From matching gems to the perfect match

A hacker's romantic gesture

You're probably accustomed to seeing big-screen proposals at ball games, in crowded restaurants, and scrawled across the sky by aircraft. But popping the question by hiding a message in your intended's favorite computer game is rather more unusual.

However, for computer programmer Bernie Peng, it obviously seemed like the perfect idea. He spent a month reprogramming his girlfriend Tammy Liu's favorite video game, gem-matching hit Bejeweled, so that it would display the all-important message when she reached a certain score. As Peng told Newark's Star-Ledger: "I thought it was pretty cool, in a nerdy way."

Did she agree? Fortunately for Peng, she did, and the pair plan a September wedding. Popcap, the company responsible for Bejeweled (and consequently untold hours of lost productivity in offices around the world) is flying the couple out for a Seattle honeymoon, and supplying copies of Bejeweled to hand out as wedding favors. A word of advice to any guests, though: don't sit next to two other people wearing the same color, or all three of you will vanish.

You can try the game for yourself right here -- but don't count on it hiding any marriage proposals.