A big part of the mobile game library consists of block puzzle games. Going all the way back to Elimimatch, there have been a good deal of classic puzzle games available for cell phones. Mobile gamers tend enjoy these games because they're simple, fun, and perfectly suited to the cell phone--but there are so many variations on the theme that it's hard to know which to choose. QBz for Prizes, Atlas Mobile's multiplayer entry into the time-honored genre, offers few new gameplay angles, but still spices up the old brew with a dose of comedy and the ability to quasi-race against other players.

QBz for Prizes may have simple gameplay, but the competitive nature of it makes the game worthwhile.

What, exactly, are QBz? They're teensy anthropomorphic blocks that come in several different colors. You don't want these strange little creatures populating your board (every level begins with an entire screenful of the buggers), so it's up to you to get rid of them by clicking on like-colored, contiguous groups. As you do so, the remaining QBz will shift into new positions, impelled downward by gravity and to the right by some other, invisible force. The bigger the group you dismiss, the more points you get. If you can't get to all the QBz before the water meter on the side of the screen fills up, you lose. Also, if you leave some unpaired QBz stranded, the level ends and you are penalized according to the remaining number. The gameplay in QBz isn't exactly the most original design in the world, but it definitely still works.

Clean gameplay and a sizable injection of personality make QBz for Prizes one of the better block-eliminator games on mobile. The banal gameplay is fleshed out nicely by the QBz, who assume all kinds of comical facial expressions as they are jostled into new configurations. When you eliminate groups of them, they happily chirp "Together!" in a chorus of bizarre voices, adding to the pathos of the moment--and if you strand them, the poor little dudes start to cry. The controls are solid too. Your cursor wraps around the sides of the board, making navigation more efficient. It's also possible to shake things up by using the 1 and 3 keys to rotate the board or the 0 key to randomize its configuration. However, these moves feel more like afterthoughts than an important part of gameplay--in block-eliminator games like Triclops, judicious and frequent use of rotation is absolutely necessary and adds an extra element to the game, while in QBz it seems more designed to bail you out of a jam or help you garner a few more matches at the end of a level. Plus, you can only use rotation and randomization a few times per level. QBz also lacks genre requisites like power-ups and special blocks, leaving little opportunity for additional strategy.

Good control is key for puzzle games, and QBz does a good job here, as well.

But strategy isn't really the point behind QBz. Speed and efficiency are the priorities here, especially when competing against other players, and the slimmed-down QBz model delivers in both areas. QBz shares the Atlas Mobile suite's standard medley of gameplay options: a head-to-head mode, a progressive tournament mode, a practice mode, and the ability to win prizes like GameFly gift certificates if you dominate. QBz's simplicity lends itself to Atlas Mobile's competitive system, since the gameplay is completely transparent; if you can get rid of bigger groups of QBz faster than your opponent, you will win.

In all, QBz for Prizes is a tidy, simple game that's been very nicely retrofitted for mobile consumption and competition. There's not much to it, but there doesn't really need to be.