I have been a gamer all of my life. From playing Dungeons and Dragons for an entire weekend in the 70’s. Live Action Role Playing with boffer swords and my Wizard’s cloak in the 80’s. Magic:The Gathering throughout the 90’s. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing games in the Naughts. It is funny how technology has transformed my gaming experience. These days most of my gaming is done on my smartphone. My current favorite, which I’ve been playing for 7 months, is the massive success in the gaming industry called Candy Crush Saga.
Candy Crush Saga is what is called a “Match-3” puzzle game. When you match three, or more, pieces of the same shape or color they are removed from the board and others drop into place to replace the matched shapes. In Candy Crush you are matching candies. In the original versions of Match-3 games like Bejeweled it was an 8X8 grid which never changed. One of the ingenious wrinkles added in Candy Crush is the puzzle aspect and the different shaped grids. Each level has a specific goal for you to reach, score a certain amount of points in a time limit or alternatively within a certain amount of moves. The tasks get more challenging as you move higher in levels and the game offers you greater challenges by adding new impediments. It makes for a fun gaming experience that can be played while waiting in line at the grocery store or for longer sessions at your leisure.
Level 285
Candy Crush Saga has been one of the biggest success in what is called mobile gaming. I know when I ride the bus to work I notice a lot of my fellow riders playing and based on the number of Facebook friends I have playing it has penetrated every age group I know. One of my favorite conversations at Esxence was a Candy Crush strategy session with a very famous perfumer who is also one of my Facebook friends. The game is casual but addicting. I am currently on level 547 out of 575 available.
I like it because of the portability of it. By having it on my smartphone whenever I feel like playing it is there for me. Each single game takes a minute or so and over the course of a day I can play a dozen games just in the time I am waiting for something. It has made plane flights and train rides go by in a flash. It is just the right amount of challenge without the time commitment other forms of gaming require.
It is still amazing to me that what used to take a whole weekend at a friend’s house 40 years ago, for a D&D module, has evolved to minute size bites of the same fun available in my pocket at a moment’s notice. There are many wonderful technological advancements much more important but for my personal joy none are much bigger.
–Mark Behnke
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