How Bejeweled Blitz brought two gamers in love to say 'I do'

Oh, you must be wondering about that massivecubic zirconium diamond ring right there. Inspired by the story of Chris and Laura Sheriff of Lexington Park, Md., PopCap sent the couple that enormous rock in celebration of their first anniversary. No, the studio didn't just find two newlyweds to send a gargantuan ring to--the Sheriffs have Bejeweled to thank for their union.

Well, at least a little bit. You see, Chris is a gaming fanatic, while Laura tends to dabble in casual games, namely Bejeweled Blitz. But Chris was never above toppling her scores even between his Call of Duty sessions. "He almost always manages to beat me at Bejeweled Blitz but that one week, I was on fire," Laura told PopCap. "I racked up a score of over 600,000 which is a lot for me-my highest score ever is 775,000."

Alas, Chris wasn't on his A-game that week. "I hit that score early in the week and then I watched as Chris tried and tried right up until the last minute to beat me," Laura said. "But he just couldn't top my score. The next day, he surprised me with a proposal, saying that he knew I was the one for him after I trounced him at Bejeweled Blitz."

It almost goes without saying that the two were officially husband and wife eight months later. The Sheriffs are now the proud, hard-working parents of two children, which has certainly changed their competitive gaming habits. "I think that when we do play now, its more of a planned escape rather than just a random playing," Laura tells us. "I'm just a casual gamer--I still think the original NES is the best thing ever--so I mostly play the puzzle games like Zuma and Bejeweled. Chris is a more serious gamer. He's even got my 9-year-old shooting Nazi zombies with him in Call of Duty."

Even nearly two years later, however, the competition thrives. "I have beat Chris quite a few times at Bejeweled Blitz, mainly because he'll play at the beginning of the week and get a 'good enough' score, and I'll spend the rest of the week trying to beat him," Laura admits. "We do, however, own Bejeweled 3 on our PC at home, and I hold most of the high scores in the different categories for that one."

And after all this time, it's the connections that keep Laura hooked on social games like Bejeweled Blitz. "I really like the social games because they let me keep in friendly competition with a lot of my friends," Laura says. "People I rarely talk to anymore play Bejeweled, Zuma and other games, but I always see them on my leader board and might send them 'jabber' every once in a while to let them know I'm paying attention. It's always nice to have someone to play against and to have a goal to beat."

Of course, we couldn't help but ask about that gargantuan, um, diamond. Laura gushed, "The gem the people at PopCap sent to us is just amazing. We really couldn't be more pleased. I actually put the ring on my finger and asked Chris why he couldn't get me a diamond that big. His response was, 'Well, duh, I did. Without me, you wouldn't have gotten it.'" Touché, Chris, touché.

Do you and your significant other enjoy some friendly competition in Bejeweled Blitz or any other social games? Do you have any video game-inspired love stories of your own? Share with us in the comments. Add Comment.