Games I Play

I don’t want to write about any of the Life Drama things going on right now, because I haven’t processed them enough to make words out of them.

So. Instead Imma talk about my growing once-a-day online game collection, the little daily happies I’ve been using to distract myself from reality. Each game usually takes me 5 to 10 minutes each, and running through the sequene makes a nice wind-down before bedtime most days. If I actually go to bed before midnight, I treat myself to a lunchtime puzzlefest the next day.

Here they be, in the order I play them.

Connections. Match groups of four related words from a sixteen-word grid. It’s the newest trendy online game from the New York Times, and it’s already spawned a variety of knockoff sites. I have no patience for the NYT’s affection for gotcha word choices and reliance on dated & semi-obscure pop culture references, but I still play their version once a day because it is the original, and I have it bookmarked. But I like the knockoff site I found better.

Wordle. The original “Guess a 5-letter word in six guesses or less” game. I liked it better before the New York Times started administering it, but it’s still the only version of the “figure out the word from the letters” game I enjoy. And I do enjoy it—so much that I really do need to restrict myself to the version that only updates once a day.

Keyword. This one is a Washington Post game. The idea is to guess a 6 letter word made of blanks in a line of six other words. A friend tipped me off to its existence, and after one try, I immediately added it to the daily lineup.

Metazooa: guess an animal from clues about how it’s ralted to other animals. It’s basically a limited taxonomy exercise. Super-nerdy, science-y, and wholly unlike the word-based games, so I always save it for last, like dessert. Credit where it's due, I learned about this one from Dex Greenbright. (thanks, Dex!) I think this one is my favorite of all the games.

If you have a favorite free online time-waster, drop me a note. I'm definitely in the market for expanding the selection.