Go Play Hapland 2... Again

Memory-based games can be fun, whether it's The Simpsons trivia game or Jeopardy! for the Apple IIgs, a game in which I memorized every question in every category and thus could buzz in immediately after recognizing a few key words shown on-screen so briefly that no one else had a chance of beating me unless they'd gotten as familiar with all the questions as I had. At that point, it became a button-pressing competition and had nothing to do with trivia. I whipped Angie Croasmun's ass in elementary school once by cheating — and it was a form of cheating — in this manner. Sorry, Angie.

The nice thing about memories is that they fade. You can go back after a few years and play again. Every question is like new. If you had a photographic memory, it'd be no fun, but most folks don't, so you have a blast again. That's why I sat down and played through Hapland 2 again last night. It's been just long enough that I remembered a couple of things about ordering, but had forgotten the overall list of things that have to occur. This streamlined the play, because I didn't have to explore through the world to see what objects and actions had which consequences, but I still had to relearn what to click and when.

I bet I'd get my butt handed to me on Jeopardy! for the Apple IIgs if I tried to play it today. Especially if I had to play against some brat who'd memorized all the answers.