If You Like Game Of `Tetris,' You'll Get Hooked On `Zoop'

Where does "Zoop" fit into your life? Why do you need "America's largest killer of time"? You have no time to kill. You're busy, important, way beyond such trivial pursuits.

We know that. We, too, have important things to do. Like reports for work. Homework. Getting out of the Mechanical Age before they come out with the next version of "Myst."

And writing a review of this game from Viacom Newmedia called "Zoop."

We started weeks ago, found it easy to install on our Mac (double click on the icon and play; there's also a PC version, and it's also available for the Nintendo, Sega and Sony PlayStation video game platforms). How to play was obvious from looking at the game, and we never got around to reading the manual until Mr. Editor was breathing down our puny little necks demanding we stop playing and start writing. We didn't find much to write about in the manual except to suggest you can throw it away.

We have not been killing time. We have been doing research for this review. We thought it best if we got past Level 4 of the 99 levels before we made any pronouncements on the game. And we do have a pronouncement: Level 5 is even harder.

We'll keep trying, Mr. Editor. In between putting words and figures in the right order and the other things we do on this computer, we like sneaking off and doing the computer equivalent of doodling. Except that in "Zoop" the computer doodles back, and it always gets the best of us.

It shouldn't be that hard. All we have to do is "Zoop" these little colored blobs on the four sides of the square where our Zooper is. Hit the same color as the Zooper and the blob (or a row of them) goes away. Hit a different color and the Zooper turns that brighter shade of pale orange, purple, green or blue. Leaping lizards, Mr. Editor, it's like a zoopin' chameleon.

There are bonus blobs that do great things for you and your Zooper, but we never seem to find enough of them before some line of blobs pushes its way into the Zoop square, which is like ZAP! Game over. If we could clear out those suckers we'd go on to the next level, meaning we'd have even more blobs to Zoop.

We've been working our little fingers to the bone, Mr. Editor, banging on the four directional arrows and the space bar, which is all it takes to play this game. It's a simple game, Mr. Editor, which has us wondering if that has anything to do with why you gave it to us to review. But it's simplicity that might put this game on quite a few computers, Mr. Send Someone Else to Comdex.

Twenty-five to 30 bucks and you've got something that will keep you busy while you're waiting on the spouse to finally get his or her coat so you can leave for the theater. Need a break from putting words and numbers in order? This is a less taxing task than a strategy game but something less bloodthirsty than a "shoot-everything-that-moves" game.

Is there a place in your life for "Zoop"? Don't you have a "Tetris," "Centipedes" or some such game tucked away in a folder somewhere? If you do, you'll probably enjoy this one, too. It's "Tetris" with a '90s twist. A little faster and a game that takes some quick thinking as well as quick fingers.

Is playing "Zoop" worth the effort? What's at the end of the quest? Just some Zoopid prize? Check back with us in 94 more levels.

- John B. Saul is deputy news editor of The Seattle Times. Jacob, his son, is 12 years old.