Karen Cyson: Games can bring us distraction, satisfaction
Hi. I'm Karen and I'm a New York Times games addict.
(Your response: Hi, Karen)
It started simply. I read the paper every day; I saw the mini crossword. I thought: oh, this might be fun and certainly less daunting than the "real" crossword.
And so it began.
I did not realize at the time that the mini crossword, which usually took me about a minute each morning, was the gateway game to the "hard stuff."
Sure, it's fun at first. It arrives each morning, it takes a little time. It engages my brain (health benefit!) and provides a brief spot of entertainment in an otherwise grim reading of worldwide, national, and state news.
On a more personal level, it reminded me of my mom, who until she entered hospice at 95, did the big crossword puzzle daily in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (and before that, the DIspatch) as far back as I can remember. That and a pot of Folgers coffee was the mainstay of her morning routine.
Then someone mentioned that I should try Wordle. OK, that's fun. Find a five-letter word in six tries. The game was especially challenging until I realized that if I scrolled down there was a qwerty keyboard that kept track of hits and misses. Duh. I'm much better at Wordle now. I usually get it in three or four tries and miss one about once every two months.
But have you tried Connections? No, I hadn't. So I did. I'd really like to meet the person who designs that one. I have a feeling it's someone similar to Christopher Walken or Wes Anderson. I apparently don't think like that, so I sometimes get two and sometimes four. And, unlike baseball where a triple is the rarest play, a triple in Connections is not just rare, it's impossible because if you score three you get four by default. On the days I get two, I just shake it off and move on to …
Spelling Bee. Sigh.
Look at the Spelling Bee game. Isn't it cute? It looks like a sweet little flower, with bees buzzing around it. Beware. Poppies are lovely flowers also, waving in the breeze, bright and pretty. Lovely and addictive. We all know what poppies produce. Opium. Heroin. Sure, it's fun at first. Here ... try this. Then you need more and more. You play Spelling Bee for a few minutes. You find a few words. It's fun. Then-bang! You find the pangram, the word that uses all seven letters in play that day. You've leveled up. Now you want to find the pangram every day. You play more. You find more words. So many words. You want to find them all. Your list says "nice," then "great," then "amazing." The New York Times thinks your achievement is amazing. You want this every day. Then it happens. You push. More. More. More words. Then, suddenly, the screen changes. Right there in front of you. GENIUS. You maxed out. Hit the word wall. Now the pangram is child's play. You want GENIUS every day. You want more. You need more.
That, my friends, is my cautionary tale. I've stabilized now. I only play Mini, Wordle, Connections, and Spelling Bee. My pusher ... err subscription also includes Letter Boxed, Tiles, Vertex, and Sodoku, but, so far, I have not succumbed. I may be able to control myself or perhaps it's only a matter of time before I, too, go down the rabbit hole of additional games.
If you're like me, and wake every morning to read that a sizeable portion of our population is champing at the bit to elect a lying, fascist rapist, someone whose comments on "vermin" and "extermination" are reminiscent of "Mein Kampf," then you, too, might want to seek a momentary daily diversion from that stress.
I wouldn't blame you if you sought solace in games. I'll join you every morning. But then we need to move on to the remainder of the day. where we spend our time and energy fighting to save this republic.
— Times Writers Group member Karen Cyson is a child-care provider in Stearns County and the coordinator for Central Minnesota Mensa. Her column is published the third Sunday of the month.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Karen Cyson: Games can bring us distraction, satisfaction
