To better understand the wireless gaming phenomenon, I recently plunked over $20 of my hard-earned money to install Bejeweled! on my phone. It was a tough assignment, but I took it anyway.
In the name of research, I spent four straight hours playing Bejeweled!, trying to best my personal scores of almost 100,000 for the easy game and 27,000 for the timed option (to no avail, by the way).
I was first introduced to Bejeweled! via RCR Wireless News reporter Mike Dano and the nice people at Handango. Even though the game was installed on a black-and-white Palm 150 (which has since died) I found Bejeweled! charming. Perhaps it was the simple fact that I like jewelry, and Bejeweled! is all about lining up “jewels.” (How brilliant is that?)
I’m not much of a gamer, especially an electronic gamer. Ms. PacMan took away more than a few quarters in my college years, but by and large, games don’t really interest me.
Did I mention I played for four hours-four hours solid, not looking up from the phone except to grab a soda, completely ignoring my family? Did I also mention that I tend to cringe a little (sometimes more than a little) each time I walk into a room and see my husband or son playing GameBoy Advance? I like games just fine, but the first thing that pops into my head when I see my 5-year-old playing is “Shouldn’t he be outside getting some fresh air?” And if my husband is hunkered down, staring at a little screen, the thoughts are less kind. (Isn’t there a garbage can somewhere that needs to be emptied or some grass that needs to be mowed?)
We don’t yet own Xbox, PS2 or anything like that; some computer games, yes, but they’re mostly educational. Games are for those pale-looking geeks who sit at home all day, not my active family.
But in the name of research, I had to go online to see how high a score other people were getting at Bejeweled! (I think they’re all lying.) Did I mention games are just for young men in their teens and early 20s? (Even though some studies suggest nearly half of all mobile gamers are women.)
Bejeweled! is advertised as an addictive game, but that’s such a nasty word. Addictive means you can’t put it down. You need help. I am not addicted. I can put Bejeweled! away any time I want.
Besides, Sorrent showed me a mobile game called Zuma where you shoot balls to make a string of lines that disappear. They look like pearls.
