1. The New York Times Crossword: Last week I passed 2 years of doing the damn thing every single day last week, except I missed one day about 3 months into the process during a work trip back in 2021, so that means I need another 90 days before I hit my 2 year streak. Why do I care about streaks. I don't know. I don't know. On one hand it's helped me feel like my vocabulary isn't diminishing from years of burnout anymore. On the other, it's absolutely reinforcing said vocabulary with terms that matter mostly as useful crossword fill terms and things that the New York Times worldview would register as 'newsworthy.' Ideology everywhere!!!
2. Basketball Club Story by Kairosoft: I haven't played a Kairosoft game to completion in like a decade, and that one was Pocket League Story, which is basically the same as this one except everything about it was better. But you know, sometimes it's NBA Playoffs Season and you have an itch. I think I'm done with it and I should uninstall.
3 & 4. Desert Golfing and Golf on Mars Every now and then I open them up just to remind myself that 5 seconds in a video game can feel perfect.
5. Hoplite: Hoplite is an all time perfect tactical time killer. I will never get over the design of this thing. Before Into the Breach and Slay the Spire relied on NPC intent being transparent, Hoplite made them transparently predictable, and nevertheles sstill fun. The micro is fun for exactly as long as it needs to be before the macro strategy decisions become comprehensible. If i was like 30% smarter I'd keep 868-Hack or Cinco Paus installed instead, but for me? Hoplite
Anyway, the truth is I don't play much of anything except the Crossword on my phone now. I work from home, and without a commute both my podcast listening and my mobile gaming time is down til nil. The crossword only makes the cut because I do it before bed as a windw down activity.
