I just got Bejeweled on on my cell phone, and I must say that I have found an additional, new addiction.

I admit that my first experience with Bejeweled was with Bejeweled 2, and I wasn't sure how I would like to play the version with no power gems or hyper cubes, but I'm here to tell ya that it's a GREAT game in SO many ways!

Much of the strategy that I mention in my Bejeweled 2 Strategy Guide still holds when playing Bejeweled, but the strategy of "positioning" the gems becomes much more important when playing Bejeweled without the "extras."

In Bejeweled 2, it's easy to become dependent on a power gem exploding or hyper cube zapping and making room for several gems to fall from the top. The chances of having more moves with power gems and hyper cubes is very high.

In the original version, the strategy needs to focus around making a move that creates a cascade or sets the gems up for another move.

The best hint I can give you when playing this version is that if you have a high-scoring gem match that doesn't clearly create another move - especially when you are down to the nitty-gritty in the game and aren't sure where the next move will occur - then go for a lower-scoring match that does create a next move for you.

I know that it's great to get five in a row, but if that move doesn't obviously allow another move, then pass it up!

Now... the BEST part about playing Bejeweled on your cell phone is that after each game, your score is posted to the "Game Lobby." They have a "Daily Leaderboard" with the top ten scores of the day, and an "All Time Leaderboard" with the top ten scores of all time. (Look for JuliaGem in the top ten - I'm #4 as of the posting of this message!)

Having the scores posted for all to see makes this game both fun and challenging for me.

Mobile Phone Bejeweled is available through EA Mobile at http://www.eamobile.com, and it looks like about 16 different Mobile Phone carriers support it, each one with several different phones. for about $1.99 a month, it's very reasonable!

I haven't tried the Action or multi-player games yet. I tend to like to compete against myself more than others, but the multi-player game looks very interesting, so I might give it a try soon.

So get the mobile phone version and give me a run for my money... ;-)

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia