The Slippery Slope to Wordle

"Go ahead. Just try it. It'll be fun. And it will develop your mouse skills." It was another century, and my husband was trying to spark in me some interest in our first computer. He was always slightly ahead of both the curve and his peers when it came to technology. I, however, was downright Luddite when it came to adapting to such nonsense. So it was a brilliant idea to tempt me onto the new computer with a solitaire game. I did try it and it was fun. And it did develop my mouse skills. And it started me down a somewhat dubious slide toward always having some computer-generated game available to "take a break" from housework, homework, kid's sports or whatever was the main focus of my day during various stages of life. Eventually, I did see the advantages of word processing over a typewriter, and fully bought into computers when the internet provided unlimited knowledge online, whether it was really useful or not.

Over the years since, I've Tetrised shapes into solid blocks, had gorillas toss exploding bananas, and dropped many colorful circles into their appropriate places. Solitaire games grew in number and availability. Terrace, Forty Thieves, Spider and all their variations have been played at least once...O.K., a lot more than once... I've wasted much time, I'm sure, and dinner has sometimes been late, but I've also had a lot of fun. My mouse skills have grown into touch pad skills.* So here, in another century, I'm still at the keyboard, "taking a break" from writing or reading or housework or whatever I need a break from. The following are my top five break-taking games I've slipped into over the years:

#5 Wordle https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html: "Do you play Wordle? No? Why not? You'd love it!" A conversation with my old college roommate prompted me to give it a try. I was already getting the New York Times email everyday and had tried their Spelling Bee and their Mini crossword. Couldn't hurt to try the Wordle...and that's how my most recent addiction started. I quickly developed my own set of rigid rules for playing – I use the same starter word every day; no sacrificial words, i.e., if a letter is in the right place it stays there, no words used with eliminated letters. Wordle fever spread and my husband started playing, developing his own set of rules. He tries to choose a topical starter word everyday. Bad winter weather? How about "snowy" as a starter? He goes the extra mile every day, keeping a spread sheet of his Wordle choices and then creates a Wordle "story" with his attempts which he emails out to a select group of Wordlers. A typical communique from last Tuesday, which also happened to be the mayoral election in Chicago:

#4 Solitaire: Here's where I started and here's where it's still fun to go. My husband put PySol Fan Club Edition on my latest computer and I'm embarrassed to say how many different Solitaire games I now have access to as well as types of Mahjongg. Many of the games are broken down into families. Like to play Forty Thieves? I do. There is a head-spinning number of variations on it. Same for Terrace and Spider and a dozen other solitaire families. Enter PySol Fan Club at your own risk.

#3 Numbrix: You may be familiar with the paper and pencil version of this game that appears in the Parade magazine insert of many Sunday newspapers. (Remember newspapers?) https://parade.com/numbrix/ is a 9 x 9 grid of 81 numbers you have to fill in to have numbers 1 through 81 snake through the grid in some kind of contiguous order. There is a new one every day. Some are easy, some are hard. Most are fun. There is a visual pay-off when you get it right at the end.

#2 Jigsaw puzzles: Like to do jigsaw puzzles? Yeah, I know, not really a game, but online jigsaw puzzles can be just as addictive as solitaire. www.jigsawplanet.com has a great collection of thousands of jigsaw puzzles. Don't like what you see? You can then take any photo of your own and turn it into a puzzle. Whether you use one of their images or one of your own, you can manipulate the puzzle by choosing eight different size puzzles up to 300 pieces, and choose one of eight different puzzle piece shapes, including straight-sided pieces, a real challenge. The default has the puzzle pieces in the correct orientation, or if you prefer to make yourself crazy, you can choose the rotation option and have a really, really hard puzzle. (I'm not that crazy...yet.) I enjoy doing the 300 piece mandala and geometric design puzzles, just the right amount of hard. Added bonus: Turn the sound on and there is a very satisfying click each time you put a puzzle piece in the right place. Like Pavlov's dog, it keeps you coming back for more.

#1 Kakuro: My all time favorite online game. (Sorry, Wordle friends...) Not Suduko, but a number game where you fill in numbers in squares so they add up to a certain designated number. https://www.kakuroconquest.com is the best kakuro site out there, which I found out recently when their website was down and I was forced...forced!...to try other kakuro sites. Kakuro Conquest allows you to choose the size of your puzzle and one of four levels of difficulty. This site also lets you put in multiple choices and eliminate them as you work through the puzzle. For those of you out there that are thinking "Math?! I didn't know there was going to be math!" this is more of a logic game than a math game, more about elimination than just adding numbers. Give it a try.

I've arrived at a stage of life when I probably have more discretionary time on my hands than ever before. While I try to use that time wisely, I still take breaks from my productive pursuits, justifying those breaks to myself in various ways. I tell myself I deserve a change, a mini vacation from my work. I tell myself I'm stimulating my aging brain. I tell myself I can listen to the news and do a jigsaw puzzle at the same time. If all else fails, I can tell myself I'm developing my mouse skills...still.

*I've never made the jump from playing games on computer to playing games on my phone. I don't want to slow down my phone with any more apps, and I have some finger mobility issues, so it just makes sense to stick to my laptop keyboard.

They say I'm lazy but it takes all my time 

- Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh