DO GOOD OLD-FASHIONED GAMES STILL WORK?

IT is the year 2011. I’m holding a Sony Ericsson J105, waiting for ‘Brick Breaker Revolution’ to load on the tiny 2-inch screen. I click on the endless “revolution” mode. [look bored.

- Anusha Ganapathi

Disinterested. I’m so good at the game that I don’t even know why I bother to play it anymore. It’s just something to do with my hands, I guess. I tell myself that I'll stop playing once I get the rocket power-ups. It’s no fun after that part of the game. My thumbs are trained to rest at the 2 and 4 keys. Muscle memory. The ball shoots forward. I flick the paddle into place without even thinking. The ball moves exactly where I want it to. The bricks break.

In 2013, I upgraded to a new shiny touchscreen device. ‘Brick Breaker’ lay forgotten, untouched, in its now permanent home — at the back of a dusty drawer. Over a decade since, a weird sense of déja vu hits me as I install this new game called ‘Ball X Pit’. It’s all very dramatic. A mild breeze drifts through the window, leaves rustle, and there’s this aura glowing around my head. The game loads. It whispers to me. “Welcome back. I was waiting for you.”