🎮 Currently playing The Battle of Polytopia.
It’s a world-domination strategy game vaguely along the lines of the famous Civilisation game. But far simpler to understand and much quicker to play.
You pick a tribe and are inserted into an unexplored territory of mystery, whereupon you gain the all-important points by exploring, researching, building up your towns and army, as well as potentially battling any opponents you come across who are doing the same. These can be computer enemies or there’s also a human multi-player option.
It’s perfectly playable on, and I think perhaps initially developed for, your phone. You can download it from the app stores for free and optionally choose to pay to be allowed to play as different tribes. But it’s also there on Steam and some games consoles for the larger screen experience.
OK, it is Elon Musk’s favourite phone game, but don’t let that put you off.
The revelation that and his brother had conversations about the life lessons they learned from it is pretty cringe though. Just for the record:
- Empathy is not an asset
- Do not fear lose
- Optimise every turn
- Play life like a game
- Be proactive
- Double down
- Pick your battles
- Unplug at times.
Some of those might explain a lot. Don’t worry though if you’re a multiplayer fan. Apparently he had to stop playing at the point that he was so obsessed by it he started dreaming about it. By then it had started making him late for meetings and causing fights with his partner at the time, Grimes.
So far I don’t think it’s entirely drained me of empathy.