Right. That is exactly right, yes.

This, however, fails to account for the crack cocaine that’s pumped into the air from your console every time you boot up Peggle. It’s just about the only logical explanation for why the game is just so mystifyingly addictive. For legal reasons, we will try to establish some other reasons why it might be so absurdly addictive. Popcap’s lawyers eat small outfits like us for breakfast!

The basic gameplay goes like this: the screen is full of pegs, 25 of which are orange, the majority are blue, and you have to strike every orange peg with only ten balls at your disposal. When gravity kills a ball by sending it to the pit at the bottom of the screen, any peg that’s been hit is removed from play, and the next ball is launched from the top. Extra balls are earned by racking up points (don’t miss the score-inflating purple peg), or by landing the ball in the bucket at the bottom that moves from left to right and back. And continue.

To watch someone else playing Peggle is where the confusion sets in, it’s just random, isn’t it? To an extent that’s true, but not entirely, there are nuances that can only be discovered by playing. There’s strategy in the order in which pegs are hit. How’s your geometry? There’s a definite skill in hitting the first two or three pegs; beyond that it’s impossible to judge, but, like Satan convincing the world of his absence, Peggle’s greatest trick is to convince the player they’re in control at all times, and Popcap achieve this with absolute perfection. Everything that happens, good or bad, always feels like it was exactly because of the player’s input.

But the addiction, your honour, what of the addiction?

Exhibit A: The pretty lights. Hit a peg and it lights up. Get a bonus and there’s a flash of colour. Complete a level and your senses are assaulted with fireworks, rainbows, stars. You feel like the biggest success in the entire world, scientists would point to a rush of endorphins caused by this most triumphant feeling creating a need for more, but it doesn’t even end there.

It gets a hold of you slowly. You feel okay at first, you can play a level here, a level there. Maybe two levels this time. Maybe three. There’s only thirty-seven left to the end of adventure mode.

Exhibit B: The pretty sounds. The more pegs you hit in a single shot, the higher the note played as each is hit. It’s the simplest signifier of shot-quality imaginable, yet you’ll will it and will it, how long will it go for? As the ball approaches the final orange peg, the game slows, there’s a drumroll, suspense rises… a miss! The crowd gasps. Try again, hit it and everything remains in glorious slow motion and Ode to Joy blasts from the speakers, every sound is heightened, exaggerated, it’s one of the most ridiculously over-the-top rushes in gaming. And they know it.

With adventure mode out of the way, it’s onward to the 75 challenges. It’s 2am, Peggle has been on for four hours. Just one more challenge.

Exhibit C: The pretty, er, unicorn; yes, unicorn. This is where Peggle gains a little bit more strategy. As the game is played, more and more characters are unlocked and each comes with a unique special skill, activated by hitting a green peg. These include a guide beam that shows where the ball will bounce from the first peg, a pair of pinball-style flippers, an extra ball, and loads of others. Find your favourite and earlier levels can be replayed using the new found skill for high scores.

Two more challenges – meant to say two more challenges. Then bed. Definitely... Three.

Exhibit D: No other game rewards the player quite as much as Peggle. Nearly every shot will reward you with a combination of style bonuses, flashes of colour, free balls, multipliers, special moves, bonus points, bursts of sound and zero upon zero in a phenomenon Popcap themselves admit is simply to trick the player into thinking they’re doing better. Consider the player tricked.

So that’s Peggle, but all of that’s available on the PC. What here justifies 800 points of hard-earned, pretend currency? An excellent set of achievements has a sublime balance of the quick and easy, set against those only to be attempted by the most skilled (yes, skilled). Online leaderboards will keep you playing long after the achievements are dusted, especially with the top 50 shots having viewable replays – a touch of genius (the inability to save your own replays is a massive loss, however.)

Online play: what an addition. Duel mode is the same as it ever was, only now with added strangers. Take it in turns to shoot balls at the same board to rack up points, with huge penalties for missing orange bricks and a battle to get 'extreme fever' all for yourself. A new mode, Peg Party, is where the real magic happens. Up to four players play simultaneously on the same level (though each with their own version of the board) in a shot-by-shot contest to get the highest score. During your shot a small status indicator on the left indicates every little detail about your opponents’ shots, and after completing your shot the other ongoing shots can be watched. It’s barely multiplayer at all, yet the sense of competition it generates is huge, the score calculating tense, and, with as addictive a game as Peggle as the source, you just, can’t, stop.

Well, that leaves about one more thing to say: goodbye, to your family, to your other games, to your free time - hello Peggle.