The Good News - My Game Is Back...The Bad News - My Game Is Back

 I don't play many video games, a few...basically three. It used to be two, but then one of them went away. It went away on my phone, anyway.

Bummer.

The game that is no longer available on iPhones is called Jet Ball 2. It's been years since I played it. I used to have it on an older iPhone until I installed the latest update, then the game was just an icon representing broken dreams that mocked me whenever I saw it. Eventually, I deleted the icon from my phone realizing the game would most likely never return.

I don't know how, but a few months ago I found out the game still exists, just not on the iPhone. You can download the game on Android. I came across a LG tablet my sister-in-law gave to the family. I charged the tablet and downloaded the game.

Success!

That was the good news, but also the bad news. Good that I got it back, but bad, because it's another excuse to not to do things I ought to do, like read a book or write a book or clean the house. No, the net negative outweighs the net positive of having that game available to me.

One positive in all this, the game is glitchy on the tablet--no where near as smooth as it played on my phone, so there's that. Still, I should really cut back on all the games. Maybe that big EMP will kill all these devices (and the games...) after all.

I Didn't Realize It At The Time...But I Jinxed It

 My generation is the first video game generation. Pong came into existence (thanks to a U of U student...) in the seventies. I was between five-years old and ten-years old in the seventies. My poison was Asteroids...loved that game. Still love that game. I spent way too much money on that game, and others. A quarter a play...almost seems ridiculous now, but it wasn't...because I paid it.

Younger generations than mine seem to be more involved in video games. The twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, even forty-somethings play more games than me. These are just my observations so I may be wrong here. Still, as it applies to me, I don't play a lot of games.

Fast forward several decades and now I have an iPhone. The technology in that phone makes the original Pong game look like a marble compared to a car. There are so many apps out there, so many games, it's sometimes overwhelming. Out of all those possibilities, I've basically found two that I play...a solitaire game, and a breakout-type game.

When I got my new iPhone last year, I transferred the information from my old iPhone to the new one. When I went to play Jet Ball, it didn't download. Turns out, that particular game is no longer in the App Store.

Bummer.

But, I still had the game on my old phone, so not so bad.

Then, I got a message that a new iPhone operating update was available. I updated both phones, went to play Jet Ball on the old phone, and I got the above message. And because the game is no longer in the app store, the game is no longer available to me.

Last week my wife, daughter, and I were discussing iPhone games. My wife and daughter play a couple of games I don't play and they chatted about them. My daughter was complaining about one of their games, and I said, "I only play two games...that's all I need."

Now, thanks to the update, I only have one.

I shouldn't have said that...pretty sure I jinxed it.

Exercising Myself...From The Demonic Pigs

I don't play a lot of video games. Compared to some, I play practically none. We live in a time when some of the most amazing games available are found on our phones, games adults play, games senior citizens play, games even infants play.

I am part of the generation that lived before any video games existed, and by "any," I mean exactly that. Video games didn't exist. The first financially successful game--Pong--was invented int he 1970s. 

I was invented in the 1960s.

Once I got a fully-functioning smartphone, I downloaded several games. Over the years, I've played, and by "played," I mean, addicted to, a few games. The most recent one is an offshoot from the successful Angry Birds line. It's called Angry Birds Blast.

And I played it a lot. So much so, I had it on three devices, my phone, an iPad, and an android tablet. I played it every day, because those of you who play games every day know there's advantages to playing every day. They give you bonuses, and tips, and other ways to help. I took advantage of those helps and tips...

Until one weekend, about a month ago, I stopped. It was a busy weekend, not sure exactly why, but I remember when the time came that I usually played, I didn't have the time. The next day came and, once again, I was doing something else. By the third day, when I did have time to play, I simply didn't. And I haven't played the game since. Today I opened the game for the first time so I could take a screenshot for this post. 

It's funny--I thought I'd miss it more. It was fun, hence, the many months/years of playing, but now that I've stopped, I don't want to go back, not even once.

So, there's now only one game I play on my phone. It's called Jet Ball, a breakout game that was discontinued years ago. I told my wife once that I'd like to find a game I enjoyed as much as Angry Birds Blast, but at the same time, no. I don't. It's just a way to spend time on non-important things. Who knows...maybe another game will come around and I'll once again be addicted. It might be okay, as long as it doesn't have those demonic pigs...