35 hours.
That’s how many I put into Picross S for Nintendo Switch. It was an impulse buy at $8, “cheap” by many standards, but its true expense was my time.

My days contain 24 hours, like yours, but not many are leftover for gaming. What precious little minutes remain for entertainment must be wisely spent, and I failed to do so with Picross.

Don’t get me wrong; I love the series. But this particular title didn’t offer much by way of new or exciting material. My first few hours were motivated by fun, and I played a bit longer in multiplayer, which was a worthwhile experience with friends and family.

The rest of my time was spent out of compulsion. Nintendo has successfully trained me as a collector, so earning the medals on each group of puzzles felt rewarding at first, but ultimately became a chore.
I truly noticed the problem after completing all 150 levels, then immediately setting out to do them again in Mega Picross mode. The SAME puzzles!

I wanted to be 100% done with the game so that I could move on to other, more fun titles.
Therein lies the issue: I didn’t have to complete the game to move on. I should have closed the software, let it rest, and came back in a few weeks or months.

What I endeavor to do in the future, and I encourage you to as well, is make wiser choices with your gaming time.
Maximize your fun. If a game isn’t doing the trick, sell it. If you can’t get rid of it, forget it.

Our time on this planet is short, so recreation should be used for relaxing, improving skills, and most importantly: spending time with people we care about. Whether that’s your friend or your spouse, gaming can be a great way to grow bonds.

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone by being a completionist. For goodness sake, there aren’t even achievements on your Nintendo profile! And you don’t owe it to yourself to slog through a game just because you purchased it. You wouldn’t eat every bite of a meal at a restaurant if it tasted bad, or pained you to swallow, right? The same applies here.