Sudoku Fever

I caught it. I tried and I tried and I tried to avoid it, but alas, I have caught the fever. And MAN, am I hating it.

At first, I tried to do a puzzle in the paper, decided it was too much like those brainteaser assignments we used to get in grade school, quit, and figured I'd never have to deal with another one. Then all of a sudden, they were EVERYWHERE, those ubiquitous, insipid, obnoxious puzzles, staring me in the face at every turn, hooking people with some draw I just could not fathom. People kept asking me if I was addicted yet. "NO!" I insisted vehemently, and I won't be, 'cause I hate those dadgum things.

Then there they were, infesting my puzzle book of "regular" puzzles like a plague, and I kept passing over them, cursing their very existence. That is, passing over them until one fateful day when I decided to try one, just to make sure that I really didn't like them, and not that I was just afraid of them because they seemed like a math problem. I did one puzzle. And when that didn't take me all day, I did a second one, just to test the theory. And before I knew it, I'd done a whole page. And then another. And now I am HOOKED. Totally and completely, like a drug I can't get enough of, wanting more and more and thinking about them when I'm not doing them. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

How does that happen? I mean, I know how I got started, but I don't understand how things like video games and Sudoku puzzles can be so very literally addictive. I've had it happen with some of those silly little computer games that MSN puts out - you try one someone sends you a link to, you play it a second time because your ego won't let you stop with that bad a score, and then the next thing you know, you're having a conversation with your boss about how the computer at work is not to be used for personal interests. (No, I've never actually had that conversation with a boss, but I know people who have.) You find yourself making time in the evenings to play a few rounds...which suddenly take you to 3am before you realize what's happened. What is it about these things that draw a person in so completely and captivatingly?

My personal theory is that there's something about the "creating order from the chaos" aspect of these games that is SO satisfying it can overshadow all other facets of our lives which are often chaotic beyond our control. There was a Star Trek: Next Generation episode one time (yes, I went through a phase as a pseudo-Trekkie, and for the record, we prefer the term "Trekker") where this alien race tried to take over the Enterprise by addicting everyone to this game that was played on a futuristic visor using just your mental power and soon everyone was so preoccupied with the game they didn't care what was happening on board anymore, and it took Data the non-human and Wesley Crusher, the kid, to solve the mystery and save the day. Every time I find myself hooked on one of these things, I think about that show. The game as it was portrayed in Star Trek seemed to give a little dose of endorphins each time the player landed a little disc in the hole or whatever, somewhere between taking a hit of something and experiencing a mini-orgasm. I think the satisfaction that solving these puzzles (or mastering these games) brings is a similar effect. And I worry that if I don't quit, the ship will be lost...metaphorically speaking, of course.

So eventually, I know I'll have to just quit cold turkey, because that's the only way to get out of it. There's no winding down; I just have to not play for a few days until the excruciatingly powerful urge to do another one is completely gone. The day will come that I will just have to put down the book - no, burn it probably - and be done with Sudokus for good. But today is not that day. :)