Somewhere in my mind, I have Bejeweled Twist filed as a bit of a botch. Twist, meanwhile, would prove considerably more problematic. The tower defence offering was one simple name-change away from video game legend. Less typically, they had gotten the specifics muddled up.

Typically, as it happens, the PopCap founders were correct. No worries, though, right? Whatever happened, they had a guaranteed million-seller on their hands, and another game that should at least go on to be an entertaining curio. Pre-lawyering, it was called Lawn of the Dead. A zombified spin on the tower defence genre, they knew it was clever, but they sensed it was potentially a little too hardcore, a little too niche to become another cash cow. They'd shown me an early build of another new game, and it was one they seemed to be ever so slightly nervous about. Earlier that day, I'd had a chat with the company founders back at their huge HQ just down the road. Gymnasts played human match-three in the wonky, Gehry-rigged lintels, and waiters in retro-future Jetsons outfits wandered about serving cocktails. In 2008 - before the crash - PopCap launched Bejeweled Twist with a party in the Sky Church at Seattle's Experience Music Project venue.

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