I’ve a new addiction. It crept in quietly, relaxed my mind; now it’s got me by the throat. And: Yes, I never thought it could/would happen to me. It’s a ‘match three’ game like (but not) ‘Candy Crush Saga’ accessed on my iPhone.
My main game is ‘Fruits Mania’ but sometimes I also play ‘Lollipop’ or ‘Honey Bee’ as a back up or when ‘Fruits’ becomes too difficult or frustrating. With my index finger (right hand) I ‘swap’ one ‘fruit’ (orange sections, lemons, limes) for another. I must get three of the same (color, type) fruits in a contiguous line. When done, they vanish from the board giving me credit/s toward winning or ending that game with a rush of noise and fireworks. Sometimes a swap causes a chain reaction, removing many ‘fruits’ from the board. There seems to be a million variants/mutations of ‘Mania’ as I painstakingly move into higher more complex levels of skill with alterations. Oh: All this is accompanied by irritating repetitive music, the kind of sounds one hears in a penny arcade (bells, whistles, sirens) or with ‘Angry Birds’ which (thankfully) hasn’t hooked me. I’ve missed other incarnations of this ‘match three’ format with names like ‘Bejeweled,’ ‘Shariki,’ ‘Jewel Quest,’ ‘Chuzzle,’ ‘Sariki,’ ‘ZooKeeper,’ ‘Big Kahuna Reef’ and more. Just as well.
Though prone toward various addictions in my life (cigarettes, nail biting, etc.), I’ve read that this particular addiction (when analyzed by professionals in the mental health field) is likened to a gambling addiction … something I’ve never had the slightest inclination toward. Following, a list of symptoms from an addiction expert:
Significant interference with work, school or relationships.
Often avoiding other commitments in order to keep playing
Frequently turning down social invitations in favor of gaming
Using most or all of one’s free time for gaming
Regularly playing late into the night and which results in poor sleep habits
Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities
Regular gaming “binges” of 8 hours or more nonstop
OMG! This same expert lists those most at risk:
Males
Children and teens
Individuals with long periods of unstructured time
Those with high levels of neurotocism
Children who are more impulsive and have weaker social skills
Oh no! What now? Who’d have thunk it?
‘Is there another life?
Shall I awake and find all this a dream?
There must be, we cannot be created for this sort of suffering.’
– John Keats, 1820 (from letter to Charles Brown) –
This game has to do a lot with random genrator – like in real life, except the consequences. The beauty of it, you can always try again
And again…..
I downloaded fruits mania based on the first paragraph…THEN I continued reading…this is trouble…
daily grateful for you and all you gave me!! It wouldn’t have happened without you – 38 years in like three weeks! wow. I am completely intimidated by you these days. Not just the writing, which is great and prolific, but the art work !!! although I can’t remember how I found my way there, not an unfamiliar feeling these days…
Gosh Lynzee. It’s all mutual and one day (perhaps) our paths will cross again. An important day of ours is looming soon. xxx
I remember loving Tetris too much, planning when I would play it. Quitting 2 weeks later. That was 27 years ago. Do you think they give out chips? I bet the ones for quitting Fruits Mania are gorgeous. BTW the irony that you a self professed fruit hater plays fruit mania is not lost on me.