now playing: "Reeelz"

Despite the apparently spamaily ("spam" + "mail" + adverbial ending) title begging for a backspace button, the apparent lack of a narrative, and the apparent negative connotations associated with slot machines, I apparently was not dissuaded from exploring Reeelz (Game in a Bottle, 2010) when I stumbled upon it (not in the literal sense) last week. And yes, in case your OCD tendencies emerged just now, I can assure you that this review has indeed been brought to you by the letter E.

To succeed in Reeelz, though, you need more than just a smidgen of luck--that is, you need a brain. With a limited number of "tokens" (turns) available to you to spin one or more reels, step certain reels up and down, you have to play your moves just so right. Each "match" you play earns you at least a token, and more depending on how many stars its card bears. The more complicated the match on the card (e.g. five consecutive thunderstorm reels followed by two sun reels equals "rain until the weekend" or some other clever name), the more accomplished you'll feel and the longer you'll draw out the use of your few tokens. The final score, of course, is how many tokens you have left: a rather minimalist approach to an otherwise apparently gaudy game foreign to the more "intellectual" type titles that have appeared on here.

Appearances aren't everything, however. Beneath the casino-esque ambiance of Reeelz lies a pit of Sarlaac shrouded in sand, aka the time-wasting trap that I think should be in the frontal lobes of any casual game designer trying to keep their players coming back. Why should I bookmark this site? Why should I share it on Facebook/Twitter/etc.? Why should I spend half my weekend trying to master it? For their products, replay value needs to hit that "high" part of the rating meter, to keep players coming back and telling all their friends about how awesome it is and yadda yadda. Unlike "regular" video games, like the ones you get at GameStop, casual game designers's primary form of advertisement are banner ads here and there--if they can even afford them to begin with, not to mention whether or not they can successfully dodge the frankly spamaily air of banner ads. So, kudos to Game in a Bottle for finding the game's natural "hook" to suck me in and make me spend an hour going through decks of difficulty.

While it's not based on pure luck, offering enough of a challenge in its different decks to reward players of all skill levels, the element of chaos undeniably present has always attracted a part of me. Compared to the heavily-linear storylines I've previously explored in narrative games, and the stunning attention given to art and gameplay in others, I like the odd one out every now and then: the one that doesn't particularly seem to excel in any given area of casual game design, and yet it does a good enough job in all of them to get me hooked. The player's personal reaction is a variable hard to gauge or control initially--but once you find that addictive hook, it's a real jackpot. Ha-ha.

Before I leave here, I'd like to take a moment to spell things out the right way:

REELZ.

Or should I say, reels.

Thank you.