PopCap's ball-busting game Zuma heads to Facebook

PopCap, the makers of Bejeweled Blitz and Plants vs. Zombies, announced today that it's bringing its ball-busting game Zuma to Facebook.

The game -- called Zuma Blitz -- will have a virtual currency which can be used to buy power-ups, an experience points system which will unlock advanced features, regular installments of new levels -- and much like Bejeweled Blitz -- weekly tournaments and real-time leaderboards where you can see how your score, medals and achievements stack up against your friends on Facebook. Zuma Blitz will also borrow the killer app from Bejeweled Blitz -- a time limit of 60 seconds in which you bust as many balls as possible.

"Zuma is a very different game than Bejeweled, so the social adaptation has gone in different directions," PopCap Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Jason Kapalka says. "Zuma is already a fast-paced arcade game, so the challenge was to make it feel approachable to players of all skill levels, even with just sixty seconds to play."

If this Blitz does for Zuma what it did for Bejeweled, we predict months of breaking balls on Facebook (and possibly iPhone) in the near future. PopCap says a beta version of the game will roll out "gradually" in about three weeks.