Michael B. Berg author page
1 puzzle by Michael B. Berg
with Jeff Chen comments
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Back in college, I spent many hours playing SONIC THE HEDGEHOG with a bunch of dormmates. Idyllic times, doggedly redoing levels over and over to attain maximum ring collection, swearing up a blue streak at Dr. Robotnik. Trying to Tetris in enough studying to get by was even harder with our attempts to beat TETRIS.
OUT OF REACH and NOT A CHANCE aptly summed up my shot at graduating with any sort of honors.
Although I've played thousands of hours of video games in my life, I'm not sure I'd have ever come up with the connections Michael did. [Ghost in the machine] hinting at the ghosts in a PAC-MAN arcade machine is clever!
DONKEY KONG got some side-eye. [Barrel of monkeys] … Donkey Kong does throw barrels, but he's a gorilla, not a monkey. This clue only makes sense if you get deep into the games. (Or if you exhibit less annoying anality.) There are monkeys in subsequent games who interact with okay, you've stopped listening. Understandable.
When ANGRY BIRDS came out, I was steadfastly adhering to my Motorola flip-phone, so I don't know much about the game. [Knock me over with a feather] sort of works, but it's not like you're launching individual feathers at the pigs.
Are you?
Pray for me as I download ANGRY BIRDS "for research." I'll see you in about 50 hours.
The connections between the themer clues and the video games were too tenuous overall for my taste, but I appreciate the creativity and the solid gridwork.