Figured It Out

Why that Bookworm game is so damned addictive.

Most games online, they blur by quickly. They’re fast paced and usually the randomization isn’t working as well as it could – essentially, you tire of it quickly. Play the game a few times, and it becomes old hat. Boom, and it’s over. Do that enough, get bored, move on.

With this game, the time to actually complete it is very lengthy, compared to most games. There’s no time element, so you could technically have the thing running in the background all day, if you really wanted. You’re competing against yourself, going after your own best score. There’s a few bits of satisfaction (completing the levels, getting a bonus word).

When the game hits its "critical" point, that make-it-or-lose-it moment… you’ve already invested some 20 minutes. It takes that long until the game builds to a point where it becomes too much, and you can’t find the next word. With the old school arcade games, a similar exponential growth occurred. Play Defender long enough, and it’s just the same damn thing all over again, only faster each time. And faster. And faster.

With this game, it takes time for things to get difficult. A bit like Tetris in some respects. But it’s the time thing that really makes it, I think. Instead of playing the game five times, quickly, in five minutes… trying to play Bookworm five times could take five hours!

The whole "This time, I’ll do better" mentality remains strong.