To quote Whitman Hobbs, "If I were a trolley, I'd rather go nude than suffer the folly of wearing a snood." I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it reminds me of the colorful sprites and addictive gameplay of Snood, the PC smash hit now available for Java phones.

When I first heard that a version of Snood was available for a mobile platform, I was simultaneously excited and worried. The game most responsible for my less-than-stellar productivity is now able to follow me outside the home.

My fears were warranted, as all the habit-forming gameplay of the original is intact in the mobile version. For those of you as yet uninitiated, Snood is a puzzle game, the object of which is to clear the screen of brightly colored sprite-based heads, called "Snoods." There are seven snood types that hang from the top of the screen and must be cleared by touching two or more snoods of the same type. The snoods which are attached to the screen top via other snoods, fall when their support system fails. The gameplay, while simple in concept, provides a challenge for newcomers and experienced Snooders alike, as there is always more than one way to approach a puzzle.

The game has two main modes, taken directly from the PC version: "Journey" and "Puzzle." The former challenges gamers with progressively difficult, randomized puzzles. The latter presents the gamer with a series of preprogrammed puzzles.

Overall, I was very pleased with this port of Snood, taking issue only with a bit of slowdown I experienced when there were lots of Snoods on the screen. This slowdown is minimal and does not damage playability. Snood is truly worth your gaming dollar. Keep up the good work, Cybiko!