Our household is in the midst of Christmas shopping. Susan and I have a few gifts stuffed in the closet, but we have quite a few more to figure out.
So far we haven’t left the comfort of our home. Amazon Prime has been dropping boxes off as quickly as we think of things to buy. We’ve got the grandsons taken care of, pretty much, but it’s easy to shop for kids. The grownups are more challenging. What would they need that they can’t buy for themselves?
Susan and I will use that challenge as an excuse to go street shopping. We will look in downtown Benicia first, as always, but we will also take a day trip to Berkeley and the East Bay, and another to San Francisco.
Now, on to my topic: what to buy for me. I don’t need anything that I can’t buy for myself. And that’s what I did. I bought my own Christmas present and gave my wife credit, so that’s done.
Funny thing, for my whole adult life of working with computers in education, I’ve never become a gamer. Not since Infocom and the original text-based Zork written in 1979 have I found a game I enjoy playing.
I’m retired. I’ve got some cash. I could afford any game or game console out there, and play all day, but I can’t find anything I like. I know what I don’t like. I don’t like war games, battle games, first-person shooter games, and other games requiring skill development in destructive violence. I don’t like games that move lightning fast and require quick reflexes and hand-eye coordination. Racing games aren’t violent, and they’re OK, but I crash too often to get beyond Level 1 of “Mario Kart.”
I like thinking and strategy games.
Back in 1989 my prayers were answered. Maxis of Walnut Creek released “SimCity,” a non-violent, non-adversarial, cooperative build-a-city game. I tried it, and I liked it. I played it frequently, and bought every upgrade for the next 14 years. “SimCity 4” came out in 2003, and that was it for 10 long years. No new versions. I stopped gaming all together. In 2013 Electronic Arts, who acquired Maxis, finally released a brand-new “SimCity.” I was overjoyed.
I’ve clocked thousands of hours building cities. I’ve made it to the Number One position on their Global Leaderboards for at least a dozen successful cities. Fun as it was, after three years, I’ve grown weary of playing it.
A major gaming void opened in my life. I resorted to playing Texas Hold ‘Em and Solitaire. Then two weeks ago a news item appeared on my Flipboard feed. Urban Games out of peaceful Switzerland released a new game they’ve been working on for years. It’s called “Transport Fever.” The gist: you get a map of Europe or the USA and you must build routes for cars, trucks, trains, boats, and planes that unite at primary junctions and transfer goods. If you build optimal routes, your country will grow rich and thrive. If you make mistakes, your map plummets into irreversible debt. I loved the constructive nature of the game, and I downloaded it.
Weird, funny, frustrating thing about these games, and the same was true for “SimCity.” There is no instruction manual. There is no how-to, no description of game pieces or process. Buyers are left staring at a map with a hundred options to choose from and no guidance.
For the first few days, I experimented and went broke a dozen times. I was cussing, and grumbling around the house, complaining and threatening to abandon the game. The only help I could find was gameplay videos on YouTube. Most of these films are made by kids filming themselves stumbling through the game making mistakes and talking too much.
There is one professional game instructor I like and subscribe to on YouTube. His name is Skye Storm, and he taught me how to beat “SimCity” after 10 hours of film watching and copious notes. He is now training viewers on Transport Fever, but each clip is 45 minutes and he has 54 clips uploaded already with more to come.
Within a few days, a Reddit thread was created by players, and within a week there were over 1,000 posts of questions, answers, strategy, and how-to instructions.
Now, I have the hang of it and I am totally addicted to this game. I can play all day without stopping to eat or put on pants. I still go broke eventually, but I’ve lasted as long as 12 hours, and the future is auspicious. Partly, I got the game thinking it might appeal to a grandson. Now I’m not so sure. The learning curve is high, but once understood, the game’s potential truly blossoms. I think it’s more a game for an elder teen or adult who likes playing with trains, cars, airplanes, and boats.
If the game has you curious, here’s how you get it. First you must install the shell program called Steam. Steam distributes hundreds of games through its shell program. Google steam and you’ll find it. Inside the shell, you give them your PayPal info and you can buy and install any game you like, including Transport Fever. It’s $35. If you start playing it, please let me know.
Now it’s more difficult for me to go off Christmas shopping for the day. I want to stay home and play with my trains.

Steve Gibbs is a retired Benicia High School teacher who has written a column for The Herald since 1985.

Sharing is caring!