The Autistic Me

Solebon Solitaire ( http://www.solebon.com ) has been my favorite game since buying my first HandSpring Visor, a PalmOS device. Another long-time favorite is Shanghai Mahjong Solitaire ( http://www.mobileage.com/shanghai/ ). These games exist on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro. Simple, elegant, and quick to play when I have a few minutes, these games are the essence of "casual" gaming. Our Nintendo DS cartridge collection also includes solitaire, mahjong tiles, crosswords, word searches, and other puzzle games. I read about children (and adults) enjoying Minecraft, HALO, Call of Duty, SecondLife, and other complex games. Personally, I don't have the patience to invest hours, days, or weeks in a game or virtual simulation. My ideal games are those that I can start and stop, or that last only a few minutes per level. Give me solitaire games, pinball, puzzles, and simple arcade classics. I don't want to shoot people or aliens. I don't want to memorize dozens...

Solebon [ http://www.solebon.com ] was the best solitaire game for the Palm OS. When I migrated to an iPod Touch, I was thrilled when Solebon was ported to my new PDA platform. Now, with Solebon on my iPhone and iPad, I play several games a day. My favorites remain the traditional Klondike games (deal one or three) and Free Cell. Think back to Windows 3 and classic "Burning Monkey" solitaire on the old Mac System 7, and that's about all the complexity I want in a game. I also play Columns, Collapse, Tetris, Lemmings, Supaplex, and Pipe Dream to relax. I like the simple puzzle games that I can start and stop. Sure, there are nights for chess and maybe Scrabble, but for the most part I like quick, five-minute breaks from the routine. Puzzle games clear my head so I can get back to work. The breaks help. The appeal of realistic first-person games escapes me. I would rather play Pac-Man any day. Anyone else enjoy the classic games as a way to relax? I'd like to im...

On Facebook, a parent asked about games. Do I enjoy them? I like some games, but I don't know that I "enjoy" games so much as view them as mental exercises. I don't "play" games. I solve them. As a result, the notion of "playing games for fun" doesn't appeal to me. If I can't solve (master) the patterns, data, or trivia behind the game, it isn't going to be that interesting. Not winning a trivia game? It means I need to read and learn more. Not winning at chess? Time to read and practice more until I get better at the theories of various masters. I don't like random games, either. Too many "fun" games are based solely on luck. I'm not interested in luck. You can't master and win luck. With the desire to solve and win, I'm not the least bit "fun" when playing games. Over the years, I have tried to develop my own games. These were not random things. I mapped out alternatives to chess and che...