I got my first request from a company to write about their game. Does that make me a professional? I’ve made about three dollars in advertising revenue since I started this blog. That’s cool, right?

Anyway, DreamForge Games asked me to write about their Facebook game Jade Monkey. I haven’t really played a lot of Facebook games before, mostly because I get kinda tired of seeing everyone spam my news feed with their high scores of asking for ingredients or lumber or whatever, but since this was a request from an actual company I decided to give it a try.

Anyway, if  you like Bejeweled, you like Jade Monkey. It’s a classic match-three puzzle game where you slide jewels around to make matches and set up combos. This time, though, it’s got a cool Mayan theme to it which kinda reminds me of Zuma. The sound effects actually help add to the tension of the game, which I think sets it apart from Bejeweled and the like.

(It also constantly reminds me of the Shrine of the Silver Monkey from Legends of the Hidden Temple, the old Nickelodeon show.)

Probably the coolest feature about Jade Monkey is the powerup system. You can earn points to unlock things like score multipliers, a hint system, and other things to help you climb up the leaderboard. Since it’s a Facebook game, though, you can gift powerups to your friends as well, so you can help get a newbie hooked with the promise of higher scores and radder times.

I’ve actually found myself going back to Jade Monkey whenever I have a few minutes to waste, because I love the “pick up and play” accessibility of puzzle games. It’s really easy to play a couple rounds while you’re, say, waiting for your fiancée to get ready to go out. Not that that ever happens to me or anything, though.

Anyway, Jade Monkey? Pretty rad. You don’t need to buy a console or anything. If you have a Facebook account, you have all you need. Give it a shot!