babeofbryan

So there’s this ongoing tourney I play on my tablet every evening because there’s a time limit, usually 1 day, 12 hours. There are roughly 40 players in my league, including myself. We all have usernames and avatars.. When the next tourney starts we each see our final scores as well as everyone else’s from the tourney we just played.

What makes this game different is that you can see everyone’s scores in each level as you play. I can look at the leaderboard and notice that I came in on a particular level. I can play that level again and gain a score higher than the player above me, or maybe the player above that player, on up. If that happens, every one of those players will receive a red down arrow next to their score. If someone beats my score, I receive a red down arrow. Conversely, if I replay a level and score higher, I receive a green up arrow. If I beat that score, there’s another green arrow. If I score higher than a majority of players, I just might get into the Top 10 where there are gold badges. If I score in the top 3, the badge becomes scarlet draped in gold.

There are prizes in the form of gold coins which you can use to purchase power ups. I never do. They don’t interest me.

It’s a silly game, a casual game. It’s a game easily put aside when real life beckons. There is just enough skill involved, however, which beckons you to play for a stolen few minutes: Can I beat that score? What about that one? What about my own score? Oh c’mon, I know I’m better than that, play that level again! Oh shit, I missed! Maybe I should buy a power up. Nah. Study the setup before making your first shot! You can DO this! No, I can’t feed the dogs right now, I have to finish this level! AAARGH! You made me miss the target!

But there’s also serendipitous highlights, like when I go for a shot without any strategy. Everything tumbles, bumbles, bounces, and explodes into a frenzy of screaming colors and blurbs. I see my score ping higher and higher until the blue END LEVEL flashes. I sit there, dazed, blinking. I look at the leaderboard…and of course there are people with higher scores! I play the level again but never reach anywhere near my initial score.

I’ve been playing versions of this game for the last 10 years or so. I started because of the explosions and screaming colors. It was a small way of releasing the day’s pent up stress. It took me awhile to figure out the basic strategy. Once I did, I then could figure out variations of the strategy at each level. Some days I scored high. Other days, abysmal. It didn’t matter as long as I kept playing.

And that’s the secret – keep playing. The more you do something, the better you become at it. At some point the strategy melds with your aim and becomes muscle memory. I’ve only received a scarlet draped in gold badge once, but that’s OK. Having a bunch of usernames and higher scores above mine is OK, even when I feel that tiny pang of disappointment. There’s always another tourney.