As a writer, sometimes I need to decompress from an article I’ve written or research I’ve done, but as a parent of a three-year-old, I don’t have a lot of time to get into something involved. Movies, television shows, books, and in depth video games are too time consuming for quick breathers in between projects. I want something I can turn on, start immediately, and when I’m ready, shut off without any fuss. I inevitably find myself sucked into movies and television shows and sit through them in their entirety when I really only had about a ten minute window. Elaborate console games take time to load, and a lot of times you have to find a save point before you can turn off the game or you’ve lost your progress.
I have found the solution to my dilemma. A puzzle game called Jewel Quest II that I found on Yahoo! Games. It comes as a limited freeware version you can download to play or you can buy the full version for $19.99 with online tournament capabilities. I bought it — not for the online playability but because I beat the freeware version I downloaded first and wanted more levels.
The object of game is to clear the board of jewels by aligning three matching jewels in a row either vertically or horizontally by only switching places with one other jewel. When you’ve made a match it turns the board underneath it gold,and when the entire board is gold you move on to the next level. The game starts easy enough with perfect square boards, but as you progress they put obstacles in your way.
What I love about the game is that it loads quickly, plays fast, and you can turn it off at anytime and it automatically saves your progress. So when I have 10 minutes in my schedule between projects, I can play a quick game of Jewel Quest and be refreshed for whatever comes next.
