect could possibly calculate the permutations of each launched ball. And yet as the levels progress and the challenges become more fiendish, skill and strategy find a toehold in the chaos.
Many will pass over this quirky gem because, at first glance, Peggle looks like it's been crafted for 9-year-old girls. Rainbows and unicorns dominate the game's design to the point of kitsch. Latter levels morph from cute overload to brain-warping Zen oddity. The pegs take the pattern of yin-yangs, and backgrounds are illuminated with ornate golden lotuses overseen by meditating chickens, cherubic flying pigs, and a Shiva-like frog with redundant hands posed in mudra. The 11th-hour freakout is appropriate, because by this time, engrossed players have probably transcended the earthly realm of Flash games and reached a rare sort of gaming Nirvana.