It's more than just a game

After 1,000 rounds of a silly game I thought I’d never download to my phone and get addicted to but did — after 1,000 rounds I said enough was enough. It’s controlling my life. I need to stop and delete. But not right now. Maybe after just a couple of more rounds.

When I got to Round 1933, I started seeing the numbers as actual dates in history, with 1933 being the year my father was born; the world was in the middle of the Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt was president; Hitler became Chancellor of Germany; prohibition was repealed; Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps; and Albert Einstein was living in the United States as a German immigrant.

I’m too embarrassed to tell you the name of the game, but I will hint it’s all about matching things up to blow them up to help you clear the screen and finish the round. If you don’t clear the screen, you have to start over and become so addicted you forget you’re boiling eggs on the stove and they become pert near uneatable.

Round 1935 was the year my mother was born; Kodak released Kodachrome; Persia was renamed Iran; Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws; Babe Ruth hit his last home run; President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act; Elvis Presley was born; and the Supreme Court case of Norris vs Alabama made racial diversity and proportionality an expectation in the courtroom. 

My parents grew up through Rounds 1936, when Jesse Owens won the 100-meter dash during the Olympics in Berlin; 1937, when blues singer Bessie Smith died; 1939, when Germany invaded Poland; 1940, when Warner Bros. debuted Bugs Bunny; 1941, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor; and 1951, when my father enlisted in the Navy and served during the Korean War.

My parents got married in Round 1958 and had me at the start of round 1962. That’s when I decided, “I’ll just play until the present year — 2025 — then I’ll be done.”

My brother was born in Round 1964, the same year Congress passed the 24th Amendment outlawing the Poll Tax; the Beatles performed for the first time in the United States; Sidney Poitier was the first Black person to win an Academy Award for best actor; President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act; and more than 23,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam.

Round 1976 was when I entered high school; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computer; the U.S. celebrated its bicentennial; and NASA’s Viking I landed on Mars.

Round 1984 saw me graduating from college; India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated; crack cocaine use began; and South African Desmond Tutu won the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace. 

Round 1985, my wife and I were married. Round 1988, our first son was born. Round 1990, our second son was born. Round 1997, our daughter was born. We partied like it was 1999 before Round 2000 and Y2K. Then the Twin Towers came down during Round 2001 and nothing has been the same since.

I thought I was going to stop playing the game after Round 2025, but it seems to be one of the best ways to keep my mind distracted from all the things blowing up in the real world. 

So, I’m currently on Round 2225, long dead, buried and forgotten. But still, I hope we’re not living on Mars. I hope we’ve cleaned up our environment. I hope we’ve learned how to live in peace and love with ALL of our neighbors. And I hope nobody’s playing this game anymore. But I guess I’ll never know. What a shame.