Those of you hunting for a new way to idle away the hours while you pretend to be productive at work are in luck. A new game has hit the internet that is the definition of a giant waste of time.
One Million Checkboxes is hosted by eieio games, a website created by Nolen Royalty, a software engineer and independent game developer. Royalty’s other games include weird stuff like telEyegraph, a game that converts blinks into Morse code, or Stranger Video, where you use your webcam to stare at a stranger for as long as you want to. Another game, Talk Paper Scissors, lets you play rock paper scissors with a stranger by calling a specific phone number.
One Million Checkboxes seems to have blown up recently. TechRadar reports that the game has spurred an online “war” between the checkers and the un-checkers, and tens of thousands of users appear to be involved. Royalty has claimed that as many as 500,000 players were involved at one point.
On his website, Royalty explains (or, rather, doesn’t explain) why he made One Million Checkboxes: “I don’t really know. The idea came up in a conversation last Friday and I felt compelled to make it,” he writes.
“This site was fun to make. It got me thinking about a new space of collaborative experiences that I want to explore,” Royalty said, adding that he made the game in only two days.
