Even though I didn’t go looking for another addiction in my life, I’ve officially found one. It’s a smart phone app called Draw Something, and holy cow am I hooked!
It all started when I saw friends on Facebook talking about the app and looking for people to play with. It sounded kinda lame, to tell the truth. You draw a picture on your phone and send it to your opponent, who then has to guess what it is you have just drawn. This would never appeal to me, I figured, because I am a terrible artist. My people are invariably stick figures with lopsided, too-long arms and no ears. I can’t draw to save my life, despite years of art classes in middle and high school. I’m not sure why {cough, cough…EASY A…cough, cough} I ever decided to take art as an elective. But I was missing the point, as it turns out. Because, as oddly counterproductive as this sounds, with Draw Something it doesn’t matter if you can’t draw. It’s actually a better experience if you’re a lousy artist. Half the fun is in coming up with a really lame picture and figuring out how to make your opponent figure it out – and trust me, you want to do this, because you only earn coins when the person you’re playing correctly guesses what you’ve drawn a picture of. What do the coins “buy” you, you’re wondering? Access to more colors, beyond the four you initially start out with. More colors = more detailed drawings! Woo-hoo!!
Isn’t technology a silly thing?
The premise is simple. Each round, you’re given a choice of three random words. One is supposed to be easy (and worth one coin), one is supposed to be somewhat difficult (worth two coins), and one is supposed to be tough (for three coins). For example, you might have to choose between drawing a keyboard, a scorpion or Brad Pitt. When you’re guessing words (which can vary from three to eight letters long), you are given a series of letters, some of which spell out the word, and some that are “ringers.” You have a limited supply of bombs which you can use to “blow up” a few of the letters that aren’t part of the word to make it easier to guess.
Boy, the things that keep us amused nowadays.
But it’s addictive. Extremely. And I’ve got Tara’s brother, Eric, to thank for turning me on to this app. When we were visiting him in Seattle last week he whipped out his phone and suggested I play, so I did. I want to make a positive impression on Tara’s family, you know? I was actually just being polite, but it only took a couple of games for me to become full-on hooked. So much so that I posted a Facebook status update of my own trolling for friends to play, and was inundated with requests. Now this little drawing game is taking up ungodly chunks of my day, and has supplanted both Angry Birds and Words With Friends as my favorite “game.” Which is all good, clean, innocent fun, I suppose – except when there is still unpacking to be done and job searching to be completed.
I’m not the only one to have fallen under the Draw Something spell. It’s wildly popular. There are even websites devoted to some of the best drawings that people have done, like this one.
All in good time. We’ve actually got about 75% of Tara’s stuff unpacked and organized now. It’s been a crazy, hectic week filled with manual labor and a whole bunch of job interviews that I am dying to talk about but refuse to discuss lest I jinx myself. With everything going on, Tara and I needed a break, so we took advantage of a Groupon I had purchased some time ago and went to the movies yesterday. Not just any theater – this was Cinetopia, the local luxury movie house with a living room theater complete with leather recliners and ottomans, food and beverage service delivered right to your seat, and a butter bar for your popcorn. This was us, twenty-eight hours ago: the picture of relaxation.
The movie was Cabin In The Woods, and even though Tara isn’t a fan of horror movies, she really liked this one – as did I. The script was witty, original, and didn’t take itself too seriously. There was blood and guts and gore, but nothing too over-the-top, and the film never veered off into Cheeseville, as it could have. Good job, Joss Whedon – two thumbs up here!
Today, we met up with a few of my friends and former coworkers for lunch at Panera. I wanted to prove to them that Tara actually existed. I think, after following along on my dating trials and tribulations over the years, this group of people wasn’t entirely convinced that such a wonderful girlfriend was, you know, real and not a figment of an overactive and desperate imagination eager to make up for my past mistakes in the relationship department.
Mission accomplished, on all counts. And the sandwiches rocked.
I’ve rambled long enough now, and suppose I should go. I’d tell you that there are a few boxes left to unpack or laundry to fold or something of that sort, but really I just want to go draw something.
Related articles
- The Hottest Drawing Game On The Planet Right Now (retrenders.com)
- Draw Something Is an Evil Time-Waster That I Can’t Stop Playing (geardiary.com)
- App of the week: Draw Something (stuffmideast.com)
Mark My Words 
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