I Miss My Marbles

Several years ago, I found a computer game online called Zuma. It is a series of colored marbles that roll through a variety of configurations. The object is to blast them all before the first one disappears into an exit hole. A frog situated in the middle of the configuration responds to the computer mouse. You swivel the frog to aim and shoot marbles out of his mouth with a left mouse click. If you shoot a marble of a different color into the line of rolling marbles, it sticks and hastens the advance to the exit. If you shoot a marble of matching color into two or more, they explode and disappear. There is a variety of catchy little arcade tunes that play in the background, as well as bombs, slow-down marbles, fizzies that give you laser aim, back-up marbles, and ones that explode all marbles of the same color. If you are really smart, you can spot line ups in the colors and carefully place the right colored marbles into a long string that causes a chain reaction of truly satisfying explosions. In certain circumstances the frog emits an authentic 'chirrup' or ribbet. I cannot resist its charm!

It may be a total waste of time but I enjoy playing it. I can play Zuma and think. I purchased the game for $19.99 - the best money ever spent for mindless entertainment - until the new, improved Zuma game was released and I spent another $19.99 for even better mind-numbing entertainment. Both games are on my other computer, the one that was attacked with a pernicious fake virus scan so aggressive that the computer has to go to a professional. I only hope my data, photos, and all of my writing can be salvaged. I have not played Zuma for several months now. I have likely lost my finely honed skills after all this time.

That is what happens when you lose your marbles.