California man 'beats' Bejeweled 2

We thought we were pretty hot at Bejeweled 2.

But we've got nothing on steel contractor Mike Leyde, of Riverside, CA., who managed to score so many points, he broke the game.

Leyde became the first person in the world to reach the game's maximum score of 2,147,482,575, after which the game simply can't process any more points. It took him over 2,000 hours of gameplay -- the equivalent of about three straight months of 24/7 play -- to amass the score, which the game's makers, Popcap, had thought impossible to reach.
"While developing Bejeweled 2, we debated endlessly whether it was even possible to best the 2.147 billion 'maximum' score," said Popcap co-founder John Vechey. "We deemed it impossible...and thus kept the cap at 2,147,482,575 knowing we were safe."


Safe, that is, until Leyde came along. His winning score saw him collect over 4.8 million gems and reach the game's 439th level, though his three-year commitment is apparently par for the course for the skilled gamer.

"If you're going to invest time in something, you might as well be as good at it as you possibly can," Leyde said. "I really enjoy the thrill of victory – like when I won my first stock car race or when I bowled a perfect 300 game."

Although Leyde actually completed his feat in March 2009, Popcap wanted to be sure it was genuine before crowning him King Bejeweled.

"We took some time in validating the score to make sure it was real," a rep told us -- and holding off on the record-breaking news let the achievement be part of Bejeweled's 10th anniversary celebration, which happens this month.