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My Latest Mobile Obsession Is Too Distracting For Its Own Good
My weaknesses include the following: bullets, vats of acid, and match-three games. I can rationally explain the first two, but I'm as mystified about that last one as anyone. Why do I find matching gems/skulls/doodads so addicting? And why did I think it would be a good idea to fire up a quick game of Monsters Ate My Condo during a recent Game Informer meeting?
I'm completely late to the Monsters At My Condo party, but I'm happy I decided to attend. In the game, you swipe falling floors over to humongous monsters on either side of the screen. The floors come in four different colors and, you're not going to believe this, feeding a monsters a floor that matches their color makes them happy. Floors can stack up to precarious heights, and if a monster goes too long without eating (or if you feed him too many of the wrong types), they stomp the ground and make the condo stack wobble. If you match at least three consecutive colors, they transform into a bronze floor. Match three bronzes, and you get a silver. The pattern continues up to gold and diamond. Those fancier floors can be fed to monsters, too, and they grant special abilities, such as a pressure-relieving lullaby or a points bonus.
It is all much more fun than it sounds. I promise.
Anyway, I'm usually not one to tap away on my phone during meetings, but one quick game of Monsters Ate My Condo turned into a 20-minute multitasking session. Andy didn't necessarily believe that I was paying attention (I was), and he gave me a a friendly "You shouldn't do that, I'm keeping this conversation light, if you do that again I will push your bullet-riddled corpse in a vat of acid, just joking," thing after it was over. He has already probably forgotten about the whole thing already, but it was a big hunk of fuel to my guilt engine. Think of this post as my penance for being rude in a meeting. You shouldn't be like me, except for the part about playing Monsters Ate My Condo. Or, if you do decide to play the game in a meeting, pay attention for the parts when everyone is talking and mumbling and say, "I agree!" as loudly as you can.
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