Welcome to a new feature on the BlogRide wherein I have the pleasure of sharing some of my favorite questions we’ve received over the years here at PopCap. As you can probably guess, in recent years, they’ve been as zombie-filled as an episode of Walking Dead, but I’d like to take us back a ways, to a time when I was asked to help a little girl get back to her once-favorite game that had suddenly become traumatic to her… a game called Chuzzle.

Her mother explained that the girl had been happily playing Chuzzle for quite some time, but then she started looking more objectively at the cute, fuzzy creatures on the screen and what seemed to be happening to them when she made matches. The girl realized that she appeared to be killing cute fuzzy creatures and collecting their eyeballs in a jar. She was, understandably, horrified.

I was impressed, as I hadn’t given it that much thought myself… it’s a game, and I’m a grown-up, and they’re Chuzzles, not kittens. But it’s one of those things that once it’s pointed out, it’s kind of in your head. So I put some thought into it as I played the game again, this time with an eye toward explaining the events of the game in a way that might help a child sleep at night. And here’s what I came up with:

Yes, I really didn't think about the eyeballs until this was pointed out to me. Man, adults are jaded, simple-minded creatures at times.

The grid on which you find the Chuzzles is a prison. These cute, fuzzy creatures are being imprisoned by an evil overlord who hates all things adorable (like Gargamel or Sauron).  When you match Chuzzles, you are reuniting them with their comrades and giving them the strength to escape, because these are magical creatures, but they’re so small that they can only muster the energy for teleportation (that’s what makes the “popping” sound!) when they are in a group of three or more.

And the eyeballs? Those aren’t their eyeballs at all! Those are contact lenses they need to protect their eyes, because the atmosphere is highly toxic in the alternate dimension where the prison is located. Once they return to their home dimension, they won’t need protective lenses anymore. What you’re collecting in the jar are mementos of your good deeds, when you freed a bunch of helpless little Chuzzles from their captor and sent them home to their families.

I hope this story helps anyone out there who ever worried about the fate of Chuzzles.

We recently heard from a fan who wanted to share his doggy’s animated reaction to the Zombie head plushy. I don’t know about you, but I’m putting this doggy on my shortlist for companions to have along in the Zombie Apocalypse.

This little Zombie head plushy is limited edition, but check out the beautiful plushies available on PvZstore.com!

P.S. to Joseph: We tried replying to you and it bounced… thanks for the video, and stop by our table again next year to say hi!

If you’re looking for inspiration this year, here are a few of our past favorites:

And something we like almost as much as we like as dessert is pictures of dessert! It’s true. Sad. But true. So we were thrilled when people started posting pictures of delicious treats on our Pinterest boards.

Oh, yes. We are on the Pinterest. We have boards for Plants vs. Zombies food and for other PopCap fan creations. You should check them out and maybe post some of your own awesome stuff there.

But for now we want to share some really great cakes that people have posted.

First up is a Squash cake. We assume it isn’t squash flavored. He looks none too pleased with you.

It’s a sunshine day for this fun-dead friend!

Glad somebody got a photo of this one. It looks almost too good to eat. Almost. We aren’t crazy.

Poor ol’ zombie. Just wanted to go to a birthday party…

Please keep your hands away from this cake.

It can’t be all PvZ. Here’s a swell Bejeweled cake for Rachel who is either 25 years or 3 months old.

I can’t get enough of the squash cake. Never let it be said that I’m not five years behind on my internet memes.

This is what people did for fun in the 1930s.

This past weekend, as part of the exhibit, we set up four PCs to let folks play Peggle and compete in informal tournaments all day. Most of the folks who sat down had never actually played Peggle before (we didn’t know such people existed!), but we’re happy to report that the game was a big hit all day long, with many people happily walking away with free download codes.

We could show you a few more photos of people staring at Peggle screens, but, hey, we’d prefer you just stare at your own Peggle screen. Instead, here are a few more photos from the Pacific Pinball Museum itself, an incredibly cool place that we highly recommend you visit. And, hey, you don’t have to put quarters in the machines to play!

Captain Fantastic! One of the great pinball machines from the 1970s.

It's a love affair for all ages at the Pacific Pinball Museum.

