Timeline: A chronology of the life of Zynga

Zynga is expected to go public any day now. The social game maker could raise more than $1 billion at a valuation of $8.9 billion as it seeks to spread its social games to all platforms where gamers congregate.

Founded by Mark Pincus (pictured right) in 2007, Zynga has has packed an interesting and colorful history into its four and a half years. Here’s our chronology of the life of Zynga.

Dec. 12, 2011 — CastleVille hits 30 million users and Zynga has five of the top five games on Facebook.

Dec. 8, 2011 — Zynga bets on Google TV with new Texas HoldEm Poker app.

Dec. 6, 2011 — Vostu settles copyright infringement case with Zynga.

Dec. 2, 2011 — Zynga prices IPO in range at $8.50 to $10 a share at $8.9 billion valuation. That was lower than the expected $15 billion to $20 billion.

Nov. 21, 2011 — Zynga’s CastleVille hits 5 million daily active users; Zynga has 206.8 million monthly active users and more than 2,500 employees.

Nov. 17, 2011 — Owen Van Natta steps down as Zynga’s chief business officer, but stays on board at the company. Zynga discloses it acquired 15 companies in 2011.

Nov. 14, 2011 — Zynga launches CastleVille; Best Buy launches FarmVille plush toys.

Nov. 10, 2011 — Wall Street Journal reports Zynga leans on some workers to surrender pre-IPO shares.

Nov. 7, 2011 — Bloomberg reports Zynga eyes post-Thanksgiving IPO.

Nov. 4, 2011 — Zynga reports profit growth slowing; Net income is $12.5 million in third quarter ended Sept. 30, down 54 percent from a year ago. Revenue was $307 million, up 80 percent.

Nov. 3, 2011 — Zynga describes its upcoming CastleVille game.

Oct. 14, 2011 — An accounting change, which allows Zynga to show better profits, alarms some analysts.

Oct. 13, 2011 — Zynga says it will trade on Nasdaq as ZNGA once it goes public.

Oct. 12, 2011 — Raptr reveals The Sims Social has stolen millions of players from Zynga.

Oct. 11, 2011 — Zynga says it will launch 10 new games in services at a press conference at its new San Francisco headquarters. The company announces Hidden Chronicles, CastleVille, Mafia Wars Shakedown, Project Z, and Mafia Wars 2 on Google+. Zynga also unveils Zynga Direct, a new way of distributing games.

Sept. 30 2011 — Year-to-date revenue hits $828.8 million and year-to-date net income is $30.7 million.

Sept. 29, 2011 — Zynga announces Enrique Iglesias promotion in CityVille.

Sept. 26, 2011 — Zynga launches CityVille, its most popular game, on Google+.

Sept. 20, 2011 — Zynga launches Hanging With Friends on Android. Zynga announces Mafia Wars 2.

Sept. 16, 2011 — Zynga announces it will add Indiana Jones to Adventure World.

Sept. 8, 2011 — Adventure World launches.

Aug. 26, 2011 — Zynga gives 70 times more voting power to CEO Mark Pincus.

Aug. 24, 2011 — Zynga adds game card distributors in Europe and Turkey.

Aug. 21, 2011 — Zynga hires EA’s Jeff Karp as sales and marketing chief.

Aug. 16, 2011 — Zynga buys Astro Ape game studio.

Aug. 12, 2011 — Zynga launches Pioneer Trail add-on for FrontierVille.

Aug. 11, 2011 — At Google’s social network games debut,  Zynga launches poker game on Google+.

Aug. 1, 2011 — Zynga launches Words With Friends on Facebook.

July 25, 2011 — Zynga to take version of CityVille to Tencent’s network in China.

July 12, 2011 — Filing reveals minority investors Google, Peter Thiel, Softbank, and others. EA buys PopCap games for $750 million. PopCap reportedly turned down a higher offer of $950 million from Zynga.

July 8, 2011 — Zynga buys Five Mobile in Toronto, its 15th acquisition in 13 months.