There’s nothing worse than sitting at an airport enduring endless flight delays. You’re caught in limbo, completely at the mercy of the airline or the weather or some other factor beyond your control.
When you’re traveling with children the experience is even more difficult. Children can only take sitting around doing nothing for so long, and the minute your travel day begins, the clock starts ticking. If you don’t get to your destination in time, you’ll have to suffer through an embarrassing meltdown.
In these moments, video games can be an absolute lifeline.
Brain break
Entertainment sources such as movies or music can only take you so far. Sooner or later, your brain seems to reject the distraction and you start to feel agitated again.
In my experience, video games are the best solution for breaking through unfortunate moments of tedium. There’s something about entering a digital world that makes you indifferent to the passage of time. You can lose yourself completely, and in some scenarios, that’s just what the doctor ordered.
The history of video games
I’m old enough to have seen the entire evolution of video games. I remember playing an old Atari 2600 in the basement of my parents’ house and I still have a special place in my heart for the 8-bit games. Although simple, many of those games were more addictive than anything that’s come since.
I even remember the days of the text based adventures which are now more or less a thing of the past. The best, in my opinion, was the game based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Free versions of that game can be found in several locations. The BBC hosts a version that includes graphics, but I prefer this version because it allows you to type with your keyboard.
Text based games have become little more than a novelty, but the storytelling element has only continued to evolve. Today, video games activate the brain in a way few other diversions can.
The tedium of work
Sometimes during my work day, I like to take a 10 minute rest where I can go and digitally blow things up. It helps break your thinking out of a rut, and when you get back to task, you’re refreshed and energized.
My go-to game in these moments used to be Warzone Tower Defense, but the game hasn’t worked since flash got disabled back in January. There’s probably a workaround, but I’m too lazy to find it. Instead, I’ve moved on.
There are some base defense games on Plays.org, a website that also features reproductions of old arcade favorites. For example, Pac-Rat is the stand-in for Pac-Man. On the desktop version, you control a rat with your arrow keys as he navigates a maze while avoiding four hungry kittens. On the mobile version, you control by swiping.
I like the web page because it’s entirely browser based and doesn’t require you to download anything. This is an advantage over cell phone video games too.
The advantage of browser based video games
The problem with cell phone games is that they sometimes hit you with in-game purchases. If you’re using video games to soothe your children during a flight delay, you don’t want your child to accidentally rack up hundreds of dollars in purchases.
Plays.org even has a couple typing games which are useful for sharpening your skills in preparation for a job interview.
Enjoy your gaming!
On most days, I don’t have enough time to read instructions to learn a new game and I go for the old favorites. However, there are instructions available. It’s amazing how much good it does to disconnect from reality for a few minutes and attempt to surpass your previous high score.
What’s your favorite source for online video games? Please leave your preference in the comment section below!