A topical machine for this week!

We're not sure what's going on here. And we don't think we want to know.

So far we have pledges totaling more than $73,000 USD!

UPDATE: Pledges are now approaching $80,000 USD! Thanks everybody!

We are humbled by the tremendous generosity of our Solitaire Blitz players and fans. And not to get all NPR on you, but it’s not too late to make a pledge! The marathon kicks off on June 26. It’s going to be a great event so don’t miss it.

Check out our Solitaire Blitz Marathon Facebook page to learn more about our two players (Laura in London and Kathleen in NYC), see their progress, get live updates, and make a pledge of your own to support a worthy cause.

Now, Tiffany’s winning entry, in context.

I’m afraid the news isn’t good. You are coming back to life.

Here it is again, a little closer.

Because we are process nerds, we contacted CJ to find out how she made it. This is that story:

“He is carved out of 1 lb EPS foam (that’s the white stuff made up of little beads.) I used a heated carving tool and a rasp. Once I got the shape right, I cut the accent markings from a very thin sheet of the same foam and hot glued them on. I sanded him down with 80 grit sand paper then brushed on a layer of thinned joint compound. When that dried, I sanded him again, this time with 220 grit sand paper. Then I repeated the joint compound and sanding step. Once he was smooth, Larry sprayed him with a two part epoxy hard coat. Finally I airbrushed him and applied a gloss top coat. The joint compound and hard coat are what make him look like he is made out of something other than Styrofoam. The airbrush paint I used had a pearlized finish – I don’t know if you could tell in the picture, but he looks like a glass Christmas ornament…. well a very large ornament! He was a lot of fun to make and brightens my day when I see him in the office.”

See? Simple!

Seriously, though, that is a great piece of work and we are impressed by the level of skill and artistry required to create it. We are also crazy jealous that we don’t have one.

When she is not creating Zuma frogs for her own enjoyment, CJ runs (with the aforementioned Larry) a company called Pirate’s Palette. “We paint backdrops, build and restore furniture, make props and sets, and create styrofoam sculptures. We originally started doing this work for theatre, but have branched out into other areas – signs, architectural ornamentation, trade show pieces… the applications are really limited only by imagination. And when it comes to Styrofoam, we can make anything.”

CJ was also very forthcoming about the challenges of her work which I am sure are things that nobody at PopCap could possibly relate to in any way. “My work isn’t without its share of stress. Deadlines can be killer. People call up asking for items in an impossible time frame. And people call wanting things that I have no clue how to accomplish, but I am not smart enough to say ‘No, I can’t do that.’ I take the job and we stress until we figure out how to make it happen. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by brilliant, imaginative people.”

You can check out more of CJ’s great work on the Pirate’s Palette site or on their Facebook page. Don’t miss the life-size Delorean with working gull-wing doors!

What did folks at PopCap dress up as for Halloween? Stay tuned next week!

Meanwhile, your photos from Halloween past keep arriving in our in-box. So while you’re putting the final touches on your own costume, take a peek at at one more batch of Halloween costumes and decorations — courtesy of our amazing Blog readers.

Patrick H. sent us his Balloon Zombie...

while Brandi J created PvZ decorations.

Meanwhile Stacy W dressed her daughter as a... Sunflower Zombie??! (Beware Zombies -- this looks like a plant to me!)

Adrien G.'s daughters and sister embraced the PvZ spirit...

and even Adrien and her husband got into the act!

So here’s a batch of dandy Plants vs. Zombies costumes from a few daring and creative souls. And this is just the first bunch. We’ll have even more in the next few days. Because you guys are awesome.

From Roy S. comes Young Dr. Zomboss

Back when he was still an intern.

From Terri H. we have Sunflower and friend.

No idea who the guy on the left is.

And from Brian C. we got the whole family involved. First, a tiny Sunflower.

We are getting cavities just looking at this.

A Jalapeño you do not want to cross.

I am large, I contain multitudes.

An apprentice Gargantuar.

Look in the bucket. LOOK IN THE BUCKET!

And one of the whole gang.

There is awesome on your lawn.

Thanks to everybody who sent in pictures (and, again, stay tuned for more). We’ve been grinning like idiots at your fantastic costumes!