How many times I have stood in a lift, at a bus stop or waiting for the lights to change wondering, am I wasting time? Do I need to fill up the gaps in my life with something! Too many moments consumed by silence that should be filled up with colourful pixels and flashing lights. The smart phone for supposedly smart people gently vibrates in my pocket, calling to me, there is something to do.

I need a quick fix, something that can start and finish in an instance. A micro game that is so simple to use that it can be put down, picked up and thrown away at a moment’s notice. The age of micro gratification is upon us and I am too busy cramming every second of the day to care. The uncomfortable silence standing in the elevator staring at my feet avoiding eye contact and conversations about the weather, I need a distraction, an escape plan.

I have plenty of gaps to fill, elevator down in the morning, walk to work, elevator up to work, waiting for coffee to brew, all moments that could be filled up chasing pixelated high scores. I need something simple, a basic mechanic that is not too stressful that I end up actually thinking about it. My journey begins with Bejeweled, a charming graphical happy game featuring brightly coloured gems.

How come match 3 games are so popular? Are they simple to play or just simple game mechanics that do not involve too much lateral thinking? Scanning the grid, left, right, up, down, like an eyeball Konami code searching for matching symbols. Lost in the moment quickly switching between symbol types looking for the perfect high score multiplier, a micro snack for my gap hunger.

I want a challenge, I want to see how long I can play the same game so I pick ‘Endless’ to see what monster high score I could generate. I obviously need to measure my time spent somehow and numbers are always a good starting point. My plan was perfect, level after level, day after day, the score was getting bigger and eventually I had a new routine. After a month of gap management I had got a score of 1 million and for some reason, I felt proud of my achievement.

I started to understand the game mechanics, spot ways of getting 4 and 5 combo crystals easily, working from the top to the bottom of the grid to minimize movements and saving 5 combo gems for emergencies. I even discovered that the 5 combo gems themselves don’t match which was a bit sad; I was expecting the basic rules to apply to everything on the board but it did not. I was on a roll, I felt I was using skill to somehow defy the odds and then it dawned on me, this is an endless game, you cannot lose!

I started playing the levels to lose; I was recklessly matching gems and trying everything to end the game. It did not matter what I did, there was always one more match on the board and if I was too slow to spot it, the game told me. I even played the game while walking the streets and crossing the road to be as distracted as possible. It was as if the game was always making sure I could continue and my multimillion achievements became worthless.

Then I realized, someone must have programmed the game to keep me from losing, which is a cool feat by itself. I was playing a game where you don’t need to think anymore, no chance of failure; I just keep mashing buttons. What started out as me filling the mindless gaps in my life with something, ended up with another mindless activity, how ironic! Maybe I need the gaps in my life to do nothing, maybe they are gaps for a reason.

Now my elevator rides are daydreaming, hazy thoughts lost in time to the chime of the passing floors and mechanical clunking noises. My walks to work are a flash flood of sights and smells triggering past memories and making me smile to myself. It seems the gaps in my life were never empty, I just forgot to daydream.