When I was a kid, I really hated waiting rooms. I’m just old enough to have grown up without the constant presence of smartphones and iPads and all that. We had handheld games, sure, but they weren’t nearly so popular as the portable computers we can all carry around in our bags or pockets.
Waiting rooms either had toys for kids smaller than me or magazines for people older than me. I fidget too, and I don’t know about you, but for some reason that seems to make me more aware of how quickly or slowly time is passing. A few minutes waiting could feel like half an hour to me.
Now, most of us are lucky enough to have cell phones that can constantly entertain us. Well, some would say lucky.
How many hours have you wasted playing those really mind-numbing games on your phone – the ones that have you basically clicking the same button over and over again? Do you ever wonder if there’s something else you could be doing with that time?
Sure, you could read, write or draw. But if that’s not really your schtick, maybe there some better downloadable games?
Personally, I’m a really big fan of Tetris and FlowFree. I know they might seem like those games where all you do is click the same buttons over and over again, with no real thought, but they’re not.
For me, Tetris is actually really difficult because I’m not a very good spatial thinker. I have trouble looking at the bottom rows and making sure that the incoming blocks are in the columns I need them to be. I also have trouble with habitual button-mashing. I over-click or click too fast, and mess the whole thing up. So it’s a good game to get me to slow down and think more.
Flow Free is good for that, too. If you don’t know, Flow Free gives you a grid with different colored dots, and you have to connect all the like-colored dots without crossing over the other connections. The more you play, the bigger the grid gets and the more dots they add. Again, for the people who have trouble with spatial thinking, this one’s a keeper.
My friend has a game emulator on his phone that lets him play Pokemon, something I am truly envious of. There’s also a knock-off of Scrabble that my roommate loves and any number of trivia apps, including one for the website Sporcle, which I love. I haven’t gotten the app yet, because it’s a still a little buggy. But when they work those bugs out, I will be all over that. Sporcle is the reason I know anything about world geography. It’s a superb website.
Speaking of online games, if you’ve got an iPad, tablet, or laptop and looking for a game to play, may I suggest checking out playtheend.com? The End is an online game where you create a character and as you go through the different levels you have to answer different philosophical questions, such as “Is having children important?” As you progress through the game it keeps track of where you are on a sort of philosophical scale and which philosopher you’re currently most like. The animation is creepy and intricate, so it’s fun to experience as well as play.
Another online game that I really like is greatgatsbygame.com, which is an 8-bit version of The Great Gatsby. It’s like Mario, but you’re Nick and you’re trying to find Gatsby in the middle of his party while collecting coins and avoiding butlers.
And if you’re in the mood for the cutest game ever, please go look at Casanova (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/casanova.htm). You’re a little giraffe and you have to change the size of your neck to kiss all the giraffes that are moving towards you. It’s the silliest thing ever, but it’s actually kind of complex because it’s all about timing.
In conclusion, please don’t settle for games that don’t ask you to think. Stretch your brain.