I'm Game

Even when I'm burning the candle at both ends (as I seem to have been doing too often lately), I always find time to catch up on my games. When I'm at home I prefer to play on my iPad, but I rarely take that anywhere with me, so I play on my iPhone when I'm out and about. There's all this downtime in the car while I'm waiting for the kids to be done with their various activities, so I take advantage of the time to fit in a few rounds. I also play in bed when I have insomnia, looking very glamorous with my real glasses on (since I don't bother to put my contacts back in) and then my reading glasses on top of them.

I'm still playing lots of Scrabble, and I'm still convinced it's the best game on the planet as well as the worst app ever created (shame on you, EA!). At any given time I have about 8 or 10 games going. Words with Friends is a near-perfect app (although a slightly frustrating game experience for us Scrabble purists), and I generally have closer to 15 or 20 of those games going at once. I have a few opponents I beat nearly all of the time, a few who beat me nearly all of the time, and then all the rest feel like very good matches for me. But I honestly just love to play and don't get too caught up in the win/lose thing. 

The two newcomers among the word games are Scramble with Friends (like Boggle) and Hanging with Friends (hangman), and I have only a couple of opponents in both of those. I'm not great at Scramble—I've never liked games where you have to rush—but it's fun.

And finally, I have a few opponents to play Dice with Buddies (Yahtzee) with. As far as I can tell, that game is 86.3% pure luck, so I don't even pay attention to who wins or loses. I don't even know why I think it's so much fun, but I do. (You may recall that Julie and I play a lot of real Yahtzee around here. And Battleship. And MasterMind. And every other game you can think of. Speaking of MasterMind, has anyone found a good app? There are quite a few out there, but none that really do the trick.)

Every now and then, I've caught up on all my games, and everyone seems to be asleep or at work—even in all those other time zones!—and then all I can do is play Word Warp by myself. So this is all by way of saying that if you'd like to play any of these games with me, please challenge me ("wisekaren"). 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I got the iPad app for the New York Times crossword puzzle, and I love it! I get the Times delivered only on Sundays, but now I do the Sunday puzzle on the iPad, plus I get to do the whole rest of the week's worth of puzzles too. If you are not a regular puzzle-doer, you might not have known that they start out easy-peasy on Monday and get progressively harder as the week goes on. In truth, I often find the Saturday puzzle harder than the Sunday puzzle, because the Sunday puzzle usually has some gimmick that, once you catch on, makes it all go quickly. If I am really stuck, and it's not a matter of trying to remember or figure out something but rather that I have absolutely no idea (all those rivers in Asia and Scandinavian actors from the '50s and Olympic luge champs!), I will ask my friend Jimmy Wales for help. And I don't feel guilty about it one bit, because otherwise I'd just be stuck and wouldn't be able to go on. Once I look up an answer or two that I never would've known, I can usually proceed to fill in the rest. And when it's all done, you get this nice little banner that says, "Well done!"

My favorite puzzle is still the acrostic, which shows up every other week in the Sunday Times. I rarely have to "cheat" on those, because there are so many different ways to work it. And those get done in pen right in the magazine, just like in the old days.

Comments

[amy]

Please start playing Drawsomething. It's mind-blowing simple but strangely addictive.

[words with friends cheat board online]

I love words with friends, and I have to admit I'm completely addicted to it..
Started playing it a few months ago and I can't stop. Downloaded it to my Iphone and it's a great way to pass time.