Twice a week for the next three weeks, we’ll be doing a Gift Guide to let you know the best types of PopCap games for all the different people in your life. Of course, if you just want to get yourself something, we won’t judge you.

Up first: Smarty Pants.

They’re smart, they always finish tests first, and they always seem to have the right answer. It could include: your sister, who answers every Jeopardy! question correctly; your brother, who annihilates everyone at RISK; or even your darling child, who obviously knows WAY more than you about everything.

So, what are the perfect PopCap games for Smarty Pants?

Bookworm Adventures for PC

Yes, Virginia, there really is a literate invertebrate.

Okay, a word game is a bit obvious: but if these people are so smart, they should love cobbling together letter tiles to form the biggest words they can, and showing off their vaunted vocab valor by vanquishing villains with valuable v-words. Plus, they’ll discover a host of mythology lessons in the fabled Tome of Knowledge.

This isn’t just a great game for word nerds: it’s a hit for kids, and a sneaky way to help them build their vocabulary. (Who’s the Smarty Pants now?)

Peggle for PC and Mac

Peggle: A festival of lights-out awesomeness.

You may not think a game filled with rainbows and fireworks could captivate scholars — but when you enroll at the Peggle Institute, you’ll learn quickly that this game isn’t just about luck: you’ll need sharp, strategic thinking (as evidenced by this Strategy Guide), as well as a solid grasp of math and geometry.

Plus, it has a unicorn. Only the greatest of minds can understand that truth and myth, when married perfectly with totally awesome, cause a spectacular reaction known as Extreme Fever.

Bejeweled Twist for Nintendo DS

The perfect way to settle a family feud.

The busiest of Smarty Pants need a challenge on the go — whether they’re headed to the Geography Bee, or just to Applebee’s. For these fine few, I recommend Bejeweled Twist for DS.

At first glance, you may look at Bejeweled Twist and say, “What’s the big deal? You rotate the gems.” But this is a strategic, break-your-brain version of Bejeweled. And the puzzles in Challenge mode are likely to test the limits of your puzzle-game abilities. Plus, in 2-player Battle mode, you’ll get to see who the smartest player truly is.

That’s all for today. But keep checking in for more of our Holiday Gift Guides. Now go play a PopCap game — it’s the smartest thing you’ll do all day.

Well if 12 years of parochial school taught me anything it’s, “Do what you’re told!” So in the spirit of randomness (and to honor the legacy of Sister Catherine Sullivan) I decided to wander the halls of PopCap Games and try to pay attention to the many random things that I pass every day and take for granted.

Hiya, boys!

None of these people is celebrating a birthday today. I guess if they keep these up long enough, they will be correct again.

Where chuzzles come from. Or, to keep my copy editor happy, from where chuzzles come.

Not sure what that thing on the right is, but I’m pretty sure it could win a prize in any steampunk costume contest.

Somewhere, Gene Krupa* weeps.

*According to Wikipedia, Gene Krupa was an influential jazz drummer who was born on Neptune and lived to be 137 years old. Note: some of that may not be true.

Oh, for a disc-drive large enough…

GAH! What the-?

“They also serve who only stand and wait.”