The Gift of Groovin’

Posted by Cynical Sarah on January 14, 2007

This holiday season brought a game system into our home and our lives. It was an early Christmas gift my husband bought for himself, and since “one of us should be surprised when it gets opened,” I had no clue what it was at first.

I was quite surprised after he finally brought it out of hiding that he actually managed to not set it up the entire week he hid it from me. A new electronic toy that didn’t immediately get put to use is almost like a miracle in our household.

The lure of the games did manage to snag him before Christmas though and it was set up well before the big gift day.

I’ve never been much of a gamer, so I wasn’t too interested at first. Then he got it modified, and lo and behold, I could play some of my old favorite brain games like Tetris on it. Just about any game made for a game system he could find and put on it.

Brain games that I can play by myself and not have to shoot anything or go on a quest or race around in a hard to control car are my kind of game. In fact, I can become totally addicted to those types of games pretty easily. I already sometimes dream about Sudoku puzzles on occasion because I do them so often.

Even with a few games on it though, I didn’t bother to even turn the game system on before Christmas arrived. Then I got a most unusual Christmas gift from Troy.

Ordinarily I have one rule when it comes to gifts from him. He can’t buy me electronics or computer things that he plans to use himself. He already buys all sorts of gifts for himself each year, so he doesn’t need to pretend to give me something he’s going to use.

I was a little leery then when he handed me a package Christmas day that had “Not sure if this breaks the rules or not” written right on it.

When I unwrapped a dance pad for the Xbox, I really wasn’t sure what to say. I’d heard that the dance games were fun, but I’m patently a non-gamer, and he knows that. But, I’m also not one of those gift receivers who throws a fit about a gift I don’t like. I’m always grateful just that someone was thoughtful enough to get me anything.

It turns out though that it was one of the best gifts I got from him this year. A few days later, I finally told him to show me how to plug it in and use the Xbox so I could give it a try. To my surprise, it’s actually a lot of fun.

He’d found me a copy of Dance Dance Revolution #3, and we spent some time just figuring out how to navigate it and try out the different games. Then in the next few days I really got into it.

The game has a workout mode so it keeps track of the calories you’ve burned while dancing. You really can’t beat a workout where all you’re doing is listening to music and dancing around.

I’m definitely hooked. I wish it was a little better workout, but at least I’m not sitting on the couch playing something else.

Plus, I’m already able to do some of the songs in the “light” mode instead of “beginner” mode and still get an AA score. Look out world; I’m developing mad skills on the dance pad.

- Sarah L. Polson

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Tags: christmas, games, gifts

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